Kalalau Cloud
Back in March I had a really short 2-day trip to Kauai in Hawaii with my father, who knows the island quite well. At the end of our second and final day we drove up past Waimea Canyon and up to the overlook of the Kalalau Valley (as picture here). At the same time looking the the opposite direction the sun was just setting behind a bank of clouds. It wasn't a spectacular sunset, but it did throw out a bit of warm light on the clouds that was rather nice.
I chose this particular frame and crop because I thought the line of the trees' silhouette balanced nicely against the shape of the cloud behind it. Mostly I was just looking to post something up online while I had a couple minutes to do so.
As it turns out my wife and I are going to be leaving San Francisco and making a move up to Seattle, and it's coming up very soon. There hasn't been much time to post anything because we've been absolutely swamped between job interviews, apartment hunting, packing etc. I'll be here for about another week and then we'll hit the road. It looks like I'll be substituting golden gate bridge shots for space needle shots in just a matter of weeks now.
Nikon D40 | Nikon 18-200VR@35mm | ƒ/9 | 1/125s | ISO200 | Handheld
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Uploaded on Aug 19, 2008
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Mount Gibbs Reflection, Evening
I decided to upload this other shot of Mount Gibbs reflecting in a marsh up on Tioga Pass in Yosemite. This was the scene that caught my eye on the first evening as we were leaving the park. I didn't really expect a lot from these photos which was why I planned to return in 'better' light the next afternoon. But looking at it again this evening it strikes me that despite the rich green tones in the trees and grass being lost, their silhouettes work really nicely too.
Being early evening before sunset, the low sunlight was still catching the red rock of Mount Gibbs and I liked the way it stood out against the silhouette of the trees. I used a 2-stop hard-edged ND Grad filter to darken the sky relative to the foreground (or lighten the foreground relative to the sky).
Mount Gibbs and Mount Dana are sort of fascinating bits of Yosemite. The park is mostly comprised of great granite structures, which are typically shades of gray. But just out at the edge of the park they transform into these great reddish rocks instead. The wonderful Mono Pass hike was a great place to take in the transition with the gray granite peak of Mammoth Peak on one side, and the red rock of Mount Dana and Mount Gibbs on the other.
If you haven't already, you can see the other photo from this same spot here.
Nikon D40 | Nikon 18-200VR@22mm | f/8 | 1/125s | ISO200 | Handheld
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Uploaded on Aug 4, 2008
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Mount Gibbs Reflection, Afternoon
On the first evening back in Yosemite we were driving towards Mono Lake, just trying to get there in time to check into our hotel and grab some dinner. I promised myself (and my wife) that I'd show some restraint as we drove along past so many beautiful spots that we'd revisit them later and drive past for now.
Suddenly this scene caught my eye I simply had to stop the car and turn around. The light that particular evening was a little too low as the sun was nearly set and all these trees were in shadow. The next morning we drove past and the sun was too low in the other direction. But finally there was an opportunity to come back in the early evening and catch this in just the right light.
July up on Tioga Pass is essentially spring time, so all of the meadows are green and wet. I suspect that even now, a month later, this whole marshy area is probably very dry. But I couldn't resist the perfect reflection in the still water and the bright green blades of grass sticking out and catching the light.
This spot is nearly at the east end of the park, just a little before the Mono Pass Hike which did on that visit. That particular hike passes Mammoth Peak, Mount Dana (just at the left edge of this frame) and ultimately wraps around Mount Gibbs pictured here.
In other news, I recently bought a new camera that takes this old-fashioned light-sensitive film stuff that I'd nearly forgotten about. This was one of the shots I'd most hoped to see in film but due to a stupid mistake of my own I overexposed by 1 stop and, being slide film, it's pretty well lost. I put so much attention into the film shot that I barely bothered to snap off a digital shot, and that's what this was. Fortunately I mostly stuck with the same composition and managed to keep the horizon level - not all was lost.
Nikon D40 | Nikon 18-200VR@18mm | f/8 | 1/250s | ISO200 | Handheld
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Uploaded on Aug 3, 2008
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Cathedral Peak, Spring
There is probably a lifetime’s worth of trails in Yosemite National Park and we’ve typically tried to see something new every time. But last fall one of our favorite hikes was up to Lower Cathedral Lake, so upon our 4th trip to Yosemite at the beginning of July we felt the need to repeat this beautiful hike.
The Cathedral Lakes are to the west and to the south of Cathedral Peak, pictured here. They’re off Tioga Pass which is the high-elevation gateway to the backcountry of the park, but it also means it’s only a seasonal road. This July trip was our first chance to revisit the area since originally going in October last year. It was pretty remarkable to see the difference the seasons make here as this area was very dry and brown in the fall (as can be seen here and here). In the springtime however water flowing through this large marsh on its way into the lake (at my back) keep it very wet and very green.
To our surprise the water was actually quite comfortable and not too cold, despite snow on some of the banks. We were able to get in and cool ourselves off a bit before hiking back to the car.
This hike is about 4 miles each way, but one of the very nicest I’ve seen in the park – I strongly recommend it.
Nikon D40 | Nikon 18-200VR@18mm | f/8 | 1/250s | ISO200 | Handheld
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Uploaded on Jul 28, 2008
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Half Dome, from North Dome
Another shot from my July long-weekend trip to Yosemite. The first hike of the weekend after driving in was to hike to North Dome across the valley from the very well known Half Dome. The hike to North Dome is accessible from Tioga Pass, the only road through the amazing backcountry which is only open during the summer months.
The hike is a wonderful one, full of 'typical' Yosemite splendor, including a brief excursion to the Indian Rock Arch along the way - as far as I know the only arch in the park.
And the end of the four and a half mile hike you find yourself on North Dome which has probably the best views of Half Dome's sheer face available in the park.
I wanted to post just a simple shot of the face of Half Dome, as it appears in full bright afternoon light. I did a simple B&W conversion on the digital file using a high-contrast red filter equivalent.
Thanks to anyone who checks back in here periodically for bearing with me through a really slow upload month. It's been very busy.
Oh yeah, we crossed paths with a bear on the return hike - I thought that was cool. Mostly because it didn't eat us.
Nikon D40 | Nikon 18-200VR@46mm | f/8 | 1/1000s | ISO200 | Handheld
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Uploaded on Jul 22, 2008
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15 comments
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