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Popular Photogenic Sites/Locations in Yosemite NP
Everything was booked and reserved in Yosemite NP and also fully vaccinated. Ready to go!
I am wondering where I should take LF pictures and which lens I should use in each site/location when I am inside Yosemite. Please share your Yosemite NP photography experience. Thanks!
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Re: Popular Photogenic Sites/Locations in Yosemite NP
Try to find a copy of The Ansel Adams Guide to Yosemite. It comes complete with sample images to take and maps for locating his tripod holes. The AA Gallery is now open, so you can probably buy a copy there.
Edited to add: Joking, of course, and I was sort of hoping the OP was, too.
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Re: Popular Photogenic Sites/Locations in Yosemite NP
Don't neglect what lies outside the Park down in the foothills Mother Lode gold country. To me, it's even more photogenic than Yosemite Valley itself. With luck, some of the Spring bloom might be left too. The more winding and lonelier the road, the better it gets.
Opinions will vary about lenses and so forth. Some people gravitate toward wide-angle views; but I prefer longer lenses for sake of homing in on cliff details and more intimate views. And a long lens is also a nice way to avoid elbowing a crowd below the falls. There's no need to try to duplicate some post card look. Besides, the season is probably already past for any classic deep powder snows in the Valley. And the road up to Tioga Pass is generally not open until Memorial Day. It will be easy to find your own relevant details all around.
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Re: Popular Photogenic Sites/Locations in Yosemite NP
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Drew Wiley
Don't neglect what lies outside the Park down in the foothills Mother Lode gold country. To me, it's even more photogenic than Yosemite Valley itself. With luck, some of the Spring bloom might be left too. The more winding and lonelier the road, the better it gets.
Opinions will vary about lenses and so forth. Some people gravitate toward wide-angle views; but I prefer longer lenses for sake of homing in on cliff details and more intimate views. And a long lens is also a nice way to avoid elbowing a crowd below the falls. There's no need to try to duplicate some post card look. Besides, the season is probably already past for any classic deep powder snows in the Valley. And the road up to Tioga Pass is generally not open until Memorial Day. It will be easy to find your own relevant details all around.
Completely agree with that last sentence. There's far too much to see there to be concerned with copying what countless others have done before.
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Re: Popular Photogenic Sites/Locations in Yosemite NP
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Vaughn
Try to find a copy of The Ansel Adams Guide to Yosemite. It comes complete with sample images to take and maps for locating his tripod holes. The AA Gallery is now open, so you can probably buy a copy there.
This is a good point, you know people often ask what camera St Ansel used, but rarely ask the important question of what size tripod they need to fit in his tripod holes.
Some of the easily accessible well known vantage points are actually marked on Google maps, such as the pullout on Big Oak Flat Road with an iconic view of Half Dome (for which you may in fact want a long-ish lens). But what views are best depends on season and time of day. Water should be flowing and almost anywhere in Yosemite has something nice to look at as long as there's not a car directly in front of you.
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Re: Popular Photogenic Sites/Locations in Yosemite NP
My experience in Yosemite lags far behind that of others. But I do have an observation to share.
Borrowing from the mathematical definition, Yosemite is photographically dense. That is to say, that as mathematics defines dense to mean that between any two given points on the real number line, another point may be found, in Yosemite, between any two two given photographs, another photograph may be found.
HA! And they thought I just ate the books!
Hmmm...Could be!!
That little revelation above came out of my experience of trying to use a wide-angle lens in Yosemite. With all that beauty abounding, I never felt so frustrated as when trying to make sense of the cornucopia before me with a lens that included just about everything... it seemed.
What I determined then was that I needed an extra-sharp scalpel to delineate what I felt was visually important.
Funny, though, that in a subsequent trip to Yosemite, I found my Rolleiflex to be very effective. Perhaps it was the forced restriction of having only one [taking] lens. And interesting, too, that my [I think] most satisfying and successful images came out of that encounter between the Rolleiflex, myself and the Mist Trail. Such things are possible. I feel that simplicity is important in one's approach to the complex. Life's successes are often accompanied by surprise. So, as chance favors the prepared mind, don't over-prepare it, either!
