Happy 4th of July!

Today is Independence Day.  I woke up to relative silence this morning.  Surely the calm before the storm.  Tonight's sky will be filled with colorful explosions and my dogs will likely be cowering under the bed.  It wasn't long though before the first fireworks burst within earshot...at 830 AM..  I know we founded this country on war and maybe we're not ready to move past that but I like to celebrate this country in a slightly different way.

Every year around the 4th of July I hit the trails in the High Sierra for some backpacking.    Last week it was Cathedral Lakes in Yosemite National Park.  Although there are many equally breath taking landscapes, it's tough to find more beauty than this.  It's not so much the geology as it is the emotions.  When I sit at a place like this, meditate and look on in awe I am transformed.  Then I compose my photographs to remind me of that sense of Joy I felt as I stood in all its grandeur.

I am grateful to be born in this country.  But with that gratitude comes a sense of responsibility.  I am reminded of what Viktor Frankl (Holocaust survivor) proposed with the Statue of Responsibility to be erected on the West coast opposite the Statue of Liberty.  Frankl wrote, "Freedom, however, is not the last word. Freedom is only part of the story and half of the truth. Freedom is but the negative aspect of the whole phenomenon whose positive aspect is responsibleness. In fact, freedom is in danger of degenerating into mere arbitrariness unless it is lived in terms of responsibleness."

I have the freedom to be responsible.  In that is the balance of enjoying freedom.  I celebrate Independence day by remembering the joy and the potential of this country.  It's always there but sometimes I have to get out of the city to see it.  That's why my photography is so important to me.  I can relive that Joy anytime, anywhere.

Happy Independence Day U.S of A.

Cathedral Peak - Yosemite National Park, Ca.

Cathedral Peak

So I'm back from my annual Summer trip to the High Sierra.  It was an amazing week - not only photographically but spiritually as well.  My buddy Darrell and I were blessed with a week of thunder storms.  I say blessed because thunder storms bring in dramatic cloudy skies (ideal for photographing).  But also because not one rain drop fell on us (ideal for backpacking).  Two years ago, while in Sequoia National Park, that was not the case.  And let me tell you - it's no fun to hike in a pouring rain.  But the reward is almost always spectacular as you can see here.

Here's an example of the daily late afternoon scene's we got.  As the soaring heat from the Owens Valley far below rises and meets the cooler air above the Sierra Nevada range quite often you'll find monstrous clouds exploding like mushroom clouds over the mountains and taking on the form of thunder storms.

This is Upper Cathedral Lake with the renowned Cathedral Peak just beyond.  Cathedral Peak, standing at 10,912 feet, sits near the middle of Yosemite National Park, Ca. A four mile trail from Tuolumne Meadows leads you to this High Sierra lake.  Cathedral Peak is a popular peak to climb.  I didn't think twice as I hiked passed it though.  I did however opt for the lesser scramble up a small ridge to get this shot.  The afternoon photography was just as dramatic as the sunsets.

Lots more to come!