Yosemite After the Rain
Looking towards El Capitan from Valley View, in the first week of July. The past few days had seen some powerful rainstorms in the high country which, falling on the bare ground resulting from this past winter's unprecedentedly low snowpack, turned the normally crystal-clear Merced River into something that looked a lot more like a muddy lowland watercourse. If you look in the upper left of the image you can see that Ribbon Fall, typically dry at this point even in a normal year, is still trickling down as a result of the rain. On the other hand, while the storms brought mud and silt into the river, they also cleaned the air, so when the clouds cleared we were left with some of the bluest skies I have ever seen over the valley. The combination of these seemingly contradictory effects made for a very different look and an unusual color palette for this oft-photographed location.
Yosemite After the Rain
Looking towards El Capitan from Valley View, in the first week of July. The past few days had seen some powerful rainstorms in the high country which, falling on the bare ground resulting from this past winter's unprecedentedly low snowpack, turned the normally crystal-clear Merced River into something that looked a lot more like a muddy lowland watercourse. If you look in the upper left of the image you can see that Ribbon Fall, typically dry at this point even in a normal year, is still trickling down as a result of the rain. On the other hand, while the storms brought mud and silt into the river, they also cleaned the air, so when the clouds cleared we were left with some of the bluest skies I have ever seen over the valley. The combination of these seemingly contradictory effects made for a very different look and an unusual color palette for this oft-photographed location.