Tunnel View Yosemite

The eastern portal of the Wawona Tunnel opens directly onto the valley. El Capitan rises on the left, three thousand feet of granite face. Bridalveil Fall hangs on the right, 620 feet from rim to talus. Half Dome carries the back of the frame. The view is the result of a deliberate choice by the engineers in 1933, who routed the new road south of the old one so that drivers would round the curve and meet Yosemite Valley whole, all at once. Ansel Adams made Clearing Winter Storm from this stretch of road. Most arrivals stop, even when they had not planned to.

Slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, in our family studio in Knoxville, Tennessee.