Yosemite

[tgtaylor]

I will be in the park Wednesday (tomorrow) and Thursday. If anyone is in the park would like to meet up in the evening for a coffee or a beer, send me a PM or reply here.

Thomas

[ROL]

Wife and I are going up this weekend to Tuolumne to catch Glen Denny's presentation at Parsons Memorial Lodge Saturday evening.

[tgtaylor]

I'm thinking of going to Bodie on Friday while the chance of thunderstorms are still present. Not that I want to get caught in a thunderstorm but with the "chance (30%) the sky should have some "character" in it.

Thomas

[brucep]

Maybe Taylor will meet up with you

[tgtaylor]

Turned out to be a successful trip with 21 4x5 negatives exposed and developed and all worthy of printing!

Thomas

[rich815]

Turned out to be a successful trip with 21 4x5 negatives exposed and developed and all worthy of printing!

Thomas

Wow!

[ROL]

Turned out to be a successful trip with 21 4x5 negatives exposed and developed and all worthy of printing!

Thomas

That is incredibly (:rolleyes:) impressive. I usually consider ~25% going all the way to FAP status to be a success. I shot a total of 4 (5x7) over the weekend – none of which I am sure are even worth developing, if it weren't for "educational" reasons, plus one disaster of pulling the outside slide by mistake (Doh! …hope I was smiling ;)). The light was horrible for the better part of both days in Tuolumne.

To the good, my wife and I very much enjoyed the "Yosemite in the Sixties" presentation. It was a real time trip for me as I knew either personally or by reputation all the characters, locations, and events. FTR, all of Denny's work was 35mm black and white, more documentary than fine art, but it was his work as well as others in the pages of climbing guides that conspired to make an energetic young climber eventually pick up (lug?) a camera for purposes of personal expression many years later. My prize was getting him to sign the Lost Arrow plate (http://glendenny.com/Portfolios/023.html)in my well used 1964 copy of "A Climber's Guide to Yosemite Valley". Contrary to ignorant personal opinion voiced on this very forum, the inspiration for my work is not Ansel Adams, unavoidable comparisons of which are mostly due to a shared history and love of a singular place and technique.

[Drew Wiley]

One of the relatively early Yosemite rock bums (Ed Cooper) did shoot 8x10, though he might be a little better known in Northwest climbing history. Didn't use LF on
the ropes, obviously.

[Leszek Vogt]

Thomas, it sure would be nice to see some examples of what you shot. I may dislike the people-popularity of Yos, but not of the place itself.

Les

[Drew Wiley]

People aren't much of a problem except in summer and peak waterfall season in the Valley itself, and once in awhile near Tuolumne Mdws. Certain entrances can get
backed up with traffic, or be slow to drive in general, but that's mainly a weekend phenomenon. If you can't stand that kind of thing, there is plenty of backcountry to choose from. Even if you walk a short distance from the road you can usually find solitude. Go in fall or winter and things are a lot more quiet. I was playing couch potato last nite, having gotten acceptably pooped out on a long hike the day before, plus tree pruning, so was flipping TV channels and stumbled onto a rerun of the late Huell Howser's episode with Charles Adams, AA's son. Was glad to see a comparison made of the famous Clearing Winter Storm shot from the routine turnout with that of the same scene taken in a summer thunderstorm, which is my personal favorite of all AA's Yos shots, though I've only seen it displayed once. But on the typical summer day all you'd see is a lot of haze and campfire smoke from that spot, or get run over by a tourbus, and have
your 8x10 trampled by sixty Japanese tourists clicking cell phones. But time the season right, and even that madhouse spot will be uncrowded. No worse than
the South Rim of the Grand Canyon or around the Yellowstone hot pools. I wouldn't go to either of those places in summer either, but have in fact found solitude
at both of them at the right time.

