I walked to a meadow in the dark, put my camera on a tripod, and waited for the sun to light up the sky behind Half Dome. I never expected to see, let alone photograph, a sight such as this. Obviously this vividly incongruous display of dawn light itself becomes the subject matter for this landscape. Half Dome, perhaps the most famous of Yosemite’s landmarks, provides the context. Light and color express the essence of this landscape, by creating stylized fire in the sky as a metaphor for creation. Yet my perspective is critical as well. By aligning the edge of those abstracted trees in the foreground with the fiery clouds, and comparing the scene to those the three huge slopes at right, I bring both the illusion of depth and a sense of scale to the scene.