Breaking Storm At Midnight
There is a certain...let's use the word impulsiveness...to what I do as a landscape photographer. One minute I'm typing happily away on my computer, and the next minute a story pops up on my news feed about the Spring flooding in Yosemite Valley. A few short hours later I am in my car at 2 AM after an hour's worth of sleep heading off to shoot the Alabama Hills for sunrise before heading off to Yosemite to shoot a flooded Merced River.
Somehow I managed to say awake all the way up to the Alabama Hills where Skyfire actually paid off. I shot a fairly nice sunrise before jumping back into the Prius and heading off to Yosemite. Roughly six hours later I pulled into the valley which was completely covered in low clouds. I kept driving as I knew that my first stop had to be Swinging Bridge where the water level was reported to be at epic levels.
Unfortunately, it seems that many, MANY other people had seen the same story and my timing could not have been worse. The line began just as I passed Bridal Veil. It took me 30 minutes to get to Swinging Bridge, and there was no parking at the bridge, no parking at the meadow, no parking at the Chapel, no parking any where near Yosemite Village or Camp 4......
Over an hour later I was still driving and finally found a spot to pull over West of camp 4 as every parking spot in the valley was taken. Eager to see the water level at the river, I set off for Swinging Bridge, which now meant hiking a couple of miles back across the valley.
I wasn't disappointed. In all my years of shooting Yosemite, I've never seen the Merced like this. The water came within inches of hitting the top of Sentinel Bridge and had jumped its banks at the footbridge on the way to the Chapel. The meadow in front of the Chapel was completely swamped. Swinging Bridge was likewise almost engulfed by the river which roared underneath. I eyed the bridge suspiciously and noticed that someone had broken police tape which looked like it had been placed by the rangers. I tried to follow the path on the North side back to my car, but another branch of the Merced River was now flowing across the path. I thought about rolling up my pants and going for it, but I could see myself going down hard on the slippery mud underneath. So it was a long, wet hike back to the car. On the way back I kept shooting the various waterfalls that I had never seen before which were now feeding the Merced and flooding the meadows on the valley floor.
It was getting dark by this time and the rain was coming down harder, so I decided to head off to Oakhurst to grab some food and some wifi while I figured out if I should stick around or go home. After arriving at Jack In The Box, I used the wifi (I have T Mobil which has NO signal in the park) to bounce between several weather apps. The National Weather Service was calling for an 80% chance of rain with no break in the weather until Sunday night. But the satellite showed the storm was falling apart and the low was drifting far lower than what had been forecasted.
Hmmmm.
Having been burned one too many times by the National Weather Service, I decided to trust my gut and to stick it out. At this point, I was VERY toasted and it took me 2 -3 hours to get back into the valley as I had to keep pulling over to grab some sleep. After my last nap, I looked up and saw stars! I picked up my pace, and sure enough, when I got back into the park, the moon was now shining brightly over the valley. I headed immediately back to Swinging Bridge which was now deserted. I was the only photographer shooting the bridge, the only photographer shooting the meadow by the chapel, the only photographer shooting the ponds on the other side, El Capitan Meadow, the Bridal Veil Pullout and ultimately the only photographer when I arrived back at the tunnel. There were a few other cars driving around while I was shooting, so there must have been other photographers out there, but I was alone at each of those locations.
Which brings me to this shot, which was the last of the night. I had just pulled up and managed to get 3 exposures before the clouds began moving in again. A minute after I had started shooting, I was engulfed by fog again and the clouds were still there when I left the following morning at 10 AM.
So...yes, I suppose I am a bit impulsive. But in this case, I've never been more thankful. There were waterfalls coming down in every direction in that park. Cascades on Royal Arches, Ribbon, Sentinel, Horsetail, and a few others that I've never seen going before. And the reflections! It was like there were suddenly 14 new lakes across the valley floor with stunning reflections in every direction. It was also interesting to see how quickly the water level dropped by midnight. By the following morning, the water levels were at least a foot lower than the highest point on Saturday afternoon. I''l try to get more shots up from my two days of shooting up soon, either here or on my blog.
I headed home exhausted on Sunday morning only to find a 2 hour back up due to an accident on the Grapevine. Being the impulsive person that I am, I decided to spend those two hours exploring rather than sitting in traffic. So I headed East through a town called "Arvin" and finally out to the 58, to the 14, to the 5, to the 210 and finally back home on the 57.
Impulsive: "A wide range of actions that are poorly conceived, prematurely expressed, unduly risky, or inappropriate to the situation." Yeah...that about sums it up.
But what a great weekend!
