[Piwayac - Vernal Fall - 300 ft. Yo Semite]

Watkins returned to Yosemite in 1861 and positioned his mammoth-plate camera at some of the same locations he visited in 1858-59. He refined this composition by moving closer to Vernal Fall, his tripod seemingly amid the flowing water. The passage of time was evident at the fall by the condition of the leaning pine tree at left of center. Here the pine tree is alive, its branches covered with needles, thus establishing its condition in 1861. As time passed, the tree died, thus providing a benchmark for dating later pictures.