Tandem Rainbows, Upper Yosemite Fall

About the Artist

Charlotte Gibb is an award-winning and renowned nature and landscape photographer based in Northern California.  She is known for her mastery of "Intimate Landscapes" — small scenes derived from a large landscape. 

The youngest of nine, she spent her early life playing and exploring the rural Northern California mountain area of her childhood home. Her father, an avid mountain climber and nature lover, made sure his kids shared his passion for the outdoors. After his death in a climbing accident, her mother continued to encourage an attachment to nature, ensuring that family vacations were spent outdoors camping, hiking, and exploring.

Charlotte earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. She cut her teeth in the advertising business as an art director in the 1990s, then operated her own graphic design firm in the San Francisco Bay Area for decades. Throughout her long career as an artist, her photography was constantly infused in her design work. Her darkroom has since been replaced with digital darkroom tools, and her style has evolved from a somewhat journalistic approach, to one that pays tribute to the natural world.

Charlotte writes and publishes on the subject of photography and creativity, has been a keynote speaker and educator for several national photography events, served as a judge for international and local photography competitions, and exhibits her work throughout California.

She can usually be found tromping with her camera bag in the wilderness areas around the Sierra Nevada range and Yosemite National Park in her home state. 

ilderness areas around the Sierra Nevada range and Yosemite National Park in her home state. 

Story Behind the Image

Through the many years and seasons photographing in and around Yosemite Valley, I’ve learned how the light behaves. There are certain light events that are regular and predictable. The Horsetail Fall, or “Firefall”, is a well-known example of a fairly predictable light event, although conditions have to be just right. Another example is the rainbow that appears in Upper Yosemite Fall. Like clockwork, it appears in the Winter months on clear, sunny mornings. You just have to know where to stand to see it. 

I’ve photographed this phenomenon many times, but on this particular morning, there was a fair amount of gusty wind blowing some of the mist across Middle Cascades. As I watched the vapor move through the scene, I noticed a second faint rainbow, but then it would disappear as suddenly as it appeared. 

Clouds were blocking the sun intermittently, so I had to wait for the clouds to clear before the faint rainbow would reappear. And, it was very, very faint. Moving my position by about 50 feet changed the angle of light, and the rainbow came into full intensity. I chased this rainbow for some time with the shifting sun angles and clouds playing pee-a-boo until I ran out of trail, and both rainbows disappeared. 

Ordering Information

Original photographs are hand made and not all sizes are kept in inventory. 

Special orders from the photographer may take up to 4 weeks for delivery.

Please contact us at info@anseladams.com if you have any questions about shipping and delivery.

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Prices subject to change as editions sells outs.