[ROL]

It was very busy and crowded in Tuolumne. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen anything like it. My wife reminded me that we rarely visit in high season anymore, mainly shoulder seasons. Every parking lot, turnout, and road shoulder was filled to overflowing, and yet, she was still able to get her chocolate frosty in record time at the T Grill :cool:. One good thing – the lightning, thunder, and rain sent all the rats scurrying for their holes. The place had really emptied out by Sunday afternoon, though. My wife likes to camp at Ellery Lake, and I have to admit, OB camper that I am, it was pretty nice (and Geezer Pass cheap too!)


http://www.rangeoflightphotography.com/SupportPics/Ellery%20Lake%207-20-14.jpg

[Drew Wiley]

Oh yeah... I've been watching the clouds pass over here on the coast. Driving into work, there was even a spectacular cumulus cloud over the Golden Gate bridge, something rarely seen. So I would have loved to have been in the Sierra this past weekend. Too many chores. But I did make it out for a good hike with the Norma
at Pt Reyes, which was pretty much drippy beautiful cloud forest all day. I generally camp on the backside, outside the Park toward Virginia Lks, in unofficial sites, since my Geezer Pass lets me in free, and I can come and go at will. Where I would have really liked to have been in the thunderstorms is up by Courtwright, with
all those domes and uncrowded spots to set up a tripod. Oh well ... One more summer here at the salt mine. And one more month before my long backpack. Hope
the weather and fire situation works out where I'm headed.

[tgtaylor]

When I pulled into the park last Wednesday, Yosemite Falls was dry. It clouded-up that afternoon in the valley and there was thunder but no rain. Thursday morning I was pleasantly surprised to see that the falls had a good flow which of course is from run-off from rain in the higher elevations.

After finishing up with some early morning shots on Friday I drove to Bodie. Because of the ongoing road construction it was slow going all the way to the Tioga entrance station behind at least 20 vehicles with the lead ones, big campers, just crawling along stepping on the brakes every few feet. No use in trying to pass as there were too many vehicles in front. At the entrance station they had the exit side stopped to allow two lanes to the entrance – the right for those who had to purchase park passes and the left (ordinarily the exit lane) for those entering who already had passes. “It will be about a 5 minute wait,” said the flagman, “we want to let those who already have passes to get into the park without a big delay.” It was the biggest line of vehicles waiting to enter that I can remember seeing at either entrance let alone at Tioga.

But I was ready for a leg stretch and got out and started talking with him. He said yesterday afternoon it rained hard for about 2 hours without stop and lighting was striking Mt. Dana so the park closed the road. It's been a few years since I was last on the Dana summit which is the highest peak in Yosemite ~13.5K and you certainly wouldn't want to find yourself on top during a thunderstorm. I always went up and back on the same route but he said that you can make a loop out of it by coming back down by Mt. Gibbs. Interesting. Next time I think I'll try the loop.

After finishing-up in Bodie I decided to take Sonora Pass on the way back and stop in Bridgeport to shoot the courthouse http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mono_County_Courthouse which I have been meaning to do for some time now. When I hit the asphalt on 395 thunder was rolling through the hills and the sky to the north was coal black intersected with spectacular lighting strikes – right around where the pass would be I figured. I pulled into Bridgeport just ahead of the storm and quickly set up the camera with a 90mm lens and got a pleasing straight on composition with tree branches and leaves silhouetting the foreground above the courthouse. After taking the shot I drove through the storm - free car-wash (: - but when I got to the pass it had already passed through.

Great trip!

Thomas

[ROL]

Maybe Taylor will meet up with you

He obviously thought better of it once he realized I was the only one who responded to his offer. Good call. :D

[John Kasaian]

In the Summer we drive straight through Yosemite and camp at either Saddlebag or Trumbull. Life's too short to wait in long lines just to use the lavatory in Yosemite :rolleyes:

[tgtaylor]

That's crazy to drive all the way into the valley just to use the bathroom when there's one at the entrance station, another at the Crane Flat store and also at Tuolumne Grove and, in a storm, any tree or boulder along the way will suffice.

After shooting Bodie (all images of which were shot with a 250mm Imagon lens) I would have drove to the Buttermilk mountains and the Alabama Hills but, alas, I left the air mattress home and didn't think that I would find a campsite that had smooth dirt as I had at Upper Pines. Still can't believe that I left without the air mattress.

Thomas

[ROL]

Thomas, JK's preferred, and shortest I assume, route into the Park would probably be up 41. That takes one through the interchange at the western end of the Valley on one's way to the high country. More than once, I was tempted, to drive the Valley Loop on my way through to better clime/bs. It's just to good to miss any opportunity, no matter how fleeting or ill advised.

