Figure 1 – SuzyR hiking above the Yosemite Valley, (c) SR 2013 and reproduced with permission.

For American photographers, the Yosemite Valley and Half Dome, in particular, are defining.  So you can imagine my excitement when my colleague, Hati and Skoll

Figure 2 – SuzyR climbing the cables up Half Dome, (c) SR 2013 and reproduced with permission.

reader, and regular commenter SuzyR announced her intention to climb the cable line up half dome.  I begged her to share some of her images with us, which she has graciously agreed to do.

To begin with we have, in Figure 1, SuzyR laden down with a full backpack climbing above the Yosemite Valley. Then we have, in Figure 2, SuzyR gracefully scrambling up the cable line to the summit. I, personally, am very impressed, because I  hasten to point out, that all of this is occurring at about ten thousand feet above sea level.  The mere thought makes me dizzy!  However, my awe at SuzyR’s achievement is clearly not shared by the squirrel in Figure 3, who clearly thinks that they’re all nuts!

As beautiful as Suzy’s pictures are, I do not post them merely to record her achievement.  Rather, I wish to use them to segue into the topic of tomorrow’s blog: this is the paradoxical question of whether we take photographs to chronicle our lives or whether we live our lives to take photographs?

Figure 3 – Apathetic squirrel above the Yosemite Valley, (c) SR 2013 and reproduced with permission.