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Re: Popular Photogenic Sites/Locations in Yosemite NP
I went to Yosemite once, in 1990.
I took a lot of photos, medium format and 35mm.
Most were interesting ideas at the time, due to...being in Yosemite.
After processing the film, most of my images were...well...boring. They were either cliche, or just another tree/rock/stump/shadow/whatever.
I was inspired while I was there, but not seeing with my own eyes.
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Re: Popular Photogenic Sites/Locations in Yosemite NP
My appreciation for Yosemite began long before I started to take photographs...one of my earliest memories was getting lost in the campgrounds on our way back from seeing the Firefall off of Glacier Point. Earlier in family history, my Aunt remembered as a child taking the train to Yosemite Valley. My father, a native Californian, borrowed his dad's car and camping gear in the late 40s to take my mom on her first camping experience -- into Yosemite Valley. They had met and married in NY while my dad was in the Merchant Marine Academy('44)/Navy. When peace broke out they moved to CA...and family summers have always included Yosemite.
While the redwoods are my backyard, Yosemite would be a second home that I don't spend summers and holidays at. Yes...there are as (if not more) spectactular places in the Sierras outside of Yosemite Valley and without the crowds. Cool. There are places and corners of the Valley I have not been to, some at my age I probably will never get to, and some I will not be able to return to. And there are images I still want to make and many yet to discover.
So what to suggest to someone for their first time to Yosemite. Drive along the Merced River between the Park entry and the Valley. Take advantage of the turn-outs. The River is pumping -- the tree in the long image below will be surrounded by whitewater. Don't fall in. If the valley is too crowded, follow my earlier suggestion for Wawona. Hikes all over. Have fun!
If you see my shadow, try to catch it for me...
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Re: Popular Photogenic Sites/Locations in Yosemite NP
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Vaughn
Try to find a copy of The Ansel Adams Guide to Yosemite. It comes complete with sample images to take and maps for locating his tripod holes. The AA Gallery is now open, so you can probably buy a copy there.
Edited to add: Joking, of course, and I was sort of hoping the OP was, too.
There's an app for that - https://www.anseladams.com/find-your-ansel-app/
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Re: Popular Photogenic Sites/Locations in Yosemite NP
Quote:
Originally Posted by
William Whitaker
My experience in Yosemite lags far behind that of others. But I do have an observation to share.
Borrowing from the mathematical definition, Yosemite is photographically dense. That is to say, that as mathematics defines dense to mean that between any two given points on the real number line, another point may be found, in Yosemite, between any two two given photographs, another photograph may be found.
HA! And they thought I just ate the books!
Hmmm...Could be!!
That little revelation above came out of my experience of trying to use a wide-angle lens in Yosemite. With all that beauty abounding, I never felt so frustrated as when trying to make sense of the cornucopia before me with a lens that included just about everything... it seemed.
What I determined then was that I needed an extra-sharp scalpel to delineate what I felt was visually important.
Funny, though, that in a subsequent trip to Yosemite, I found my Rolleiflex to be very effective. Perhaps it was the forced restriction of having only one [taking] lens. And interesting, too, that my [I think] most satisfying and successful images came out of that encounter between the Rolleiflex, myself and the Mist Trail. Such things are possible. I feel that simplicity is important in one's approach to the complex. Life's successes are often accompanied by surprise. So, as chance favors the prepared mind, don't over-prepare it, either!
Yup!
My son just returned from Yosemite Valley. He reported the falls are cooking, still no skeeters but the gnats are out and no crowds during the week.
Sounds like a perfect time to visit the valley. The foothills are loaded with poppy blossoms along 140, btw
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Re: Popular Photogenic Sites/Locations in Yosemite NP
My favorite spot is not in the valley. It's along the road from the Arch Rock entrance up to Pohono Bridge. Ansel's tree has been washed away, but there are still good spots. If you go early morning before the breeze begins to stir the surface of the Merced, you can get some really nice reflection shots. If the conditions are good, there is a possibility of some great shots of falls that nobody notices. These are not "Oh Wow!" images. They are subtle and soft compositions. More like "Oh, nice."
