Gold Miner

This park docent pretends to scribble in a journal in the so-called "Mormon Cabin" in Marshall Gold State Historic Park. The cabin is next to a replica of Sutter's Mill; perhaps a hundred yards from here on the South Fork of the American River, James Marshall—later in life a troubled soul—found a fateful gold nugget in January, 1848, setting off the great California Gold Rush. He was inspecting the tailrace of a water powered sawmill he was building for Sacramento land baron John Sutter. The gold glittered, the mill was forgotten, and California (and world) history changed with this small discovery. I live only a few miles from this important spot and have been immersed in the often bizarre history of the Gold Rush all my life.

The photo was made under extremely low light conditions. Even shooting a Nikon D700 at ISO 4000, there were misses because of subject movement. The camera (of course) was on a tripod/with cable release. Later I processed the RAW image in Photoshop using the Nik filter "Monday Morning," adjusting the shadow/highlights, which can be problematic with this filter. I tried all sorts of variations with this image, including Topaz, but I liked this one the best.