--------------
Thank you so much for your views and comments! If you have specific questions or need to get in touch with me, please be sure to send me a message via flickr mail, or feel free to contact me via one of the following:
Blog | Website | Facebook | Instagram | 500px | Twitter | Google +
Breaking Storm At Midnight
There is a certain...let's use the word impulsiveness...to what I do as a landscape photographer. One minute I'm typing happily away on my computer, and the next minute a story pops up on my news feed about the Spring flooding in Yosemite Valley. A few short hours later I am in my car at 2 AM after an hour's worth of sleep heading off to shoot the Alabama Hills for sunrise before heading off to Yosemite to shoot a flooded Merced River.
Somehow I managed to say awake all the way up to the Alabama Hills where Skyfire actually paid off. I shot a fairly nice sunrise before jumping back into the Prius and heading off to Yosemite. Roughly six hours later I pulled into the valley which was completely covered in low clouds. I kept driving as I knew that my first stop had to be Swinging Bridge where the water level was reported to be at epic levels.
Unfortunately, it seems that many, MANY other people had seen the same story and my timing could not have been worse. The line began just as I passed Bridal Veil. It took me 30 minutes to get to Swinging Bridge, and there was no parking at the bridge, no parking at the meadow, no parking at the Chapel, no parking any where near Yosemite Village or Camp 4......
Over an hour later I was still driving and finally found a spot to pull over West of camp 4 as every parking spot in the valley was taken. Eager to see the water level at the river, I set off for Swinging Bridge, which now meant hiking a couple of miles back across the valley.
I wasn't disappointed. In all my years of shooting Yosemite, I've never seen the Merced like this. The water came within inches of hitting the top of Sentinel Bridge and had jumped its banks at the footbridge on the way to the Chapel. The meadow in front of the Chapel was completely swamped. Swinging Bridge was likewise almost engulfed by the river which roared underneath. I eyed the bridge suspiciously and noticed that someone had broken police tape which looked like it had been placed by the rangers. I tried to follow the path on the North side back to my car, but another branch of the Merced River was now flowing across the path. I thought about rolling up my pants and going for it, but I could see myself going down hard on the slippery mud underneath. So it was a long, wet hike back to the car. On the way back I kept shooting the various waterfalls that I had never seen before which were now feeding the Merced and flooding the meadows on the valley floor.
It was getting dark by this time and the rain was coming down harder, so I decided to head off to Oakhurst to grab some food and some wifi while I figured out if I should stick around or go home. After arriving at Jack In The Box, I used the wifi (I have T Mobil which has NO signal in the park) to bounce between several weather apps. The National Weather Service was calling for an 80% chance of rain with no break in the weather until Sunday night. But the satellite showed the storm was falling apart and the low was drifting far lower than what had been forecasted.
Hmmmm.
Having been burned one too many times by the National Weather Service, I decided to trust my gut and to stick it out. At this point, I was VERY toasted and it took me 2 -3 hours to get back into the valley as I had to keep pulling over to grab some sleep. After my last nap, I looked up and saw stars! I picked up my pace, and sure enough, when I got back into the park, the moon was now shining brightly over the valley. I headed immediately back to Swinging Bridge which was now deserted. I was the only photographer shooting the bridge, the only photographer shooting the meadow by the chapel, the only photographer shooting the ponds on the other side, El Capitan Meadow, the Bridal Veil Pullout and ultimately the only photographer when I arrived back at the tunnel. There were a few other cars driving around while I was shooting, so there must have been other photographers out there, but I was alone at each of those locations.
Which brings me to this shot, which was the last of the night. I had just pulled up and managed to get 3 exposures before the clouds began moving in again. A minute after I had started shooting, I was engulfed by fog again and the clouds were still there when I left the following morning at 10 AM.
So...yes, I suppose I am a bit impulsive. But in this case, I've never been more thankful. There were waterfalls coming down in every direction in that park. Cascades on Royal Arches, Ribbon, Sentinel, Horsetail, and a few others that I've never seen going before. And the reflections! It was like there were suddenly 14 new lakes across the valley floor with stunning reflections in every direction. It was also interesting to see how quickly the water level dropped by midnight. By the following morning, the water levels were at least a foot lower than the highest point on Saturday afternoon. I''l try to get more shots up from my two days of shooting up soon, either here or on my blog.
I headed home exhausted on Sunday morning only to find a 2 hour back up due to an accident on the Grapevine. Being the impulsive person that I am, I decided to spend those two hours exploring rather than sitting in traffic. So I headed East through a town called "Arvin" and finally out to the 58, to the 14, to the 5, to the 210 and finally back home on the 57.
Impulsive: "A wide range of actions that are poorly conceived, prematurely expressed, unduly risky, or inappropriate to the situation." Yeah...that about sums it up.
But what a great weekend!
--------------
Thank you so much for your views and comments! If you have specific questions or need to get in touch with me, please be sure to send me a message via flickr mail, or feel free to contact me via one of the following:
Blog | Website | Facebook | Instagram | 500px | Twitter | Google +