https://www.michelleraneejohnson.com/

Michelle Ranee Johnson Photography, Yosemite Village, CA (2026)

09/01/2026

It is !!! Swipe to see some cute critters!

“Wherever forests have not been mowed down, wherever the animal is recessed in their quiet protection, wherever the earth is not bereft of four-footed life - that to the white man is an ‘unbroken wilderness.’

But for us, there was no wilderness, nature was not dangerous but hospitable, not forbidding but friendly. Our faith sought the harmony of man with his surroundings; the other sought the dominance of surroundings.

For us, the world was full of beauty; for the other, it was a place to be endured until he went to another world.
But we were wise. We knew that man’s heart, away from nature, becomes hard.”
― Chief Luther Standing Bear.

What is considered wilderness? https://wild.org/defining-wilderness/ says: “A wilderness area can have two dimensions: 1. A place that is mostly biologically intact; 2. A place that is legally protected so that it remains wild & free of industrial infrastructure, & open to traditional indigenous use, or low impact recreation.”
The “colonizers” view of “wilderness” that many people have, unfortunately, often erases Indigenous people, so this needs to be changed. Indigenous people have always taken care of our planet, such as through cultural burning (i.e., we wouldn’t be having the devastating wildfires we have today if colonizers had listened to indigenous people instead of making cultural burning illegal for many years). Before it became unlawful, the Indigenous people burned annually in CA, keeping the massive fires from becoming as huge a problem as we have now. Please read/watch https://www.npr.org/2020/08/24/899422710/to-manage-wildfire-california-looks-to-what-tribes-have-known-all-along (& my awesome friend Raymond John Gutteriez is in this article).

More info in comment ⬇️

08/31/2026

“Nothing should be overlooked in fighting for better education. Be persistent and ornery: this will be good for the lethargic educational establishment and will aid the whole cause of public education.” — Roy Wilkins.

Roy Ottoway Wilkins was born in Missouri on August 31, 1901, and passed away on September 8, 1981, in NYC. He was active in the United States’ Civil Rights Movement from the 1930s to the 1970s. He is most well known for serving as the Executive Secretary of the NAACP from 1955-63 and as its Executive Director from 1964-77.

His aunt and uncle raised him and his siblings when his mom passed away from TB when Roy was 4. His father fled when he was young due to refusing to step off the sidewalk for a white man. In 1929, he married Aminda “Minnie” Badeau. While attending college, he worked as a journalist for The Minnesota Daily and later became the editor for The Appeal and The Call after graduating. He confronted the Jim Crow laws, making him an active participant in the civil rights movement.

In the military, one can win the Roy Wilkins Renown Service Award, established in 1980, and members of the Armed Forces who embody equality and human rights activism will be recognized with the award. In 1992, the University of Minnesota’s Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs opened the Roy Wilkins Center for Human Relations and Social Justice.

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Wilkins and https://www.britannica.com/biography/Roy-Wilkins.

Photo: “Alpine Panorama” - The amazing, cute village of Alpine, Montana, nestled beneath the amazing mountains surrounding it in the , , MT in September 2020. Apsáalooke, Nank’haanseine’nan, Eastern Shoshone, Shoshone-Bannock, & Tsis tsis’tas Ancestral Homeland. , NikonUSA, . I used Adobe Lightroom to create a from ~10 photos, and Artrooms | Art mockup app for artists to showcase my photograph on a wall.

08/30/2026

“When one remembers all the events in the 1930s which led to World War II, and to the victory which we were promised would bring peace and make the world a better place to live in, one can only wonder if it was all worth-while. We have only to look around us and see the same thing happening all over again. An old French saying can best express my sentiments.
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.” — Nancy Wake.

Before we get into the topic of today, I’m sure you have heard about the US Government wanting to sell a bit of land within Yosemite National Park. If we let them sell, even a tiny bit, they may decide to sell way more than that. This is OUR PUBLIC LANDS - not the governments. I would be okay with it if it was given back to the Ahwahnechee, as they are the originial peoples of Yosemite (Ahwahne). But not to a developer!

Now on to today’s topic: Nancy Grace Augusta Wake was born on August 30, 1912, in NZ, & passed at age 98 on August 7, 2011, in London. She was a journalist & nurse who, during WWII, joined the French Resistance & then the Special Operations Executive (SOE). After the war, she briefly worked for the Air Ministry as an intelligence officer. You can read about her life in her autobiography, The White Mouse.

