Black and White in Yosemite

I had an urge to put some of my photos into black and white, to see if they would translate well into that style. My many high-contrast photos seem to look good without color. I hope people won't think this is a rip-off of Ansel Adams. I don't put near the effort into my shots as he did with his. He had serious restrictions on his freedom to explore his creativity by having to carry bulky and heavy 8x10 frames of film for his large format view camera.

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This was my most serious attempt at imitating Ansel Adams. I planned out where I wanted to be at the "golden hour" of sunset. Framing the shadow area into the bottom of the frame helps to enhance the impact of Half Dome's bright face.

The winter months in Yosemite Valley always involve shadows. Finding that right mix of light and shadow in the right composition what I was trying to do here. Bridalveil Falls can be tough to capture but, I like how this one came out.

The majestic El Capitan often has such good light on it. Those pine trees on top of the cliffs hint at just how massive this rock is.

Here is another view of Bridalveil Falls, from the Tunnelview Vista Point. Just 5 minutes later, there was an abundance of blue skies and sunshine.

Here my recreation of Adams' "Half Dome: The Monolith", his famous close-up of the face of Half Dome. Legend has it that Adams arrived at this difficult spot with just one frame of film left. It is an arduous journey to get to this rugged spot, even if you are not carrying a large wooden tripod and 8x10 view camera. One main difference in our pictures is that his was taken when there was snow on the ground. Mine was taken during 100+ degree temperatures.

A visit from Family

I had a great visit from my niece Julie, her daughter Idarah and our family friend Greg, Jr. The first evening, we grabbed some yummy sandwiches from the local market and went up to Calaveras-Bigtrees State Park. We drove through the park and looked around, then returned to the main grove of Giant Sequoias.

Idarah was very happy to be wandering on the trails, just like the rest of us.

Yep, she's getting bigger but, so is this "bigtree".

Idarah does the cutest things. She's such a good baby, just like her mama was!

The next day, we all went to Yosemite. I figured Glacier Point might be less crowded, and provide a more awesome view for Greg, who had never been to Yosemite before. We had lunch with a view of Half Dome and the high Sierra Nevada. Here's the view of the valley floor, looking over the edge of Glacier Point.

We descended back into the valley and decided to stop off at Bridalveil Falls, which was still running. Yosemite Falls was merely a trickle so, this was our best bet to see a waterfall up close. Winds always affect Bridalveil, and that day was no exception.

A Winter's Day In Yosemite Valley

Once again, I chose to go where other people don't. Even with it being a holiday, I knew where I could go to avoid people. My choice to walk up the closed Four Mile Trail was very good but, finding a shot through the thick oaks and Douglas firs was difficult. There were some icy and snowy parts on the trail but I had a nice burst of energy to climb pretty far to get this fine shot.

I also had very fine views of the impressive profile of the mighty El Capitan. Someday, I want to walk along that edge. This zoomed in shot shows that those trees on top are just so tiny compared to the 3000 foot cliff.

I really like it when I can use the wide angle in a vertical mode.

On the drive in on Big Oak Flat Road, I looked up and across the canyon to see how much snow there was on potential afternoon shooting locations. I settled on "The Rostrum", accessible from the west end of the Wawona Tunnel. It was a relatively easy walk down to the edge of a 500 foot cliff, with nice views of Bridalveil and Cascade Falls. The sun was nice and it was easy to ignore the noise of a holiday weekend in Yosemite Valley.

On the way out, I stopped at a popular roadside spot to view Bridalveil Falls and the icy cliffs above. Many, many years ago, my Brother Dave and I took a cross country ski trip from Badger Pass, mostly across tricky, untracked spring snow, to end up at the top of these cliffs.

Springtime in Yosemite Valley

My brother Gary came and visited me on one of his business trips and I surprised him by taking him to Yosemite Valley. He hadn't been there for more than 20 years. We bought some lunch materials and had a nice meal on the banks of the Merced River.

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Here's a view of Half Dome, the Washington Column and Tenaya Canyon.

I felt I needed to get some more shots of Bridalveil Falls, as the meltwater was very high with the warm spring day. Gary and I walked up the main trail to the viewspot and it was very wet and very crowded. Not good for picture taking. This was a good opportunity for me to exercise my best photography and outdoors skills. I scanned the area and checked the wind direction and decided to go to the other side of Bridalveil Creek. I did slip and fall kind of hard on a slippery rock, bashing my elbow but, saving the camera. I did find a secluded spot and was happy that Gary was there to hold a tree branch out of the way for this shot.

Of course, no photoshoot in Yosemite Valley is complete without the required Half Dome shot. You always have to have something in the foreground to show just how big that rock is.

Another thing Yosemite is famous for is the world-class climbing. The Royal Arches is one of the world's 50 classic climbs. Many years ago, I was on top of North Dome on one of my own classic jaunts. Also in the picture is the Washington Column, another favorite of climbers.

And here is my brother Gary, at my secret spot along the Merced River. I couldn't get one of those fantastic reflection shots with the water being in motion from the spring runoff. We both had a great time enjoying this world treasure.

New Yosemite scans!

To flesh out my new Mpix ( http://www.mpix.com/ ) book to use as a Yosemite portfolio, I scanned these old Kodachrome slides recently. It's really cool to be able to go back to those trips and, basically, re-compose many of those old shots.

This one below came out pretty well, without too much scanning trouble. I didn't crop this one of Yosemite's Natural Arch.

I was intrigued whether I could crop and improve on this interesting "rainbow" shot of Yosemite Falls from Glacier Point. I still need to be more skilled at sharpening these kinds of pictures without overdoing it. It just might work better as a black and white photo.

This shot, from Stanford Point on a skiing trip, took a lot of fiddling and I'm still not satisfied with the results. I was able to tone down a bluish cast and do some sharpening but, I'd be happy if the picture looked exactly like the original. More practice is needed to sort through all the jam-packed features of my Nikon scanner.

On the other hand, this pic came out looking almost exactly like the original. I still think this pic also has a bluish cast and could benefit from greener greens. I love the glacial polish and juniper trees are one of my few favorites. The Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne is a deep V-shaped canyon that was home to the Sierra Nevada's longest glacier, over 40 miles long at its largest during the Ice Ages.

I stumbled across this slide and looked for a way to crop a great picture out of the original. That afternoon and early evening had terrific light and Grant Lake was obviously perfectly glassy.

More pictures

This blog is mostly about pictures so I'll post some more. These all came from a late spring trip to Yosemite Valley when all the waterfalls were gushing, bigtime. Sentinel and Ribbon Falls were both as active as I have ever seen them. Yosemite Falls were just awesome in its power and majesty. Hopefully, I'll figure out how to post a video I took on that day.

Upper Yosemite Falls was roaring that day and I couldn't have picked a better day to go to the Valley and play with my camera.

Bridalveil Falls is always a favorite because it's the first falls you see as you enter the valley.

Sentinel Falls is often missed by the average tourist and even non-existent in dry years. Someday, I'll climb up there and get some closer shots but, on that day, I was taking advantage of my 10x optical zoom.