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Ancestor's Delight Sunrise Over Ancient Petrogylphs California It's not every day that you can witness snow capped peaks and 5,000 year old petroglyphs while the sky explodes with color around you. As fate would have it I was treated to this amazingly rare scene while on a weekend trip to the Eastern Sierras. Knowing how special this morning was I made sure to cherish every moment of it, as well as to step away from the camera to embrace the scene and take it all in. Carved thousands of years ago by removing the top layer of granite these symbols let ones imagination run wild as to their meaning. The weekend was spent with early mornings, long car rides, constant Wunderground iPhone App checking, a little bit of prayer, much less complaining than the previous weekend, and most importantly beautiful scenes. In all I drove about 1,000 miles, saw my first Joshua Tree, roamed around dry lake beds in Death Valley, bundled up in jackets, stripped down to just shorts and t-shirts, survived a snow storm, and explored natural sandcastles. The weather reports for this weekend had been changing daily and it wasn't until the hotel cancellation deadline had passed that the trip became a reality. Boy am I glad it did! The previous afternoon started with clear skies and no cameras but as the sun started to set I caught my first glimpse of the clouds. After sprinting back to the car, lots of exhaustion and a race with time my 4th attempt at photographing the petroglyphs ended with a colorless sunset. It was early to bed and an even earlier to wake but my 5th attempt turned out much more successful! The storm clouds had finally rolled in and as I began my trek to the petroglyphs I watched as the sky lit up with beautiful pinks, oranges, and reds all around me. I constantly walked in circles just to take it all in. What an amazing morning! Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 ED-IF AF-S: 17mm, f/11, 1.0 sec, ISO 125
Another World Milky Way Above Tufa's Mono Lake, Lee Vining, CA Willie and I spent a weekend in the Yosemite high country taking photos of the Milky Way, beautiful lakes, and meteor showers. During the day we explored Yosemite while at night we spent most of our time at Mono Lake. One evening, we noticed that the Milky Way was setting directly behind us at the lake, over a couple sets of Tufa's and we just had to turn around and photograph it. There wasn't enough moonlight to light up the Tufa's so Willie grabbed a couple flashlights and light painted the Tufa's. We repeated the light painting several times until we got it right. Tufa's are salt creations left behind as Mono Lake was drained for drinking water for the Southern California region. Conservation efforts are under way and the lake level is rising again, hiding some of the Tufa's that have recently been visible. We wanted to capture as many photos as we could before these are back underwater! I debated whether or not to post this photo as I really wish there had been some of Mono Lake in this shot, but ultimately, I really liked how the Milky Way almost looks like a shooting star above the Tufa's. The following night was the peak of the Perseid Meteor Shower and Willie and I captured a number of meteors streaking through the sky! I also really liked how this photo almost looks like it could be taken from another planet -- perhaps Mars? Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 24mm f/1.4G ED: 24mm, f/1.4, 15 sec, ISO 3200
T.Msquared Milky Way and Meteor over Tufa Formations Mono Lake, California One thing I wanted to photograph this summer was the Milky Way. Willie and I planned an August trip to Yosemite to shoot the high country and it also turned out that we would be there for the height of the Perseid Meteor Shower. Perfect timing on our part! We photographed sunset at Mono Lake and the Milky Way over Tioga Lake on our first evening.The clock read "am" by the time we got to sleep. As soon as I woke up in the morning I knew something was wrong. I had no energy, I was having hot and cold flashes, my cough had gotten worse and my nose started to run like a faucet. I figured a good hearty breakfast of eggs and bacon would help. Nope. As the day progressed I realized I had come down with the flu. After several naps, some DayQuill and a hamburger I started to feel better. Willie and I hiked 9 miles to Upper Cathedral Lakes for sunset. Not so easy when you have the flu. We finally made it over to Mono Lake to photograph the Perseid Meteor Shower and in 45 minutes I managed to captured 14 meteors streak through my composition. Satisfied that we had the photos we wanted we began to walk around Mono Lake trying to find some Tufa's, salt formations created by the lake. The Milky Way positioned itself above these Tufas and we setup and started photographing. Right in the middle of one of my shots I giant fireball streaked through the sky! Tufi's, Milky Way, and Meteors -- what more could I ask for (and thus "T.Msquared": Tufa, Milky Way and Meteors)! Willie painted the Tufa's with 2 flashlights while our cameras exposed for the Milky Way. Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 24mm f/1.4G ED: 24mm, f/1.4, 15 sec, ISO 200
Cathedralglow Upper Cathedral Lake Yosemite National Park, CA Many people refer to this scene as "alpenglow", since you can see the color of the sun glowing off the mountain. I, instead, have decided that this particular phenomenon shall be renamed as "Cathedralglow". Named after the sun reflecting on Cathedral Peak in Yosemite National Park, Cathedralglow occurs when the sun is just below the horizon. Thunderstorms hovering over Cathedral Peak also pick up some of the color of the setting sun. One thing that I like to do with my each of my posts is to tell the story behind the photo and this one (I think) is a good one! This particular story involves the flu, long hikes, rock bouldering, cops, meteors, and more. I woke up on this particular morning with absolutely no energy. A large breakfast didn't help either and I started to get worried because I didn't know when we would eat again. As the day wore on I felt worse and worse. I started getting the chills. I had a fever. I had no appetite. I didn't want to move. It was only getting worse. I took a nap. Finally we stopped at the general store and I bought some DayQuill and a hamburger. I took another nap. When I woke up, all of a sudden … I had energy!!!! Just in time too -- it was 5 minutes before