[LargeFormat] A Yosemite Moment

[David Galway]

In early summer 1989, my wife (a photographer's wife: long patient and,
alas, long gone) and I drove to Yosemite up the carnival of Hwy 41, a
fluorescent headband on every wooden Indian, a wooden Indian on every
corner, and many, many corners.

It had been hot down in Fresno, and also unfortunately a Monday, so the
zillion-print Adams show I had spec'd out before leaving Canada was
closed ... I congratulated myself for planning ahead, we had a lovely
drive around Fresno then headed into the hills. (We did catch the show
later. Had a full museum set, plus, plus plus, and BIG beefy prints the
way it seems Adams liked 'em.
<http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2002/07/brower.htm> Man, it took
hours to get through ... I, um, think Kim waited in the truck after her
second time around ... )

Everyone knows the famous Adams shot Clearing Winter Storm
<http://www.photocollect.com/archives/winter.html> ... it's very cool
when you drive in from the south because you come out of this tunnel and
BAM, there's the shot.

Or so I understood. I had read a little bit about Adams, and a lot by
him, and a visit to Yosemite so steeped in photographic history had me a
little nervous. I couldn't wait to see it.

We come out of the tunnel, and BAM: there's nothing but goddam fog. Not
low fog either, I'm sure the fog was boiling over the top of El Capitan
like dry ice in a beaker. I stood there stunned in the pull-off and
realized for the very first time that the weather in early June in the
mountains might not be as accommodating as it could be. A visit to the
ranger station confirmed my sudden foreknowledge that the fog was going
to be in Yosemite exactly as long as we were, four days, but gave me the
added information that it would turn into rain in a matter of hours and
move off in the general direction of Wawona, where we had pitched our
tent. We took a bus tour. It was interesting, but there wasn't much to
see.

The next morning, of course, the sun rose over Wawona to the sound of
trumpets, and this time when I drove through the tunnel, BAM, I swear
every hair on my body stood on end. Golden sunshine on near-black pines,
blue sky, clouds, and rocks everywhere that scraped the sky, all so
small and perfect from up there that you could scoop it up and hold it.

The weather held until we left; I made some shots that week, one OK one
of Half Dome from the drive-up look-out, a print of which I'm proud to
say hangs in my stylish friend's bathroom. The rain broke just after we
had packed our gear. We had planned on visiting the Mariposa grove, so
as Kim took the trolley tour and then, um, waited in the truck, I walked
in my mocassins on that soft forest floor alone, the wind pushing at the
sequoia canopy, and the thunder roiling the blackening clouds above
those magnificent trees.


regards, thanks Don for the memories

David Galway





All this talk of road trips ... thanks Verna! ... a great fall colour
tour: start in Duluth, Minnesota, head up Hwy 61 (yes, THAT Hwy 61) into
the Iron Range, make sure you cover the Grand Marais area north along
the lake, cross the border into Canada, and head back to Michegan along
the top of Lake Superior, one of the world's great unheralded drives ...
http://www.frameposters.com/174-Frame-Posters-Pic_Island.html