I recently had the great pleasure of spending a week or so in Yosemite attending a workshop at the Ansel Adams Gallery taught by Alan Ross. Alan, an awesome photographer in his own right,  was Ansel Adams' full time assistant for five years and has hand printed the "Special Edition Yosemite Prints" of Ansel's photos for over forty years (these are printed from Ansel's original negatives and are stunning - see the link: Ansel Adams Gallery - Special Edition Yosemite Prints.)

This was my first time in Yosemite, and it surely will not be the last. Somewhat disappointing was the amount of smoke in the air from both a sizeable fire in the park itself as well as drifted smoke from the massive Santa Rosa fire. On the other hand, this pointed us to smaller details which are beautiful, if not of the scale of the "Grand Landscape" (though we did our best to sneak in a couple of those as well!)

At a time when our National Parks and Public lands in general are under assault by those charged with protecting them, it was great to see so many people enjoying this unique place. While crowded, if one is willing to walk as little as a mile, the solitude is great and the scenery sublime. John Muir was right that this place is sacred...

The music for this slideshow is "Crystal Silence" from the album No Regrets by Randy Armstrong. As always, I claim no rights to the music and use it under Fair Use guidelines - if you like it, you can purchase it here from Randy's website (randy armstrong) or on itunes.

Peace

Jeff