This photograph was taken in Yosemite National Park, somewhere near Curry Village on the trail toward Vernal Falls — the kind of place where you stop not because the view tells you to, but because something smaller does. A fallen tree, cracked open by time, revealing hundreds of years in a single cross-section.
Each ring in a tree tells a story — one year of life. Wider rings mean wet years, thinner ones mark drought, and the subtle variations between them map centuries of weather patterns. The darker lines are latewood, formed when growth slows at the end of the season; the lighter bands are earlywood, made when the tree wakes each spring. Counting the rings in this trunk, you can estimate that this tree lived for well over a century — maybe 150 to 200 years, depending on the species and elevation.
Photographically, it’s a study in contrast and patience. The light is soft but directional, sliding from the upper left to bring out the cracks and grooves. The texture works as a natural fingerprint — no two trees ever tell the same pattern. It’s the story of endurance, of something that stood through rain, fire, and time until finally it became a relic for the next traveler to find.
This piece is available as part of the California Collective print collection — a reminder that even the simplest details, when seen closely enough, reveal entire lifetimes.
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