The winter of 2012 was very dry here in the High Sierra. The Tioga Pass Road through Yosemite was still open until late January. This led to a number of wonderful photographs of the high country. When atmospheric conditions are right in the winter months, incredible colors can occur at sunset. It takes a very, very clear evening to the west, clear far out over the Pacific Ocean to produce these amazing magenta colors. The afternoon was overcast, but my daughter, Sabrina and I decided to take a chance and drive up to the park. The clouds stayed overhead until almost 5PM. I had given up and was thinking that it was so wonderful to just be here in January. But then within seconds, the clouds parted to the west. I made this image looking down Tenaya Canyon to Half Dome and the Valley. This was one of the most intense lightshows that I have ever witnessed in my 35 years of photography. I made three images within minutes, and then the light was gone, gone into a memory never to be forgotten.