She was born in NZ but raised in Australia. She moved to France after she married her husband, Henri Fiocca. When the war started, she worked for Pat O’Leary’s escape network as a courier, helping Allied airmen evade capture & get to neutral Spain. When the Germans learned what she was doing, she escaped to Spain & then the UK. Unfortunately, her husband was captured & executed.

Her code name with the SOE was “Hélène,” & she became part of a 3-person team that parachuted into the Allied-controlled portion of France on April 29-30, 1944. She participated in a battle in June 1944 & bicycled 500 km to send the report to London.

Awards: 1945: George Medal-UK; 1947: Medal of Freedom-USA; 1970: Knight & 1988 Officer: Légion d’honneur-France; 2004: Companion of the Order-Australia; 2006: Badge in Gold-NZ.

Did you know that after her second husband passed in 1997, she sold her medals to help fund herself?

Sources & photo info ⬇️

08/28/2026

“Sometimes it’s not how much light you use to get an effect, it’s how little you use and still make it work. There are a lot of rules to be broken in photography, and you’ve got to have courage.” — James Wong Howe.

Wong Tung Jim (黃宗霑; known as James Wong Howe (Houghto) and “Low-Key Howe” and “Jimmy”) was born August 28, 1899, in Tiashan, China, and passed away in Hollywood, CA, on July 12, 1976. He was a cinematographer who worked on >130 films. He was one of Hollywood’s most famous and sought-after cinematographers in the 1930s and 40s. He was the master of shadow and used deep-focus cinematography. His best-known work is almost always black and white.

He immigrated to the USA when he was five, but didn’t become a citizen after the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1943 took effect. He grew up in Washington and was even a professional boxer as a teenager. He didn’t get his start in film until he became an assistant to Cecil B. DeMille. He pioneered wide-angle lenses and low-key lighting.

Even though he had much career success, he faced much racial discrimination privately. For example, due to the USA’s anti-miscegenation laws, until 1948, the government did not recognize his marriage to Sanora Babb at the beginning of his marriage since she was a white woman and he was Asian.
Career-wise, he won 10 nominations for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography (twice for The Rose Tattoo (1955) and Hud (1963). In addition, the International Cinematographers’ Guild selected him to be one of the ten most influential cinematographers.

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Wong_Howe and https://artsandculture.google.com/story/meet-the-cinematographer-who-changed-films-forever/DALS5WZQPEMDKg

Photo: “Have Courage” - Clouds were moving over Sioux Charley Lake, Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness Foundation . Apsáalooke, Nank’haanseine’nan, Eastern Shoshone, Shoshone-Bannock, & Tsis tsis’tas. August 2021. . Made in Adobe Lightroom . NikonUSA

08/27/2026

“Be not Defeated by the Rain.

Be not defeated by the rain. Nor let the wind prove your better.
Succumb not to the snows of winter. Nor be bested by the heat of summer.

Be strong in body. Unfettered by desire. Not enticed to anger. Cultivate a quiet joy.
Count yourself last in everything. Put others before you.
Watch well and listen closely. Hold the learned lessons dear.

A thatch-roof house, in a meadow, nestled in a pine grove’s shade.

A handful of rice, some miso, and a few vegetables to suffice for the day.

If, to the East, a child lies sick: Go forth, and nurse him to health.
If, to the West, an old lady stands exhausted: Go forth, and relieve her of burden.
If, to the South, a man lies dying: Go forth with words of courage to dispel his fear.
If, to the North, an argument or fight ensues: Go forth and beg them to stop such a waste of effort and of spirit.

In times of drought, shed tears of sympathy.
In summers cold, walk in concern and empathy.

Stand aloof of the unknowing masses:
Better dismissed as useless than flattered as a “Great Man.”

This is my goal, the person I strive to become.”
— Kenji Miyazawa (Translated by David Sulz).

Kenji Miyazawa (宮沢賢治 or 宮澤賢治) was born in Hanamaki, Japan, on August 27, 1896, & passed away at age 37 on September 21, 1933. He was a well-known novelist & a poet for children’s literature. He was also an agricultural science teacher, geologist, vegetarian, cellist, Buddhist, & utopian social activist. He also founded the Rasu Farmers Association, which helped the peasants in the Iwate Prefecture. In 1982, a museum dedicated to his life was opened in his hometown. Unfortunately, the public did not know about his work until after he passed. You may have seen some of his stories turned into anime, like Night on the Galactic Railroad.

Sources: https://www.kenji-world.net/english/download/works/Rain.html & https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenji_Miyazawa.

Photo: “Courtright Storm” - On the way to Cliff Lake (while still at Courtright) in May 2021, an awesome thunderstorm happened. Holkoma Mono Ancestral Homeland. , NikonUSA, . Adobe Lightroom.