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Re: Popular Photogenic Sites/Locations in Yosemite NP
Quote:
Originally Posted by
DavidFisk
My favorite spot is not in the valley. It's along the road from the Arch Rock entrance up to Pohono Bridge. Ansel's tree has been washed away...
I did like that tree!
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Re: Popular Photogenic Sites/Locations in Yosemite NP
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Vaughn
I did like that tree!
Me too. The only time I shot it, there was a fire in the park (2008, methinks.) The smoke invaded the valley, but it did have the salutary effect of turning the morning light very warm, which is when I made my only image of the tree. Not bad, but I decided a different composition would have been better. Next time I went back to reshoot, the tree was gone. Bottom line lesson: take the shot now; tomorrow may never come.
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Re: Popular Photogenic Sites/Locations in Yosemite NP
FWIW Mariposa Grove is still closed due to storm damage.
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Re: Popular Photogenic Sites/Locations in Yosemite NP
I grew up right across the San Joaquin River just to the south of Yosemite. We called it "the city". I can't recall taking more than six pictures in Yosemite Valley itself in my entire life; but at least two of them are arguably classic. I have spent many many days in adjacent high country. And I have also spent countless drives all around the lower hill country below, involving a considerably greater number of LF images, both color and b&w. I finally got around to printing an 8X10 color shot two days ago that I actually took about twenty years ago. The whole point can be summed up in one word - ENJOY! Try too hard and you'll miss everything, just like every other nervous tourist. No, you won't see it all. You can't, not even in eight lifetimes. Forget all the "must sees". See something of your own; take a little quality time. It's a good time of year, before the tourists and motorhomes outnumber even the mosquitoes higher up. I'm contemplating a brief drive that way myself, perhaps into Yos Valley, perhaps not. The specifics don't matter; there is always something worthy of a shot.
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Re: Popular Photogenic Sites/Locations in Yosemite NP
Drew is right!
Enjoy the experience of being there first.
AA would have wanted it that way
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Re: Popular Photogenic Sites/Locations in Yosemite NP
In the high country I have accidentally stumbled onto a few of AA's exact tripod positions, simply because it involved a wet meadow with a single conspicuous big flat rock as the only logical tripod platform anywhere around, or the only evident spot where the view wasn't blocked by trees, that kind of practical issue. But I came away with completely different pictures. I see things differently. Even if I had hypothetically aimed the camera the same direction, and used a comparable lens choice, the lighting is never exactly the same. One of my closer to home long-term projects has been to photograph the same buckeye tree year after year, both in color and black and white. No two shots are the same. I could do an entire exhibition of that single tree if opportunity arose. Nothing would be repetitious; there is always something new to discover, and either a new way of looking at it, or a new way of printing it.
If I do head Yosemite way sometime soon, of course the camera will inevitably be aimed at some grand feature which has been photographed thousands of times over. But I'm equally certain what I get will be unique nonetheless, and it won't resemble any postcard. The lighting is always changing, and therefore the details. Even the profile of El Capitan, which my own nephew has climbed at least 150 times, looks utterly different in the way Watkins variously photographed it, from how Muybridge then did it, then Adams in his own manner many times, and likewise me in that one instance I homed in on it on edge from a high precarious vantage point, barely big enough for my Sinar and tripod. The point is to soak in the light, maybe even study it leisurely through the ground glass, enjoy it for its own sake. Look for the hidden details. Hunt for your own little private space away from the herd, even if its just a dozen yards away. Finding fresh material is easy. The light itself is constantly renewing things. No two days are exactly the same, or ever will be.
I even have telephoto shots of notable geologic features taken right from Hwy 120 turnouts up around Tenaya and Tioga that I have never seen published examples of, even though hundreds of cars drive right past the same opportunities every single day during summer. But the minute people see my tripod set up, they suddenly pull over and start wildly shooting their dlsr's and cell phones vaguely the same direction, not having a clue what is actually there. It's rude, and I worry about potential dust, but never about seeming plagiarism. Even if they had exactly the same gear as me, and were right beside me, they wouldn't get the same composition. We each see things differently, and that's what's important to cultivate. When it comes to this kind of work, a contemplative sniper is going to hit the target far more often than any machine gunner.
