Clearing Winter Storm, Yosemite Valley

Ansel Adams published a description of how he photographed this "marvelous vista of Yosemite valley" on an early December day: "The storm was first of heavy rain, which turned to snow and began to clear about noon. The clouds were gray, and what sunlit areas appeared were pale and had very soft shadows." Through a carefully chosen camera position, exposure, aperture, film, filter, and paper, Adams captured the "deep, rich expression of substance and light" that he was never to see again in that location.