My final full day in the park was definitely hectic. There were so many spots that I still wanted to see, but didn't have the time. I was keeping my fingers crossed for my last sunset in the park to be good, the last few days hadn't bee too remarkable for colors in the sky. We made a loop around the park searching for anything unique that we hadn't seen yet, and this spot really stuck out to me. A small bridge crossing the river had the perfect viewpoint to see Half Dome framed by the hundred foot tall pine trees. I must have stood in that spot for an hour to try to capture any sort of color that might pop out at any time. When I was about to give up, one short burst of light appeared like a spotlight above half dome, and I set my camera to capture it. My camera sat gathering the light for over a minute, which was the extent of that scene. The frame before this, and the frame after this, didn't capture anything like this one did. I was glad I was there to see it!
This was one of the first photos I took while I was out in Yosemite Vally's bitterly cold winter. We made it there just in time for sunset, but due to Yosemite being a deep valley, the typical sunset photos aren't quite the same. I walked through some shin-deep snow in one of the meadows to some trees in the distance. The freezing cold temperatures covered the trees in a fragile layer of frost. They looked like something you'd only see in a storybook. I wanted to capture these trees the first night I was there because the frost could melt away the following day if it got warm enough. It took a little bit of searching for the right angle to show these trees with their surroundings. As I walked around, the last beams of light were creating a warm glow on the highest point of Cathedral Rock. As I positioned myself to capture this moment I noticed the frosted trees appear to almost lean and reach towards the sunny peak, and I knew I had my shot. One last decision I made was to actually capture this scene with a panorama, making sure I had every last detail in the small shards of ice clinging to the trees. Everything from the minuscule ice, to the towering mountain made this a special photograph for me.
I had to make another trip out to Yosemite over the New Year holiday, making it my third trip! I never get tired of seeing the sights in Yosemite, especially this time, being my first time there in the winter. On my first morning in the park, the temperature was nearly 20 degrees below freezing, plenty cold to create some great looking ice and frost along the ground and river. I made a short trek through some of the meadows and along the river winding through the valley. A sharp bend in the river gathered a massive slab of ice and created several opportunities for photos. I stepped cautiously onto the ice and shuffled further out over the river to capture the minute details of the sheet of ice.
