Whenever I set foot in Yosemite, I feel the need to capture the grandeur of nature, extend the experience, and take it home with me. But, on this trip, I put my camera down and heeded a quote from Henry David Thoreau:

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.

How did I reach that decision? I found myself surrounded by other travelers engulfed in recording their experiences, one eye always shut as they looked through the lens of a camera. I came to realize that opening both eyes, without anything in-between, was my best way to experience Yosemite.

Snap-Snap-Snap

Yosemite is THE spot to capture iconic nature images. Early photos of the park were made by mountain men who experienced nature and weathered difficult conditions without modern conveniences to be there.

On tour of the vista points with my friend Dana Swarth, I observed that, nowadays, visitors experience a place through their cameras. They snap photos as frenetically as the White House Press Corps.

Photography can be like a sport in Yosemite—a rugged solo expedition to get selfies or a race to the finish line by competitive clickers. The winner? The person with the most photos.

It was seeing the crowds hold onto their cameras for dear life that made me skeptical of my need to record my experience in pictures. People came and went without taking a moment to look with their own eyes.

What’s the Focus?

Whether it is a face, hand, or a single toe, too many photographers intentionally place some body part into the landscape to say, “Hey, I was here!” I watched a woman reposition her iPhone up and down, left to right, in an attempt to capture herself in the frame. She was the subject; Yosemite was the background.

Some articles reinforce this focus on self. “How to take a great selfie in Yosemite“ gives tips that include dividing your time between sites so as not to spend all your “selfie juice” in one location or hiking to Mariposa Grove where trees dapple your selfie face with light.

Amid the unparalleled grandeur of Yosemite, it seemed to me that the focus belonged on the experience. Sure, I could ensure a photo album of selfies and prove that I was there, but I decided to adjust the focus, make Yosemite the subject, turn around and see the real deal.

Dropping the urgent need to archive and record myself brought focus back on the raw experience. Thoreau had made the same discovery years ago. He processed his findings on time spent living in the woods by writing his experiences in his own hand. He focused on deliberate experience and awareness, lifting himself out of a snapped frame and into the woods.

Too Big to Frame

During our tour of Yosemite, Dana took us on a hike off the main tourist track. We sat perched on a rock, overlooking a valley with mountains as the horizon and a carpet of autumn-colored trees below.

We took in the scene with all our senses, feeling the cool spray from a waterfall behind us while the sun warmed our faces and shoulders. I began at the waterfall and slowly turned my head to the left, seeing every inch of the full picture.

I had followed my own advice, “Open your eyes,” and experienced Yosemite in full. Even so, I couldn’t resist recording some part of the experience. I took out my ink and paper and tried to etch the view into my memory.

As I lifted my finished drawing to the real thing, I noticed that the lines went off the paper. Oh, I see. The Yosemite experience was too big to frame. Living is already naturally panoramic.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

$\"A$

Mountains of experience reach beyond the edge of the picture frame.\u00a0
\u00a9 Sam Anaya<\/p><\/div>\n

