Upper Yosemite Fall Plunging Over Sheer Granite Cliffs (1927)

A towering vertical perspective of Upper Yosemite Fall plunging 1,430 feet down the sheer granite cliff wall into misty valley basins. — Upper Yosemite Fall Plunging Over Sheer Granite Cliffs (1927) · Donald A. Hall Estate Collection

Capturing the awe-inspiring geological scale of the Sierra Nevada during a 1927 wilderness backpacking trek, Donald A. Hall Sr. photographed the 1,430-foot vertical plunge of Upper Yosemite Fall in Yosemite National Park, California. The dramatic composition emphasizes the torrential flow of water cresting the granite notch and atomizing into billowing plumes of mist against the massive vertical rock face, highlighting Hall's keen eye for natural forces, fluid dynamics, and dramatic landscape photography outside the engineering office.