[Drew Wiley]

I almost never stopped in the Valley, cause I was either going past there from the south entrance in the wee hours of the morning, trying to get to some east side
trailhead by midmorning, or was doing the opposite, and heading back over all tired and scruffy after some death-march (borrowing my nephew's term for those off-trail forays). I did usually stop somewhere up by Tioga to soak my feet in the creek and rest my butt from the driving, and maybe bag a shot up that way. I figure I'll have plenty of opportunities for the Valley once I retire, preferably off-season, though I really like the lower hill country a lot lot more in terms of personal photographic interest. There are certain crags up high that I like to tinker with, with long lenses; but those road spots are often easier to approach from the other
side. Zip up the Tioga grade from Lee Vining, do your thing, go back down, then back over Sonora Pass on the way home, where car-camping is a lot more convenient and ordinarily there aren't many mosquitoes either. They don't seem to like those volcanic soils, probably because it tends to drain, and doesn't hold
all those little pools like granite.

[tgtaylor]

In that case then El Portal, Entrance station, and across from...what, Wildcat Falls, and then on to Crane Flat/Tioga Rd.

Thomas

[ROL]

I almost never stopped in the Valley, cause I was either going past there from the south entrance in the wee hours of the morning, trying to get to some east side
trailhead by midmorning, or was doing the opposite, and heading back over all tired and scruffy after some death-march (borrowing my nephew's term for those off-trail forays). I did usually stop somewhere up by Tioga to soak my feet in the creek and rest my butt from the driving, and maybe bag a shot up that way. I figure I'll have plenty of opportunities for the Valley once I retire, preferably off-season, though I really like the lower hill country a lot lot more in terms of personal photographic interest. There are certain crags up high that I like to tinker with, with long lenses; but those road spots are often easier to approach from the other
side. Zip up the Tioga grade from Lee Vining, do your thing, go back down, then back over Sonora Pass on the way home, where car-camping is a lot more convenient and ordinarily there aren't many mosquitoes either. They don't seem to like those volcanic soils, probably because it tends to drain, and doesn't hold
all those little pools like granite.

If anything expresses the difference in our outlooks and artistic expressions, perhaps nothing says it better than that. All is not photography for me.

[tgtaylor]

You can still get good images in the valley during the height of the tourist season. The light gets harsh fast so you have to work early (before the tourists get out and about) and in the mid to late afternoon when the sunlight begins to penetrate a similar atmospheric volume. Keeping the tourists out of the picture, especially in the afternoon, is a major challenge though.

Thomas

[Drew Wiley]

Doubt that. I just don't like crowds period. Even when I was a kid and Yosemite was far less crowded in summer than it is now, we still routinely called it, "the City". Some place to go on a date for a slow drive, or to pull a prank on some ranger. I hiked thousands of miles before I ever even owned a camera. Climbed hundreds of rocks before I ever heard of "rockclimbing" - not, maybe not El Cap, but dangerous enough. Ran rapids before I ever heard of "whitewater sports", built heavy bicycles and did crazy stuff in them before anyone every heard of "trailbiking". It was just growing up. What every other kid around the hills did, besides hunting and fishing, crawling thru caves, and getting chased by bulls. Yosemite Valley is just a tiny bit of the Sierra, and as you well know, not the only spectacular glacial valley in the range. It is the most accessible to the public. Even half dome is only the third largest dome in the range; most people have never even heard of the other two. Yeah, it can be a lovely spot at the right time. But I can think of lots of places I'd much rather be in summer in the Sierra. Looking at
one of my prints last nite from two years back. Giant meadow, spectacular monolith at the end of it, complex clouds, and high peaks at the horizon... and not one
single other person anywhere, except for me and my two companions. Only saw two other people the entire following week, who did a shortcut over Milestone.
The only company was bears and chipmunks, and neither bothered us.

[Drew Wiley]

I was responding to ROL, Tom, not you... we apparently posted at the same time.

[ROL]

...when the sunlight begins to penetrate a similar atmospheric volume.

I'll use Thomas' quote to paraphrase the issue. Sometimes you gotta look beyond the obvious to see and experience what is good, winnowing through the chaff to get to the seed.

