Clearing Storm Above Yosemite Falls
I thought I was done with shooting Spring conditions up at Yosemite this year, but a decent storm blew through the area last weekend, and I just had to make one more attempt before all the green is gone from the valley floor. It turned out to be a very frustrating day and a half of shooting as the sun only appeared for about 2 hours, but I tried to make the most of my time last Saturday before the clouds moved in again for the remainder of the day. Moments before I took this shot, I was up at the tunnel waiting patiently for the storm to break up over the valley. This was after setting off to find the moon at 1 AM, but finding only snow flurries throughout the park. By 5 AM I, and several other photographers, were camped out waiting for the sunrise at the tunnel, but the sun never made it through the clouds. By 8 AM, I had pretty much given up on seeing the sun that day and was getting ready to make another loop around the valley when the sun suddenly broke through, lighting up the meadow in front of the falls. I spent the next couple of hours shooting frantically throughout the park before another batch of clouds moved in and stubbornly refused to budge for the rest of the day. I finally called it quits at 7 PM before starting the long drive home.
The take away from the last two weekends is the fact that the weather in that park can be very fickle. Two weeks ago, the promised thunderstorms never arrived and I headed home without a single cloud above the valley. Last weekend, it clearly looked like the storm would break on Saturday morning, but the clouds just sat there all afternoon. But is there really such a thing as a "disappointing" day in Yosemite?
Clearing Storm Above Yosemite Falls
I thought I was done with shooting Spring conditions up at Yosemite this year, but a decent storm blew through the area last weekend, and I just had to make one more attempt before all the green is gone from the valley floor. It turned out to be a very frustrating day and a half of shooting as the sun only appeared for about 2 hours, but I tried to make the most of my time last Saturday before the clouds moved in again for the remainder of the day. Moments before I took this shot, I was up at the tunnel waiting patiently for the storm to break up over the valley. This was after setting off to find the moon at 1 AM, but finding only snow flurries throughout the park. By 5 AM I, and several other photographers, were camped out waiting for the sunrise at the tunnel, but the sun never made it through the clouds. By 8 AM, I had pretty much given up on seeing the sun that day and was getting ready to make another loop around the valley when the sun suddenly broke through, lighting up the meadow in front of the falls. I spent the next couple of hours shooting frantically throughout the park before another batch of clouds moved in and stubbornly refused to budge for the rest of the day. I finally called it quits at 7 PM before starting the long drive home.
The take away from the last two weekends is the fact that the weather in that park can be very fickle. Two weeks ago, the promised thunderstorms never arrived and I headed home without a single cloud above the valley. Last weekend, it clearly looked like the storm would break on Saturday morning, but the clouds just sat there all afternoon. But is there really such a thing as a "disappointing" day in Yosemite?