08/26/2026

“If future generations are to remember us with gratitude rather than contempt, we must leave them something more than the miracles of technology. We must leave them a glimpse of the world as it was in the beginning, not just after we got through it.” — President Lyndon B. Johnson.

This is and yesterday (the 25th) was the 110th birthday of the United States’ National Parks. Our Parks and Public Lands are under attack from our administration - they’re opening them up to mining, pollution, massive amounts of logging, data centers, undoing the Roadless Rule, slaughtering our wild horses, etc. It saddens and maddens me. These are our lands! Not the governments - they need to be listening to us, the people, and it seems they do not care to listen to their constituents anymore.

Do you have any thoughts on how we can protect our lands, animals, air, water, etc?

“There is nothing so American as our national parks … the fundamental idea behind the parks … is that the country belongs to the people, that it is in process of making for the enrichment of the lives of all of us.” — President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Source: https://www.nationalparks.org/national-park-week & https://eatdrinkfilms.com/2018/10/30/scaling-yosemites-el-capitan-without-a-rope-a-conversation-with-filmmakers-of-a-classic-movie-and-a-new-hit/

Photo: “Richard McCracken in Yosemite Valley” - I got to meet the amazing climber Richard McCracken (and Fred Padula - not pictured here - I will show more pics at a later date) at the First Annual Yosemite Film Festival and Storyteller’s Summit (Yosemite Climbing Association) in June 2026.

More info in comment ⬇️

08/25/2026

“There’s a certain road in life most people walk on, because it’s familiar, and they can jostle to get in front place. I prefer to take a different road that’s less crowded, with many forks, where you get a wider view of life. I call it ‘the road less traveled’. That’s where I want to be.” —Wayne Shorter.

Wayne Shorter was an incredible jazz artist born in New Jersey on August 25, 1933, & he passed away on March 2, 2023, in LA. He won 11 Grammy awards & recorded over 20 albums; many of his works have become jazz standards. He studied & practiced with John Coltrane when Wayne was an undergraduate. He switched his focus from the tenor saxophone in the 1960s to the soprano saxophone. The New York Times said in 2008 that Shorter is “probably jazz’s greatest living small-group composer and a contender for greatest living improviser.”

Growing up, his father strongly encouraged his music career. In 1959, he was part of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers for 4 years, but then joined Miles Davis in Davis’s Second Great Quintet from 1964-70. Herbie Hancock said of Wayne that “…he understood that freedom in music was the ability to know the rules in order to bend them to your own satisfaction and taste.” During this time & after the Quintet broke up, Wayne wrote several solo Blue Note recordings & joined the Weather Report from 1971-86. He did numerous solo projects & played with artists such as Carlos Santana, the soundtrack of The Fugitive (1993), & won Best Contemporary Jazz Album in 1997. He started the Wayne Shorter Quartet in 2000, which they won Best Instrumental Jazz Album in 2004.

Awards: 2013: Lifetime Achievement Award from Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz; 2014: Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award; 2016: Guggenheim Fellowship in Music Composition; 2017: Polar Music Prize; & 2018: Kennedy Center Honor Award.

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Shorter and http://www.bluenote.com/artist/wayne-shorter/.

Photo info ⬇️

08/23/2026

“When the magic hour arrives, my thoughts center on light rather than on the landscape. I search for perfect light, then hunt for something earthbound to match with it.”— Galen Rowell.

“My advice for climbers or photographers is to really tune into your own passions and not just what other people are doing or aren’t doing. Figure out what works for you, what turns you on, what gives you the greatest amount of energy and feeling of satisfaction.”— Galen Rowell.

I dedicate my panorama “Magic” to the late Galen Rowell. He was an incredible climber & photographer born August 23, 1940, in Oakland, CA, & raised in Berkeley, CA. He had been climbing mountains since he was 10, & in Yosemite, he did his first roped climbs at 16. Since then, Galen has done over 100 first ascents in Yosemite & the California High Sierra. He started a small auto business but sold it to become a full-time photographer in 1972. That is when he did his first cover story for . His feelings for the mountains shone through his photographs. He won the Ansel Adams Award in 1984 for his wilderness photography. He then won a National Science Foundation Artists and Writers grant in 1992 to photograph Antarctica.