[Drew Wiley]

I have no problem with chaff, or weeds either. Probably very few people can burrow thru underbrush with an 8x10 and heavy pack quite like I can. But when I do set up, I like a contemplative experience, something, uh, er, devoid of boomboxes and raves. Sure, even in summer one can wander a bit in Yosemite Valley to find a personal quiet spot and an interesting rock of perspective. Camping there, sneezing amidst smoke and noise is another subject. I don't shoot stereotypes anywhere. I have a full portfolio of prints from Pt Lobos, for example, and with the exception of maybe one print, nobody would ever guess where I took them. I have taken only a handful of shots ever in Yos Valley, and one of them is an El Cap shot I'm pretty certain nobody has every done anything like, at least in LF perspective or quality. I mean... how many people are stupid enough to hack their way up a steep ice cone piled in that book of the NA Wall and chisel off the top with an ice axe to get a tripod platform for an edge-on long-lens shot? (But the fun part was getting back down!). I stood right in a set of AA's tripod holes last
summer in SEKI high country, recognized a famous shot of his, exactly, and even had better clouds then he did. And it was a nice level rock for the tripod. But I
pointed the camera the opposite direction, with a long lens into some very intricate detail on a rock face, and asked myself, how on earth has everyone missed
that shot? We all see things a bit differently, and I can get just as good shots two blocks from my house as I can in the mtns, and have prints to prove it. But
I go the mtns more for the solitude and personal experience than even photography itself. Always have. Sometimes I just sit there and enjoy the light fading, even
if it means passing up an incredible shot. There will always be another picture, not another round at life, at least in that sense.

[Drew Wiley]

.. but yeah, ROL, I did get the drift of that remark, "beyond the obvious". You pegged the wrong guy on that one. I have a major body of work all done on those
roads everyone whizzes past without even a glance as they rush up to Yosemite to see the stereotypes. I've displayed and sold a big color print from Bodie that
looks unlike anything anyone else has ever taken there; and nobody would know where it was taken if I didn't tell them. Most (not all) of my high country shots are of details that would also be difficult to geographically place. Postcard type I'm not.

[ROL]

That's a hell of a defense, Drew. I may finish reading it someday. Suffice to say, your drift-getting needs tuning. And as for whizzing… let it go, let it go (to self).:D

[Drew Wiley]

Yeah, I'd far rather be one one of the little dirt side roads or other backroads than where the cars can whizz past... but there are some awfully interesting rocks and bits of ruins along some of the main roads too. Hwy 120 has some of the worst traffic, along with the narrow roads with turkey ranch semis driving like bats out of hell. But it doesn't take much scouting to get away from that. Lovely little towns like Copperopolis have been literally leveled to make room for disgusting mini burbs; but Chinese Camp is still relatively interesting. I won't even say where my favorite spots are. Lots of hill people would sell level their own grandma's house if they thought they could develop it. Surprisingly little sense of history. But I know you haven't bothered to read this anyway, ROL. Don't want to distract you from your back issues of "Descent". (Inside joke, but it was once a real periodical in Yosemite, if a deliberately cynical one.)

[Preston]

The fire is approximately 500 acres. Foresta has been evacuated. About 300 firefighters are working the fire in an area that burned in 2009. A DC-10 airtanker, as well as S-2's from Columbia Air Attack (CalFire) are flying the fire.

From the YNP web site this morning...


Road and Campground Closures Due to Fire...

Big Oak Flat Rd between Crane Flat & the El Portal Rd is temporarily closed. There is no access to Yosemite Valley via the Big Oak Flat Rd or Hwy 120. Tioga Rd is open & accessible via Big Oak Flat & Tioga Pass Entrances. Crane Flat Campground is closed.

Update 12:15 PM today: The fire is estimated to be 2,100 acres. It is 5% contained. There is a mandatory evacuation order for the community of Foresta, and the area known as Old El Portal. The Crane Flat Campground has also been evacuated.

Update from our Sonora news (http://www.mymotherlode.com/news/local/217271/access-yosemite-valley-highway-120.html)

--P

[Drew Wiley]

Expect a mess for awhile, plus a lot of smoke. Welcome to summer. As soon as they have this one out, there will be another.

[tgtaylor]

Another sign of climate change: I read that a rattlesnake was discovered at Cathedral Lakes in Yosemite. The lakes are at the 9200 and 9500 foot elevation well beyond the altitude that the rattlesnake is found which is rarely above 6500 feet.