Open Your Eyes, Take Home the Full Picture<\/h2>\n
Whenever I set foot in Yosemite, I feel the need\u00a0to capture the grandeur of nature, extend the experience, and take it home with me. But, on this trip, I put my camera down and heeded a quote from Henry David Thoreau:<\/p>\n
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.<\/em><\/p>\n
$\"A$
Is it possible to capture the intangible essence of an experience in a photo?\u00a0\u00a0
Or, do you just need to be there?
\u00a9 Sam Anaya<\/p><\/div>\n
How did I reach that decision? I found myself surrounded by other travelers engulfed in recording their experiences, one eye always shut as they looked through the lens of a camera. I came to realize\u00a0that opening both eyes, without anything<\/em> in-between, was my\u00a0best way to experience Yosemite.<\/p>\n
Snap-Snap-Snap<\/h4>\n
Yosemite is THE spot to capture iconic nature images. Early\u00a0photos of the park were made by mountain men who experienced nature and weathered difficult conditions without modern conveniences to be there.<\/p>\n
On tour of the vista points with my friend Dana Swarth, I observed\u00a0that, nowadays, visitors experience\u00a0a\u00a0place through\u00a0their cameras. They snap photos as frenetically as\u00a0the White House Press Corps.<\/p>\n
$\"Two$
Diving for photos
\u00a9\u00a0Eva Boynton<\/p><\/div>\n
$\"A$
“I’m here!”
\u00a9\u00a0Eva Boynton<\/p><\/div>\n
On one\u00a0stop at\u00a0Yosemite Falls,\u00a0I encountered—<\/p>\n
\n
A couple adeptly using\u00a0a selfie stick to photograph themselves from\u00a0every perspective.<\/li>\n
A dad lying\u00a0on the ground to find\u00a0the perfect angle\u00a0of his wife and kids in front of the scene.<\/li>\n
An older man, smiling all the while, making\u00a0a 180\u00b0 scan of the “entire” view with his iPad.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Photography can be\u00a0like a sport in Yosemite—a rugged solo expedition to get\u00a0selfies or a race to the finish line by\u00a0competitive clickers. The winner? The person with the most photos.<\/p>\n
$\"Yosemite$
Nothing can quite capture the towering Yosemite Falls.
\u00a9 Sam Anaya<\/p><\/div>\n
It was seeing\u00a0the crowds hold onto their cameras for dear life that made me skeptical of my need to record my\u00a0experience in pictures. People came and went without taking a moment to look with their own eyes.<\/p>\n
What’s\u00a0the Focus?<\/h4>\n
Whether it is a face, hand, or a single toe, too many photographers intentionally place some body part into the landscape to say, “Hey, I was here!”\u00a0I watched\u00a0a woman reposition her\u00a0iPhone up and down, left to right, in an attempt to capture herself in the frame. She was the subject; Yosemite was the background.<\/p>\n
$\"A$
Click<\/em>. I “like” this mountain.
\u00a9 Eva Boynton<\/p><\/div>\n
Some articles reinforce this focus on self.\u00a0“How to take a great selfie in Yosemite<\/a>“\u00a0<\/em>gives\u00a0<\/em>tips that include dividing your time between sites so as not to spend all your \u201cselfie juice\u201d in one location or hiking to Mariposa Grove where trees dapple your selfie face with light.<\/p>\n
$\"A$
We<\/em> were certainly there! But what was behind us is a little blurry.
\u00a9 Sam Anaya<\/p><\/div>\n
Amid\u00a0the unparalleled grandeur of Yosemite, it seemed to me that the\u00a0focus belonged on the experience.\u00a0Sure, I could ensure a photo album of selfies and prove that I was there, but I decided to adjust the focus, make Yosemite the subject, turn around and see the real deal.<\/p>\n
Dropping the urgent need to\u00a0archive and record myself\u00a0brought focus back on the raw experience. Thoreau had made the same discovery years ago.\u00a0He processed his findings on\u00a0time spent living in the woods by\u00a0writing his experiences in his own\u00a0hand. He focused on deliberate<\/em> experience and awareness, lifting himself out of a snapped frame and into the woods.<\/p>\n
$\"Tall$
Take a moment to feel\u00a0small in comparison to the colossal\u00a0trees of Yosemite Valley.
\u00a9 Sam Anaya<\/p><\/div>\n
Too Big to Frame<\/h4>\n
During our tour of Yosemite, Dana took us on a hike off the\u00a0main tourist\u00a0track. We sat perched on a rock, overlooking a valley\u00a0with mountains\u00a0as the\u00a0horizon and a carpet of autumn-colored trees below.<\/p>\n
We took in the scene with all our senses, feeling the cool spray from a waterfall behind us while\u00a0the sun\u00a0warmed our faces and shoulders. I began at the\u00a0waterfall and slowly turned my\u00a0head to the left,\u00a0seeing\u00a0every inch of the full picture.<\/p>\n
$\"A$
Yosemite without cropping
\u00a9 Sam Anaya<\/p><\/div>\n
I had followed my own advice, “Open your eyes,” and experienced Yosemite in full. Even so,\u00a0I couldn’t resist recording some part of the experience. I took out my\u00a0ink and paper\u00a0and tried to etch the view into my memory.<\/p>\n
As I lifted my finished drawing\u00a0to the real thing, I noticed\u00a0that the lines went off the paper. Oh, I see.\u00a0<\/strong>The\u00a0Yosemite experience was too big to frame. Living is already naturally panoramic.<\/p>\n
Comment<\/a><\/i>*\u00a0on this post below, or inspire insight with your own\u00a0OIC Moment\u00a0<\/em>**here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n*
Thank you,\u00a0Sam<\/a>,\u00a0for your photos and, Dana, for the tour of Yosemite.<\/em><\/p>\n
Check here for more information about Yosemite National Park<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":null,"protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":27273,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[225,199],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nature-travel","category-usa-mappoints"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27269"}],"version-history":[{"count":68,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40775,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27269\/revisions\/40775"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}