photo sharing and upload picture albums photo forums search pictures popular photos photography help login
Cecilia Lim | all galleries >> Galleries >> life > Sunset At Half Dome
previous | next
1 July 2005 Yosemite National Park, USA

Sunset At Half Dome


other sizes: small medium original auto
comment | share
Gary Robertshaw10-Sep-2006 03:03
I've seen this sight many times, and while Half Dome at sundown is a beautiful subject, I think you did the right thing by stepping back and getting something unique. The timing was good too, much later and the people would have been too dark, and much earlier and you would have found a place in the lineup and just gotten the same shot everyone else did.
Guest 25-Aug-2006 00:02
I love the composition of this photo: the bald head of the Earth jutting up, aglow in the sun, almost like the sun itself; the "bowl" of the dark pines, framing the mountain; the grey wall dividing nature and humans and the delightful physical stances of all these admiring photographers -- especially the kid in black, 3rd from the right. There is so much quiet action and individual expression here, from both people and place, as well as humorous contrasts.
Vilone27-Jan-2006 00:47
Just picture this without the photographers there. Beautiful image!
Guest 21-Aug-2005 13:29
Think out of the box, this is a great lesson for me. Most of time, I always felt that either the picture was too cliché, or I never arrived at the right time… Here you showed me how to think out of the box in the situation like that, Cecilia!
Phil Douglis20-Aug-2005 18:12
What more can I say, Celia. You what few photographers at Yosemite have the guts to do. Think out of the box. All of these photographers are probably making an image they are have already seen. But they want one for themselves. You realized the light was fading and your best chance was to think incongruously, abstractly, and in terms of human values. You have learned these lessons well, because they are all put to work for you here in this very amusing and expressive image.
Cecilia Lim20-Aug-2005 13:50
I must admit Phil, that after having seen your Yosemite gallery (http://www.pbase.com/pnd1/yosemite ) , I felt some pressure to live up to the lessons that you were teaching in that gallery. But I learned in Yosemite that to make great landscape photography, you had to be somewhat prepared - to know where you needed to be (for a great vantage point) at what time (to maximise the golden light) and have some idea what you wanted to express. In my mad rush to see this entire park in barely two days, I didn't plan ahead. The light waits for no man, and when we got here, the glowing orange on Half Dome was already fading away.

Frustrated for not having got there earlier and for having to "compete" for a spot with the many photographers there, I felt I wouldn't have a chance to make a spectacular photograph that was more unique than the many brilliant images already made of this subject. Feeling quite defeated, I decided to step back and look at the bigger picture with fresh eyes. And there before me, I had found the most wonderful way to express the great beauty of Half Dome by showing how sought after it is at every sunset - people of all shapes and sizes with different equipment all trying their best to freeze that moment of beauty & grandeur for eternity. By stepping back and thinking out of the box, I am glad that I managed to salvage that moment and make an equally expressive statement about Half Dome without describing the thing itself!
Phil Douglis16-Aug-2005 22:54
At last. You and I get to shoot the same subject at the same time of day from almost the same spot, about fifteen months apart. I used a long lens to stress nature's colors and textures (seehttp://www.pbase.com/pnd1/image/35601784 ) while you use a wideangle lens here to add the body language of a dozen abstracted tourists and nature photographers to Half Dome as context. I love your whimsical take here, Celia -- their varied poses offer an incongruous contrast to the quiet dignity of nature's own work, and you use that comparison well. I made use of the same concept as you do here on an entirely different subject: Rembrandt's Night Watch, athttp://www.pbase.com/pnd1/image/45567003 . You give us about a dozen shooters making like Ansel. While my single shooter digitally mimics the work of another great artist. In each case, the viewer gets to see people trying to somehow identify themselves with greatness by digitally possessing it.