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Re: Popular Photogenic Sites/Locations in Yosemite NP
Latest news - Yosemite is going back to a mandatory reservation system for anyone wanting to enter to prevent covid-related overcrowding risk. It might start May 1st, but check their website for details.
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Re: Popular Photogenic Sites/Locations in Yosemite NP
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Re: Popular Photogenic Sites/Locations in Yosemite NP
I went in Feb when the reservation system was just installed. No problem getting the reservation. However, they were not supposed to charge the $33 fee if you have a lifetime pass, but there was no way to avoid it on the internet site. So I charged it anyway. When I showed my pass at the entrance the first day, I was told I should not have had to pay the fee. But the ranger acknowledged that there was a programming glitch that forced the charge but I was assured of a refund. They gave me written instructions on how to do it. Wellll......the instructions weren't quite correct either. But at least I did locate a phone number to speak with a humanoid. After giving the number on my pass and other ancillary info, I was assured the claim would be sent for processing. That was February. I'm still waiting.
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Re: Popular Photogenic Sites/Locations in Yosemite NP
Are there special rules in Ysemite for tripod photography?
I know that this was a topic of conversation one time. But, I'm not sure how that came out.
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Re: Popular Photogenic Sites/Locations in Yosemite NP
I think OP is now there
I know OP fairly well as we met in person many times
OP has his reasons
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Re: Popular Photogenic Sites/Locations in Yosemite NP
Quote:
Originally Posted by
neil poulsen
Are there special rules in Ysemite for tripod photography?...
No. Just don't hit anyone with one and don't be obnoxious where one sets it up.
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Re: Popular Photogenic Sites/Locations in Yosemite NP
Well, Yosemite is a pretty big place overall. You probably wouldn't be welcome driving the spike feet of a Ries tripod into the floor of the Ahwahnee Hotel, or brushing into someone climbing the cable stairway to the top of Half Dome with something like that. Given the fact that most places I go in the Park might involve encountering six people the entire first day, and then nobody else for another week or so, there seems to be plenty of tripod space. But even at a super-popular turnouts like Olmstead Point, one only has to walk only a few yards to have plenty of personal elbow room and relative solitude. The biggest problem with conspicuous big tripods or big cameras is that they can attract an annoying or distracting audience of their own in popular locations - you become the object of curiosity, and not the scenery. But with a bit of discretion, even that is easy to avoid. At least, it's never prevented me from getting the shot I wanted. But admittedly, I tend to instinctively gravitate away from "must see" locations.
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Re: Popular Photogenic Sites/Locations in Yosemite NP
...or one does strange and bizarre things like being an artist-in-residence in a National Park and have a kick with the line of people high along a trail, waiting for their turn to look through one's camera. From around the world, all ages, some never been this close to a film camera let alone get under a darkcloth and look at a 5x7's GG.
Zion...a quick exposure before letting the visitors look through the camera. Did not lose any over the ledge, I think.
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Re: Popular Photogenic Sites/Locations in Yosemite NP
I've never done that kind of thing, but have often had people of all ages ask permission to look under the darkcloth. I accommodate them. Around here they tend to be very polite as stay at a respectful distance until the shot is obviously complete, before they approach. At overtly popular NP locations, that is often not the case, and I get genuinely worried that some Dennis the Menace type might be somewhere nearby aiming his slingshot right at my groundglass. And I have had redneck types either throw rocks along rural roads, or deliberately spin tires to throw gravel. Apparently they saw my California plates and had certain stereotypes, not realizing that I literally grew up with cowboys and Indians, and not with a surfboard on a street lined with palm trees.
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Re: Popular Photogenic Sites/Locations in Yosemite NP
We went and visited Yosemite in the mid May, just before Memorial Day, and had a wonderful time. Thanks for your inputs and suggestions! Stayed in Cabin at Curry Village for 3 nights and Yosemite Valley Lodge for another 3 nights. Hiked several trails, Mist, Vernal and Nevada, Panorama, Sentinel Dome and Yosemite Falls trails, about 10 miles a day. Also showed my view camera to 2 families when I took the photo below near Yosemite Low Fall. Kids and parents were amazed and surprised when they saw the image was upside down on ground glass.
