David, you have a terrific site, not to mention some outstanding images. I am especially fascinated by your presentation arranged by shooting format. Same scenery, same photographers eye, but the 4x5 has a look beyond just resolution that is very different than even 6x7. I can't really explain it, but it must have to do with the focal length of the lens native to each format. Interesting study.
About 10 hours of driving for me to Yosemite Valley...well worth it, and far enough to be a special event. But even my 45 minute drive to the redwoods is still special after 30 years of doing so.Originally Posted by Jack Flesher
3 hours and 40 minutes from my driveway to that view if I stop for gas and a soda on the way. But as much as that sounds like an advantage, it can also be a curse.,
The road over the pass is usually closed when I go to Yosemite, but it would be nice to be up around the big meadows and domes at sunrise.
Vaughn
It was definitely worth getting up these last four days. :-)
Just finished up a workhop and conditions were terrific all day long, which is usually the case this time of year. The mornings were exceptional and I'm looking forward to doing my own exploring tomorrow before heading home.
If you check out the webcam movies for today (Sunday) (visible Monday?) it was a wonderful day with constantly changing conditions capped off by a heck of a sunset.
QT, you can work the south side of the river the entire length of Yosemite Valley looking at the north wall to take advantage of reflections of the sunlit cliffs. When the light reaches the river, you can move to the north side and look into the shadows with the monster reflector of the northside cliffs at your back to bounce light into the backlit foliage.
The sections between Sentinel Bridge and Swinging Bridge are particulary productive, as is the area west of El Cap cutover to Pohono Bridge.
Fog makes it better, of course. Morning cloud color doesn't seem to occur as often as it does at sunset.
Vaughn, I was surprised to see that it takes you just as long to get to the park as it does me. It's only nine hours from Boise when the pass is open, and eleven when I have to go around.
Hey there Keith!
Well, maybe it is closer to 8 hours of driving and 10 hours on the road -- twelve if I have the boys with me. I don't know...I just drive until I get there! But besides the distance south, I have to travel 240 or so miles east also...and there ain't any fast roads out of Humboldt County!
Good to hear that your workshop/weather all went well! Happy exploring!
I printed all night Friday until the sun came up...trying to get something for the Yosemite Renaissance Show. Hopefully I can get something into the show so I will have an excuse to head into the Park in February for the opening! Used up a bunch of platinum and palladium salts...think I have something, but haven't seen the prints dry yet.
Vaughn
PS...just checked with MapQuest...they claim about 8hrs 45mins and 475 miles
Well, it will be eleven hours for me this trip home unless Tioga opens by noon today. Of course, if it does, it will likely take me longer. :-)
As for Renaissance, I actually may have time to send something this year now that the entry date was pushed back to December instead of October, which always snuck up on me.
I just saw your image of the base of Vernal (at Glenn's?) and it reminded me of one I have of a swimmer in the pool below the falls. That was September of 01 and it was so dry the falls were less than a garden hose, and this guy was down there swimming in the pool. In all my years in the park, I'd never seen before. What struck me most was that he was tiny, just a speck. I always knew that the boulders were big and the falls tall, but he looked like a pine needle floating in a pond. The boulders and pool are immense.
Caught the Glen Denny exhibit at the museum and the Yosemite Climbing Association auction this week. Some neat stuff!
But, dawn is just now arriving. I'm headed out to see what's happening.
Have a great trip home! It is a wet and blustery day here in NW California. (Yesterday was as nice of a day as we ever can get in November!)
I have an 8x10 taken from the same vantage point as my other image of the base of Bridalveil (are you sure it was Vernal and not Bridalveil that you saw?). It has my three Boys in it -- haven't printed it yet, but I think it will be part ot the continueing series of the boys in the environmment. They are but specks down on the rocks -- I had to communicate thru hand signals!
Its no wonder Muybridge use to put someone in his Yosemite landscapes -- otherwise the veiwer has no sense of scale!
Vaughn
A quieter morning than the previous four.
The chill in the air took away most of the dampness, instead coating things with a very light layer of frost. Tioga opened and I headed up at half past noon and there was about an inch of snow up by the pass. I stopped for a few snaps, but mainly kept a steady northeastern progress and arrived home twelve hours later.
As for your image, I guess it was Bridalveil. I'd like to see the version with the boys.
Stu Levy has an image of some monster fall with all these twigs in it that are actually full size trees. I forget the name, but it really helps communicate the scale.
I just checked the webcams from Sunday. The one from my old house on the Ahwahnee meadow is wild, and really gives a sense of how turbulent the clouds were, though it didn't seem to catch the color at sunset.
http://www.halfdome.net/cams/ahw_movie_02.php
OK, so far I gather scenes in the shade, some mist if lucky, and the Valley View, which I didn't expect.
You can also head up to Tunnel View and with a cooperative sky, get a nice colorful silhouette of Half Dome. Just another excuse to get up early.
While conditions change throughout the year as the arc of the sun shifts, the off-season (autumn, winter, spring) seem to have the best morning opportunities in Yosemite Valley, not only because of the position of the sun in relation to the valley features, but because the foliage is not as dense.HTML Code:OK, so far I gather scenes in the shade, some mist if lucky, and the Valley View, which I didn't expect.
Both Valley View (river level) and Tunnel View feature raking light on the southwestern face of El Capitan in autumn/winter/early spring which would not be there in the summer months. Similarly oriented features, such as Royal Arches and the Three Brothers, etc. get that same light and offer similar opportunities if one maintains the viewing angle (viewed from the west) observed for El Cap.
I am guessing you have a copy of Michael Frye's book, which features a map of spots in the valley with iconic views and seasonal changes noted, but even it barely scratches the surface if you are looking to work on a deeper level of abstraction and intimate detail when the walls of the valley are reduced to backdrops, shades and reflectors.
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