I had the opportunity to spend a week in Yosemite Valley in early June. I’ve been wanting to visit Yosemite for many years after watching a number of documentaries on John Muir and his work to preserve and protect this amazing space.
While the weather conditions were good, they were almost too good. As you can see nearly zero clouds which unfortunately make for uninteresting sky in landscape photos. All that said I feel very fortunate given the nasty fires that have plagued California this summer. The fires forced closures in Yosemite valley for over a week in August, so Im thankful for my early June visit.
My favorite image is the 1st one taken at Tunnel View lookout at sunrise. I used a small aperture and slight underexposure to get both the starburst on the left and to draw out the morning shadows. Not a terribly original composition as this is probably one of if not the most photographed places in Yosemite, but I like it the more I look at it.
My next favorite is the shot of upper and lower Yosemite falls taken from up at Glacier Point at a height of nearly a mile above the valley floor. If you look closely you can see a number of hang gliders crossing the valley. There just happened to be about a dozen hang gliders taking off from Glacier Point that morning so I was able to get some nice shots of them. I highly recommend visiting Yosemite if you get the chance. Im sure I’ll return one day.
wadeshanley.com 