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W4dhuR-Hp...ite004cweb.tif
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Re: Popular Photogenic Sites/Locations in Yosemite NP
Been wondering about you
Looks like a great experience!
Always best to take any vacation before Memorial Day and after Labor Day
Quote:
Originally Posted by
diversey
We went and visited Yosemite in the mid May, just before Memorial Day, and had a wonderful time. Thanks for your inputs and suggestions! Stayed in Cabin at Curry Village for 3 nights and Yosemite Valley Lodge for another 3 nights. Hiked several trails, Mist, Vernal and Nevada, Panorama, Sentinel Dome and Yosemite Falls trails, about 10 miles a day. Also showed my view camera to 2 families when I took the photo below near Yosemite Low Fall. Kids and parents were amazed and surprised when they saw the image was upside down on ground glass.
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W4dhuR-Hp...ite004cweb.tif
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Re: Popular Photogenic Sites/Locations in Yosemite NP
Quote:
Originally Posted by
diversey
We went and visited Yosemite in the mid May, just before Memorial Day, and had a wonderful time. Thanks for your inputs and suggestions! Stayed in Cabin at Curry Village for 3 nights and Yosemite Valley Lodge for another 3 nights. Hiked several trails, Mist, Vernal and Nevada, Panorama, Sentinel Dome and Yosemite Falls trails, about 10 miles a day. Also showed my view camera to 2 families when I took the photo below near Yosemite Low Fall. Kids and parents were amazed and surprised when they saw the image was upside down on ground glass.
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W4dhuR-Hp...ite004cweb.tif
Did you get to try the pizza at Degnan's Loft?
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Re: Popular Photogenic Sites/Locations in Yosemite NP
Randy: We did have a great experience and Yosemite is one of my favorite NPs. I was so busy writing a research grant prior to our trip. Hope I will go back and visit it again. Have you been there before? David
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Tin Can
Been wondering about you
Looks like a great experience!
Always best to take any vacation before Memorial Day and after Labor Day
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Re: Popular Photogenic Sites/Locations in Yosemite NP
Good to hear you had a great time in Yosemite...and a nice amount of water. Glad you could spend some time there and get a variety of experiences. Years past I have found the week before Memorial weekend a good week for the Valley. Use patterns have changed with Covid. I stuck around for the Mem. weekend one year...a year they had to stop cars from coming in as there were no parking places left in the Valley. The road to Glacier Point was not yet open and everyone was trapped in the Valley, circling like hawks looking for a kill. I was with a friend backpacking from the Wawona Tunnel to Glacier Point along the rim of the Valley...looking down at the lines of traffic far below, but no one around us for a few days.
When people look at my GG, I usually have to tell them to look at the glass like a computer screen, rather than putting their eye right up to the glass (like binoculars or something). Or what is easier for them, is to show them the faint image on the GG before putting the darkcloth over their heads. That way, their eyes are already semi-focused on the image on the GG.
Enjoy working with all the new negatives!
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Re: Popular Photogenic Sites/Locations in Yosemite NP
Good that you went when you did. The falls are likely to dry up completely later in summer. The Sierras are not in quite the extreme level of drought as the San Joaquin Valley below or here on the coast, but it's still way off normal snowfall levels, at least when there was a "normal" to compare with.
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Re: Popular Photogenic Sites/Locations in Yosemite NP
The 1st time I visited Yosemite with a LF camera I had 100 loaded film holders and exposed them all. Once home I processed and proofed them. Soon after I threw all of them away. I had wasted al of my film trying to reproduce the images I had seen in books and exhibitions. There were none that were purely my vision.
I have been there many times since during all seasons and made a fair number of images with which I am pleased.
The moral is - Ignore the advice and images of others. Go and see, i mean really see, not just look, and you will get home with some nice images.
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Re: Popular Photogenic Sites/Locations in Yosemite NP
The heat/water disaster should be LF documented
by people who live there
and post
please
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Re: Popular Photogenic Sites/Locations in Yosemite NP
I've been working with the Black Oaks in Yosemite Valley for years. Some people have asked me "where did you take that?" When I tell them Yosemite they say no way! Get away from the iconic spots, images are everywhere.
