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As I sat at my desk writing about this photograph, I found it hard to believe that I took it 21 years ago. There's a story behind this particular photograph that sets it apart from all of my other photographs. I've been a fan of Ansel Adams and his photographs ever since I learned of him. In a way, he taught me the fine details of photography through reading many of his books. In particular, his books The Camera, The Negative, and The Print are exceptional in learning the craft of photography. I feel these books are still a great resource to learn from even in these days of digital cameras and digital darkrooms. One still needs to understand light and how it reacts with the scene and camera, and how to work with it. Digital photography offers new tools and some new methods, but it's still photography. One of my favorite Ansel Adams photographs is "Frozen Lake and Cliffs". Once I learned where the lake was located, I just had to go there! At the time, I was in the midst of my backpacking days, so I knew something about mountains, trails and topographic maps. After studying the maps of the area and trail options to get to Precipice Lake, I decided on something rather radical for me at the time. The shortest route to the lake was on the High Sierra Trail from Crescent Meadow in Sequoia National Park. The lake is about 19 miles from the trailhead with a good camping spot at Bearpaw Meadow to make it a two day journey. I learned of the High Sierra Trail for the first time while researching this trip and read up on it. This is what sparked the radical idea part of going to Precipice lake. I figured that as long as I and presumably some of my friends were going to be so close to Kaweah Gap, a major pass across the Great Western Divide in the Sierra Nevada mountains, why not just hike the entire High Sierra Trail! We did that, but that's a whole story that I may cover another time. By the way, this photograph is my own interpretation of the lake and is not an attempt to mimic Ansel. His photograph was just the inspiration to see this beautiful place and the land around it. |
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Photographer: Rick Scott |
Updated: 12 August 2006