Nature: August 2005 Archives
Can you spot the hikers?
Rich and Gavin hike ahead of me on the Four Mile Trail to Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park. The trail rises 3,200 feet from the valley floor and is actually 4.5 miles. It was lengthened by half a mile by the National Parks Service to improve what had been some extremely steep sections -- but never fear, it's still pretty darn steep in places!
I was standing on the edge of a field last Friday in Yosemite National Park, taking photos of Half Dome illuminated by the setting sun, when this boy walked past with his fishing pole. He looked very small against the massive pine and fir trees behind him.
I didn't take a tripod to Yosemite, only the remote trigger that was already in my bag. This and the previous two shots (all long exposures, obviously) were taken with the camera perched, sometimes precariously, on a wall or a step or propped against a rock. This one was taken using the last technique -- propping the lens on a rock and hoping the camera wouldn't slip while the shutter was open!
It was working well enough until a car drove past...and not only drove past, but decided to brake right in the middle of the frame. I quickly closed the shutter and started another exposure once the car had passed, but ended up liking the effect of the headlights and brakelights.
Exposure was 79 seconds at 21mm f/4.
Here is another night shot from Yosemite, taken looking generally east from Glacier Point. That's Half Dome featured prominently on the right, and if you look carefully you can see a light on its sheer face -- someone must have been climbing, or settling in for the night.
Exposure time was 93 seconds, with slight exposure compensation on the RAW image done in post-processing.
I spent Saturday in Yosemite National Park, which after two visits is quickly becoming one of my favorite places on Earth. Two friends and I hiked about 13 miles total, 4.5 miles from the valley floor up 3,200 feet to Glacier Point followed by 8.5 miles back down to the floor past three beautiful waterfalls.
This was shot Saturday night from the tunnel view turnoff along the road to Glacier Point. The moon was only one day past full, and it lit up the granite brilliantly -- no flashlight necessary. This was taken at about 11:00 p.m. with my 17-40 f/4 lens wide open on both accounts -- 17mm and f/4. Exposure time was 109 seconds in RAW mode, which allowed me to adjust the exposure compensation to brighten it a tad more. On the left is the 3,000 face of El Capitan. On the right, far in the distance, is the obvious shape of Half Dome.
Today I leave for a glorious week in San Francisco. I am so excited I'm about to burst! It's been more than three years since I moved from the Bay Area to Houston, and this will be my first trip back. There are days when my heart aches for the bay and the hills and the fog, and I have been looking forward to this week for months now. I'm going for work (a conference that runs Monday through Thursday) but will do plenty of playing as well. I'll be around Stanford tomorrow, then in San Francisco till Thursday, then a night in Berkeley, followed by a quick weekend in Yosemite National Park before returning to Houston.
The photoblog is on auto-pilot through Wednesday as I re-live a few photos from deep in my archives. If I am able to update from San Francisco, daily photos will continue through the week. If not, I'll be back on the 22nd. I should be updating my Flickr stream via cell phone camera.
This is the view (circa 2002) of the Stanford campus and beyond taken from the hills near the "Dish" behind campus. The prominent building is Hoover Tower.
