Originally shared on Instagram on November 10, 2025. Photography and story by Mark Middleton.
This week I’m sharing photographs of places that have become part of me — places that shaped who I am and who I’m becoming.
Yosemite is one of those sacred places.
My relationship with this valley began nearly twenty years ago, and every return feels like coming home. This image — a long exposure taken from Glacier Point — looks out toward Half Dome beneath a sky of dramatic, fast-moving clouds that seemed to reshape the landscape with every passing minute.
John Muir called Yosemite “a temple lighted from above,” and that’s exactly what it feels like. Standing there, you sense the Earth breathing — the granite walls alive with history, the waterfalls speaking in the language of time, the clouds moving like cathedral smoke across the peaks. Every photograph feels less like something made and more like something received.
Every time I photograph in Yosemite, I’m reminded that photography isn’t just about what you see — it’s about what you feel when the world opens up and lets you witness its soul.
Explore more photographs in the gallery or continue reading the Photography Journal.