Perhaps the most memorable single moment of our visit to Yosemite came as we watched the setting sun turn the massive open face of its most famous landmark into a flaming orange slab of granite. I photographed it through the branches of an old Oak, connecting the living park with the park of legend. The Oak branches and my tight framing abstract Half Dome, suggesting its huge scale and forbidding nature instead actually showing it. I made numerous other images showing all of Half-Dome in this exquisite light, and they simply could not compare in terms of their ability to tell a story. Although the light in them was just as beautiful as in this shot, they were merely very attractive descriptions of an American icon. By covering Half Dome’s face with this screen of Oak leaves and branches, I give the image a sense of depth and also contrast the living Yosemite to the ancient granite that has always been dead, yet lives on in our dreams as a flaming orange slab of history.