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Re: Popular Photogenic Sites/Locations in Yosemite NP
Had a sandwich there for a lunch:o
Quote:
Originally Posted by
John Kasaian
Did you get to try the pizza at Degnan's Loft?
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Re: Popular Photogenic Sites/Locations in Yosemite NP
Yosemite started to require a permit on May 21 and wanted to reduce visitor numbers by half from 4 millions to 2 millions a year. We were worried about parking and traveling inside Yosemite, but it was manageable before Memorial Day.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Vaughn
Good to hear you had a great time in Yosemite...and a nice amount of water. Glad you could spend some time there and get a variety of experiences. Years past I have found the week before Memorial weekend a good week for the Valley. Use patterns have changed with Covid. I stuck around for the Mem. weekend one year...a year they had to stop cars from coming in as there were no parking places left in the Valley. The road to Glacier Point was not yet open and everyone was trapped in the Valley, circling like hawks looking for a kill. I was with a friend backpacking from the Wawona Tunnel to Glacier Point along the rim of the Valley...looking down at the lines of traffic far below, but no one around us for a few days.
When people look at my GG, I usually have to tell them to look at the glass like a computer screen, rather than putting their eye right up to the glass (like binoculars or something). Or what is easier for them, is to show them the faint image on the GG before putting the darkcloth over their heads. That way, their eyes are already semi-focused on the image on the GG.
Enjoy working with all the new negatives!
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Re: Popular Photogenic Sites/Locations in Yosemite NP
We saw a lot of water running from Vernal, Nevada and Yosemite falls:o
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Drew Wiley
Good that you went when you did. The falls are likely to dry up completely later in summer. The Sierras are not in quite the extreme level of drought as the San Joaquin Valley below or here on the coast, but it's still way off normal snowfall levels, at least when there was a "normal" to compare with.
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Re: Popular Photogenic Sites/Locations in Yosemite NP
I agree, there are pictures everywhere in Yosemite. You need "go and see", and take your own photos, not following someone else.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Jim Noel
The 1st time I visited Yosemite with a LF camera I had 100 loaded film holders and exposed them all. Once home I processed and proofed them. Soon after I threw all of them away. I had wasted al of my film trying to reproduce the images I had seen in books and exhibitions. There were none that were purely my vision.
I have been there many times since during all seasons and made a fair number of images with which I am pleased.
The moral is - Ignore the advice and images of others. Go and see, i mean really see, not just look, and you will get home with some nice images.
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Re: Popular Photogenic Sites/Locations in Yosemite NP
I like your images taken from Yosemite Valley!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Jim Fitzgerald
I've been working with the Black Oaks in Yosemite Valley for years. Some people have asked me "where did you take that?" When I tell them Yosemite they say no way! Get away from the iconic spots, images are everywhere.
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Re: Popular Photogenic Sites/Locations in Yosemite NP
Tin Can - I've been photographing the effects of both drought and wildfire nearly my whole life. Just took two more shots about a week ago. I'm not trying to "document" anything; the kind of hues involved are just esthetically in my blood, but are also apparently in my genes ever since my father moved to California to supervise a major segment of Central Valley Project to begin with. Dams and canals were built as a safeguard against both drought, on certain years, and flooding in others. But one way or another, the negative effects of natural cycles somehow gets exacerbated by unwise or unrealistic water policies in relation to that overdevelopment made possible by taming those rivers. And now we've got a hundred ton gorilla on our backs with severe cumulative climate change. Something has to snap, and already has to a degree. An no, I'm not going to post. I can't even acquire the color paper I prefer at the moment, to print these on, and piles of negs are already ahead of them awaiting printing.
Yosemite Creek itself, along with Yosemite Falls, eventually dries up many summers. It's just a matter of when. I'm more interested in the opposite, when a downpour temporarily creates something higher than even Yosemite falls. I'm working on one of those right now, but in black and white. I'm not interested in its scenic content, but the especially silverly light involved due to all the rain and mist thousands of feet up. A black bear was feeding in berries at the base of the falls when I took it, but doesn't show up in the neg itself. It would have just been a tiny dot in the overall scale anyway.
But that was way back in a magical canyon almost nobody has heard of, and that's how it should be.