His book “Mountain Light: In Search of the Dynamic Landscape” has inspired me, and right now I am in the middle of “Inner Game of Outdoor Photography” - highly recommend! He also produced 17 large books about his journeys around the world. He accomplished some incredible feats - such as a 285-mile traverse of the Karakoram in winter & the ascent and descent of Mustache Ata (24,757’) on skis. He also did the first one-day ascent of Denali & the first circumnavigation on skis around Denali. His studio used to be in the beautiful town of Bishop, CA, & I would always try to go into his studio.

Unfortunately, he passed away in a plane crash on August 11, 2002, near Bishop alongside his wife, Barbara, pilot Tom Reid, & Reid’s friend Carol McAfee.
Sources: https://www.onlandscape.co.uk/2011/01/master-photographer-galen-rowell/and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galen_Rowell.

Photo info in comment ⬇️

08/21/2026

“The hardest thing to open is a closed mind.” — Ahmed Kathrada.

On August 21, 1929, in the Union of South Africa, Ahmed Mohamed Kathrada was born. He was a South African anti-apartheid activist & politician. His anti-apartheid activities with the African National Congress (ANC) following the Rivonia Trial imprisoned him at Robben Island & Pollsmoor Prison. He was finally released in 1990 & became a member of Parliament (representing the ANC).

His family were immigrants from Surat, Gujarat. Once in South Africa, they became influenced by the Transvaal Indian Congress leaders. He became politically active at 12, was active in the Non-European United Front (an anti-war group), & left school at age 17 to work for the Transvaal Passive Resistance Council.

He was sent to the 3rd World Festival of Youth & Students in East Berlin in 1951, where he was elected to lead the multi-racial South Africa delegation. He stayed in Europe afterward, went to Warsaw’s International Union of Students, & then the World Federation of Democratic Youth in Budapest. He became friends with Walter Sisulu & Nelson Mandela after moving back to South Africa & became one of the accused in the 4-year Treason Trial & all were found not guilty.

In 1963, he was arrested and put on the Rivonia Trial, where he was sentenced to life imprisonment alongside Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Denis Goldberg, Raymond Mhlaba, Billy Nair, Andrew Miangeni, & Elias Motsoaledi. They were released on October 15, 1989, serving 18 years.

He was appointed the Parliamentary Counsellor for President Mandela in September 1994. In 2008, he founded the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation & passed away on March 28, 2017.

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmed_Kathrada & https://www.nelsonmandela.org/mr-ahmed-kathrada.

Photo: “Lake McDonald Sunrise” - The beautiful at during a smokey sunrise in July 2021. Glacier National Park Glacier_National_Park 💜🦋💜, Montana. Ktunaxa, Nitsitapii, Kootenai & Salish Ancestral Homeland. , NikonUSA, . Benro USA, .

08/20/2026

“Ognuno sta solo sul cuor della terra
trafitto da un raggio di sole:
ed e subito sera
Everyone stands alone at the heart of the world,
pierced by a ray of sunlight,
and suddenly it’s evening.”
― Salvatore Quasimodo, Tutte le poesie.

The wonderful Italian poet and translator Salvatore Quasimodo was born on August 20, 1901, in Modica, Sicily, Kingdom of Italy, and passed away on June 14, 1968, in Naples, Italy. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1959 and was one of the most influential Italian poets of the 20th century (alongside Eugenio Montale & Giuseppe Ungaretti.
When he was about 7 years old, his family moved to Messina, as his father was sent to help them rebuild after their colossal earthquake in 1908. Seeing the devastation impressed him greatly. He published his first poems in 1917 when he founded the Nuovo giornale letterario (it was short-lived). He moved to Rome in 1919 to finish his engineering degree, but he faced financial hardship and worked as a technical draftsman. During this time, he studied Greek and Latin. He moved around frequently and met other poets, like Bonsanti and Montale. He finally dedicated himself entirely to his writing in 1938. He was a strong anti-Fascist but did not join the Italian resistance.

Did you know he was one of the signatories when the World Constituent Assembly drafted and tried to adopt the Constitution for the Federation of Earth - a world constitution?

Awards: 1950: Premio San Babila; 1953: Premio Etna-Taormina; 1958: Premio Viareggio; 1959: Nobel Prize for Literature; 1960&67: received honoris causa degrees from both the Universities of Messina & Oxford.

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvatore_Quasimodo & https://www.poetsofmodernity.xyz/POMBR/Italian/Quasimodo.php

Photo: “Solitude is Bliss” - An older gentleman enjoying the sunset at (you’ve got to check out Jalama Beach Store when you’re there). June 2023. Chumash & Barbareño Chumash Ancestral Homeland. , NikonUSA, . I used Artrooms | Art mockup app for artists to showcase my photo on a wall.

Michelle Ranee Johnson Photography

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