October 15, 2012

The Gift of the Unexpected

Leaves and Raindrops

Last Thursday, I headed into the Sierra Nevada for a rendezvous with friends at Twin Lakes, near Bridgeport, California. On the way through Yosemite, over Tioga Pass, I was greeted with unexpected heavy snow and just made it over the pass ahead of temporary road closures (one friend got caught and was delayed over 8 hours).

Safely down the eastern side with a bit of extra time, I decided to explore an area called Sinnamon Meadows. From previous trips, I knew there were some aspens at the north end of the meadow I'd wanted to explore photographically.

I arrived at the meadow about 4pm. The clouds had parted and the snow melted but crossing the meadow was an exercise in ankle deep marshiness. I found myself meandering a long loop that was going to take me behind the trees I was trying to get to. As I wound around, I came up over a tiny ridge and found a completely unexpected 2 foot deep creek shored up by a small wood damn. The creek nearest the damn had collected aspen leaves dotted with lovely well formed raindrops. I spent nearly an hour exploring the scene and waiting for the right light to execute the photograph here.

Had I not rushed over the Sierra, nor committed to navigating the cold marshy meadow, I never would have found such rich photographic subject matter. The aspens were happily left for another season.

Inspirations

If you want to live your life in a creative way, as an artist, you have to not look back too much. You have to be willing to take whatever you’ve done and whoever you were and throw them away.

Steve Jobs

Portfolios