Thomas

[Drew Wiley]

I stumbled onto a couple rattlers at 7500 in a dry stretch of Sugarloaf Valley down in Sequoia not too long ago. Whether there was actually a rattler as high as
Cathedral would depend on the source. That heavy tourist trail area, and lots of those folks might have confused an ordinary snake for a rattler. Lower down, folks
often confuse gopher snakes for rattlers, but gopher snakes deliberately mimic them, even shaking their tail. Around here someone panicked and called 911 about
two mountain lions running around the golf course, which turned out to be two golden retrievers. Flatlanders. But the high Sierra version of rattler is different than
the big diamondbacks in the foothills - smaller, less aggressive, more of a tan color. Somewhat resemble our coastal rattlers, but not quite the same.

[tgtaylor]

Here's a work-print of an image of Washington Column that didn't go any further than that. It's too dark in the top left (nothing on the negative in that area) and can you see the shadow of the tree (Pondorosa?) from over my shoulder? But I still believe this scene has potential and I am determined to re-shoot it again. But this time I will go when tourists are not rafting down the Merced or walking up along the right bank.

https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2909/14637236849_b96fc400e8.jpg

The idea was to shoot the Washington Column with the Merced and this was the only spot I found where this could be done. I had scouted this spot out late the afternoon before and originally I thought that it would be the easiest since no tourists were anywhere near. But alas I didn't bring my compass with me and ended-up returning to this location 3 times the next day before the shot was made and even then I estimated that I was about an hour late and further had to wait for everyone to get out of the way.

Here's the view that Carleton Watkins made in the 1860's:

http://hdwallpapersfactory.com/wallpaper/carleton_watkins_washington_column_2082_feet_yosemite_california_albumen_print_high_resolution_desktop_1765x2424_wallpaper-288484.jpg

Note that it was shot from a location further downstream and on the opposite side of the Merced. Due to the density of the trees now in the area, I believe that replicating his shot would be impossible today. Philip Hyde managed to incorporate the Column, Half Dome, and the Merced which is a fine photo but a little too far away from the subject (Washington Column) than what I had envisioned:

http://www.philiphyde.com/data/photos/487_1r4YNP_142_Merced_River_Half_Dome_In_Clouds_Washington_Column_Yosemite_Valley.jpg

But I am not sure that even this view is still available today.

Technical: Printed on Oriental RC at grade 2.5. The white dot appearing in the water in the lower left is an artifact from the scanner, apparently from the software as it doesn't appear in the preview but only the scan and then starts out as a "Big Dipper" with several white spots and gradually subsides to the one spot depending on the sizing. I'm debating whether or not to purchase the software to make the Epson 3200 compatible with a Windows 8.1 64-bit OS or put that money towards a new scanner.

Oh, and I didn't mean for the Watkins image to appear that large - it just came that way.

Thomas

[tgtaylor]

I can't wait to get back!

Thomas

[John Kasaian]

Another sign of climate change: I read that a rattlesnake was discovered at Cathedral Lakes in Yosemite. The lakes are at the 9200 and 9500 foot elevation well beyond the altitude that the rattlesnake is found which is rarely above 6500 feet.

Thomas
Rattlers can't read elevation signs worth a squat:rolleyes:

[Drew Wiley]

Rattlers read just fine. They just need red reading glasses over their heat-sensing pits, not over their eyes. If you want to fool them, then pull a couple of green
filters out of your camera bag and substitute those. They can't spot you if you become orthochromatic.

[tgtaylor]

Here’s one of the jewels captured on the trip printed as a salted paper print toned in platinum. This is not even close to the original print which is currently hanging over the kitchen table (I like hanging out in the kitchen for some reason) but it shows the potential of the salted paper syntax. See that cloud in the upper right? In reality it was a dark grey cloud but the process rendered it as a subtle white cloud – much more subtle in the print as depicted in the photo. The “defect” on Lower Brother which I had noted in an earlier post all but disappears and overall the print appears soft but not as soft as if it was shot with a soft focus lens. In other words it’s both soft and sharp – perfect IMO.

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3922/14883195207_65ec1f0f78_c.jpg

Thomas

[karl french]

It was nice to see this in person last weekend. It's quite beautiful. Thanks for bringing it to the meet up.

[tgtaylor]

Thanks Karl. It was nice seeing you again and viewing your work. It was also great to meet about 20 other LF photographers and view their work up close and in person. I found the experience to be very inspiring personally and look forward to the next such meet-up.

Thomas

[dsphotog]

Great stuff, Tom. (as usual)
That's an 8x10 contact?
What lens was it shot with?

[tgtaylor]

Thanks David. It's an Acros contact print shot with a 240mm Schneider Symmar-S on an MII.

Thomas