Reminiscences - Half Dome

Many years ago, I was given a book titled "Mountain Light" by Galen Rowell.  He immediately became a favorite of mine and I bought a number of his books.  In them, he described some of his techniques for photography.  I studied those techniques and tried those that I could.  About 12 or so years ago, I was at Yosemite.  Galen Rowell had a cover photo on one of his books showing the face of Half Dome lit a burnt orange color by the setting sun.  I wanted to try and capture a similar image.

The actual color of the rock in Yosemite is a light to medium gray granite.  The face of Half Dome has a dark streak from snow melt.  Other than that, the face has little color.  Alpenglow can, and does, change that.

Alpenglow is the creation of a ruddy tone caused by reds and yellows playing an increased role in lighting a subject.  It is most noticeable at higher altitudes.

Two evenings, about two hours before sunset and full of optimism, I set off to try to see and photograph alpenglow.  I know that I took photos from Glacier Point and from the top of Sentinel Dome.  I wish I remembered which one was the location I used in the shot below.  I do remember this - I thought my effort was a failure.

Our eyes "see" light differently than slide film.  Slide film is chemically balanced to give good color rendition (the way we see it) midday with daylight film and under incandescent light with indoor film.  Our eyes, however, change depending on the color balance of the light we are seeing.  When we are in an environment lit by incandescent lights, our eyes adjust almost immediately so that colors look normal, but a photograph of such a setting using daylight film looks tinted yellow or orange to us.

So - I hiked to my spot, sat, looked at Half Dome, swatted mosquitoes and waited for the view before me to turn orange.  It didn't.  At one point, it did seem to have a bit of a yellowish cast to it that looked interesting.  I bracketed my shot and hoped for the best.  Weeks later, I got my slides back and found this.

Thank you, Galen Rowell, and we miss you.