"There are no words that can tell the hidden spirit of the wilderness, that can reveal its mystery, its melancholy, and its charm." ~ Theodore Roosevelt

Upon entering Yosemite Valley in early June after the most heavy snowfall winter on record, my senses were assaulted by the health and spirit of this place. It was not long before I just had to park and start wandering wherever the breeze took me. With each sight I had to photograph, just beyond it I would spot the next wonderful thing to record, and so this cycle continued the whole afternoon as it rained softly between moments of the sun shine brightly breaking through immense clouds of character.

The capstone of this unabashed joy of wandering is when I spotted a herd of mule deer lazily grazing their way through the valley field in front of me. I knew in a heartbeat that I must figure out how to frame these beasts against a truly iconic image of Yosemite. After lots of soft breathing, chameleon-type crawling movements, and extreme patience to wait for the right moment, I captured this stunning image. To put things in perspective, I shot this with a 10-22mm lens on my Canon. The focal length was 22. With eyesight being roughly equivalent to 50mm, a focal length of half that means I was TWICE as close to this beast vs how it appears in the image…that was close enough…not a bad start to my first day.