Day Hikers at Ireland Lake. Yosemite National Park. August 27, 2005. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

This group of hikers had come up for the day from their base camp on the Tuolumne River in Lyell Canyon.
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People and Sky. Getty Museum. June 20, 2004. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

I post some of my photos at http://www.photo.net/, where members “rate” and, better yet, comment on photos submitted by other members. (See my photo.net gallery here.)

I posted this shot there earlier this week and it turned out to be one of those where my assessment of the image differs from that of those who rated it. While it did get a few good ratings the image also was rated poorly by a few viewers.

While the ratings are interesting to see, I don’t get too upset about it. (Though I do love it when I get high ratings… go figure!)

In any case, I like this image. Several things about it appeal to me:

• Formal aspects, including the large lower space with the converging lines and reflecting the sky.
• The slightly off kilter quality of the ceiling compared to the rigidly horizontal/vertical quality of the floor and the columns on the right and left sides.
• The positions of the people, both as a group and individually. They are arriving from the stairs and fanning out into the open space in the image. Their poses are, to me, interesting. The right- and leftmost figures mirror one another, especially in the way their arms are raised. The leg positions of the two right figures are the same. All of them pick up a bit of glow from the reflections off of the stone.
• The clouds in the blue sky seem somewhat mystical and otherworldly – and, no, they were not photoshopped into the image!

So, whatever the photo.net reviewers may think about it, I like this image.

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