Sunday, October 19, 2014

Yosemite - Raw Wilderness


Yosemite National Park in California holds an incredible attraction for landscape photographers so this was very much one of the key highlights of our trip around California. For a photographer, however, it is most frustrating as there is so much beauty in this stunning wilderness you really do not know where to start. You could easily spend many weeks here and still be scratching the surface as regards great shooting locations. Ansel Adams spent a lifetime here documenting the momentous landscapes and I'm sure he felt the same way. In this respect you have to be very selective and focused in your approach and with only about 2 and a half days in the park there was a limit to what I could capture. 

Reviewing all my images during post-processing I began to see a need to present the final images in black and white rather than full colour. The color images were so full of information including colours, saturation, texture, structure, composition, shape, etc I felt that by displaying the images in black and white would restrict the viewers eye to the raw beauty of the wilderness without the added distraction of colours and saturation. Likewise I have used only limited text annotations below each image to focus attention on the image rather than large sections of text.

Small river on the Tioga Pass Road

Lembert Dome

Lembert Dome with climbers on the summit

Tenaya Lake

View from Olmsted Point with Half Dome in the distance

Stunted and weathered tree at Olmsted Point

El Capitan is a giant granite monolith in Yosemite Valley

Cathedral Rocks East, Yosemite Valley


El Capitan, Yosemite Valley from the north side


Eagle Peak, Yosemite Valley



Looking south down Yosemite Valley with the north side of El Capitan to the right  and Cathedral Rocks East to the left


Yosemite Valley looking south toads Cathedral Rocks East


Yosemite Creek with Half Dome in the distance 


Sequoia Redwood Forest, Yosemite Valley


Mirror Lake - completely dry due to recent drought


Sequoia Redwood tree, Yosemite Valley



Half Dome, Yosemite Valley



Merced River, Yosemite Valley leading up to Vernal Fall


Vernal Fall, Yosemite Valley


The steep path of Mist Trail leading up to Vernal Fall, Yosemite Valley


El Capitan, Yosemite Vallley


Rocky escarpment close to El Capitan, Yosemite Valley



Lone pine trees stand out on the rocky escarpment close to El Capitan, Yosemite Valley



Looking north up Yosemite Valley with an eagle flying high above the valley


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