October 15, 2012

The Gift of the Unexpected

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.