Black and white photo of a fly fisherman casting from a rock at Rae Lakes below Fin Dome in the evening.

The Cast

Rae Lakes, Kings Canyon National Park, California

This is the first photograph I ever took of Robert, within an hour of meeting him. He was fishing beside the ford at Rae Lakes when I walked up and asked a stranger whether this was paradise and how to cross it; he answered both. A 1/1600th to freeze the loop of the line mid-air, and monochrome because the cast, the rock, and Fin Dome needed nothing else. We finished the trail together.

Nikon Z 7_2 · 17-35mm f/2.8D · 20mm · f/4 · 1/1600 · ISO 720

July 4, 2025

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