Autumn Sunrise In Yosemite
I have been wanting to make a trip up to Yosemite during Autumn ever since purchasing "The Four Seasons Of Yosemite" by Mark Boster a couple of years ago. I had also just recently seen a photo by Michael Frye showing the sun coming up much further to the South of Half Dome giving some wonderful side light to the trees along the Merced River and I knew that there would only be a few weeks out of the year when you could photograph the light hitting the changing leaves from that angle. As Veterans Day fell on a Monday this year, it opened up just enough of my Fall schedule to allow me to make a quick overnight trip up to the park. I set off at 6 AM last Saturday and arrived in the park just after noon.
The most amazing thing about this trip was....it was like visiting the park again for the very first time. The light and shadows were completely different than my last visit in June. In June, huge expanses of the park are completely lit by the sun for the entire day, but in November, the jagged peaks of the Cathedral Rocks and Sentinel Rock move continuously across the valley floor. In the Eastern part of the valley, only a small section will light up in the morning and then the sun is gone for the rest of the day. And the water levels were radically different. Yosemite Falls and stopped flowing completely and Bridal Veil was down to a thin wisp. The upside to this was that the river was almost impossibly still in several locations, creating an incredible mirror to the changing leaves of the Cottonwoods and Oaks along its banks.
After a quick hour or so of shooting in the valley, I drove up to the trailhead for Sentinel Dome as Glacier Point road was still open. I had never been up to the top of the Dome before and was completely blown away by the 360 degree panoramic view of the park and surrounding peaks.
After spending the night with some friends in Mariposa, I woke up at 4:30 AM and drove up to Glacier Point for the Sunrise. Again, I was amazed at the extreme change of angle of the sunrise. In June, the sun comes up almost directly behind Half Dome, but in November, the sunrise was FAR to the right, lighting Half Dome from behind. After shooting for an hour or so, I ran back to the car and drove back down the the valley floor. I was positive that I had waited too long to get my sunrise reflection shot of Half Dome, but as I parked by Yosemite Village and ran through the trees, it looked like I had shown up just in time. The trees along the Merced in that corner of Yosemite had just hit peak and the sun was still low enough to grab a bit of a starburst behind the larger firs and pines on the opposite bank.
Although my time in the park was brief, I shot almost non stop while I was there as there was still plenty of color up and down the Merced River. I came back with over 2000 images and I'll try to upload as many as I can over the next few weeks.
If you had asked me three years ago if I wanted to shoot Yosemite during Autumn, I would have passed. Brown weeds, low water levels, no waterfalls...why make the trip? After shooting up there this weekend, I could not have been more mistaken. Between the changing leaves, pristine reflections, and completely different light and shadows to work with, I would highly recommend making a trip up there between September and November to ANYONE who is a fan of Yosemite National Park.
NB: When I arrived at the location in the above shot, I was literally the only one shooting for a full 30 minutes. If not for Michael Frye's book , The Photographer's Guide To Yosemite I wouldn't have known about this location at all. This was not taken from Sentinel Bridge, but from just off the overflow parking area of Yosemite Village. If you are trying to find this spot, park as far East as you can in the lot, walk through the trees, and you're there.
William McIntosh Photography | 500px | Twitter
Autumn Sunrise In Yosemite
I have been wanting to make a trip up to Yosemite during Autumn ever since purchasing "The Four Seasons Of Yosemite" by Mark Boster a couple of years ago. I had also just recently seen a photo by Michael Frye showing the sun coming up much further to the South of Half Dome giving some wonderful side light to the trees along the Merced River and I knew that there would only be a few weeks out of the year when you could photograph the light hitting the changing leaves from that angle. As Veterans Day fell on a Monday this year, it opened up just enough of my Fall schedule to allow me to make a quick overnight trip up to the park. I set off at 6 AM last Saturday and arrived in the park just after noon.
The most amazing thing about this trip was....it was like visiting the park again for the very first time. The light and shadows were completely different than my last visit in June. In June, huge expanses of the park are completely lit by the sun for the entire day, but in November, the jagged peaks of the Cathedral Rocks and Sentinel Rock move continuously across the valley floor. In the Eastern part of the valley, only a small section will light up in the morning and then the sun is gone for the rest of the day. And the water levels were radically different. Yosemite Falls and stopped flowing completely and Bridal Veil was down to a thin wisp. The upside to this was that the river was almost impossibly still in several locations, creating an incredible mirror to the changing leaves of the Cottonwoods and Oaks along its banks.
After a quick hour or so of shooting in the valley, I drove up to the trailhead for Sentinel Dome as Glacier Point road was still open. I had never been up to the top of the Dome before and was completely blown away by the 360 degree panoramic view of the park and surrounding peaks.
After spending the night with some friends in Mariposa, I woke up at 4:30 AM and drove up to Glacier Point for the Sunrise. Again, I was amazed at the extreme change of angle of the sunrise. In June, the sun comes up almost directly behind Half Dome, but in November, the sunrise was FAR to the right, lighting Half Dome from behind. After shooting for an hour or so, I ran back to the car and drove back down the the valley floor. I was positive that I had waited too long to get my sunrise reflection shot of Half Dome, but as I parked by Yosemite Village and ran through the trees, it looked like I had shown up just in time. The trees along the Merced in that corner of Yosemite had just hit peak and the sun was still low enough to grab a bit of a starburst behind the larger firs and pines on the opposite bank.
Although my time in the park was brief, I shot almost non stop while I was there as there was still plenty of color up and down the Merced River. I came back with over 2000 images and I'll try to upload as many as I can over the next few weeks.
If you had asked me three years ago if I wanted to shoot Yosemite during Autumn, I would have passed. Brown weeds, low water levels, no waterfalls...why make the trip? After shooting up there this weekend, I could not have been more mistaken. Between the changing leaves, pristine reflections, and completely different light and shadows to work with, I would highly recommend making a trip up there between September and November to ANYONE who is a fan of Yosemite National Park.
NB: When I arrived at the location in the above shot, I was literally the only one shooting for a full 30 minutes. If not for Michael Frye's book , The Photographer's Guide To Yosemite I wouldn't have known about this location at all. This was not taken from Sentinel Bridge, but from just off the overflow parking area of Yosemite Village. If you are trying to find this spot, park as far East as you can in the lot, walk through the trees, and you're there.
William McIntosh Photography | 500px | Twitter