we were set to leave for Upper Cathedral Lake! Off we went! We left with plenty of time to hike the 4 miles, scout and wait for sunset. We didn't plan that I'd be sick, nor did we realized we would get lost and find ourselves climbing up hill more often than not but we arrived at Upper Cathedral Lake with plenty of time. When we arrived our jaws just dropped. Man is this place beautiful! After climbing around, walking over rocks, and doing a bit of bouldering we found what we wanted. Except … we were 100 feet too low! Above us loomed a huge rock-cliff. From down below, the lake was too small and squished; we needed to be on top to view the lake properly. Luckily Willie and I have both rock climbed at some point in our lives and we arrived at our spot with enough time for me to take another nap. As we waited for sunset some beautiful clouds rolled in and it started to rain behind Cathedral Peak. Man were we getting excited! As the sun dipped below the horizon the mountain peak just lit up with Cathedralglow! Wow were we in for a treat! As had been typical on this day, our emotions went up and down, up and down again; much to our dismay a number of thick, dark clouds rolled in and only a touch of pink color appeared in the clouds. That's when we turned around and saw the sky behind us was on fire! I had absolutely no energy to sprint down the cliff to get a better composition so we turned and just watched the wonderful sunset with our own eyes (and maybe a few shutter clicks too). It was a long hike down and thanks to another DayQuill I made it safely back to the car. This night was supposed to be the Perseid Meteor Shower maximum and we were eager to get to Mono Lake to photograph the meteors. A park ranger, on the other hand, was not so happy with our eagerness and decided to quiz us on why it was a better idea to slow down before eventually letting us go with just a warning. We spent a couple hours photographing meteors and then I finally made it back to bed where a long sleep found me feeling much better the next morning. Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 ED-IF AF-S: 22mm, f/16, 3 sec, ISO 100 Lee Filter Holder + HiTech 0.6 ND Grad 2 explore blend
Tufi Meteors Meteors over Tufa Formations Mono Lake, California As it turns out, neither Willie nor I had spent much time in Yosemite high country and knowing that August would be ideal for milky way, meteor showers, and stormy sunsets, we decided to head to Yosemite for a long weekend. Saturday night/Sunday morning was supposed to be the time when the Perseid Meteor Shower would be most fireballing through the sky. Willie and I decided to head to Mono Lake to witness the meteor shower with the beautiful Tufa formations as a foreground. We had just spent the evening hiking 9 miles to Cathedral Lakes and back and were extremely exhausted when we arrived at the South Tufa's of Mono Lake. We found a nice spot on the beach where we could put some Tufa's in our frame, pointed the camera towards the north-east and exposed shot after shot hoping we would capture some meteors! It was quite the thrill to watch hundreds of meteors flash before our eyes. Of course my camera only caught 14 of them. I've placed all 14 images onto this one image to show you what we witnessed! After about 45 minutes we were too sleepy to stay any longer and we packed it up, and went to bed. I rented the Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 lens for this weekend and boy did it perform well. I found that I had to set the camera to ISO 3200+ at f/1.4 to f/1.8 for 15 seconds to get the meteors to show up. Anything less sensitive and the camera wouldn't capture the meteor. After each exposure I would check for a meteor and if I didn't find one, would immediately delete the image; made things quite a bit easier when I got home and went to blend them all together! Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 24mm f/1.4G ED 24mm, f1.4, 15 sec, ISO 3200 14 images blended together in Photoshop CS6
Thirsty Sunrise in Silicon Valley California One Friday evening I had dinner plans and wasn't able to join Willie and Jave for an attempt at sunset photography in the Bay Area. While I was inside having a delicious dinner they found an amazing dry lakebed to photograph. Turns out that the lakebed is pretty soft and Willie ended up getting stuck in the mud and needed rescuing! Willie wanted another crack at this spot and he immediately called me up and told me to wake up at 4am and join him! We weren't sure if the weather would cooperate but we went out anyways, setup shop and waited. Sure enough, just as we thought it would be a bust, some sun made it through the clouds and lit up the clouds with some oranges and yellows! This place really reminds me of Death Valley and I loved the way all the cracks fit together. I definitely want to come back here in the future! This was also my first time playing with my new toy, a brand spankin' new Nikon D800! Man was this guy fun to use! Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8G ED AF-S: 17mm, f/16, 0.4 sec, ISO 100
The University of Michigan crew (GO BLUE!!!!) I am 2nd on the left
I'm in the middle ... above Vernal Falls in Yosemite National Park. The 3 of us organized a trip for 25 summer interns to camp / hike in Yosemite!
Took the '4 Train' to Zion The Subway Hike Zion National Park, Utah For those of you from the New York City area know that the #4 Subway train will take you to beautiful Yankee Stadium. Growing up just outside of NYC I've been a NY Yankee fan my entire life and the #4 train was how we got to the ballpark. OK, I digress…. I've seen photos of "The Subway" Station at Zion National Park and knew that I just *had* to photograph this. My buddy and I planned a 3.5 day whirlwind Southern Utah/Northern Arizona trip (more photos to come including Bryce NP, The Wave, Antelope Canyon, and Zion) so we could photograph The Subway. This is a magical place - almost too surreal to believe. It's also super slippery, dangerous, and an exhausting hike. I have to say that this was probably the most amazing hike I've ever done. I spend a lot of my summer hiking around the Bay Area and Yosemite but this hike was just something else. It starts out on top of giant red-rock canyons before you descend to the floor of the Left Fork of the North River. From there you walk ~4 miles up the Left Fork until you come to The Subway. Along the way you cross the river 30-40 times (trying not to get wet), pass by gorgeous waterfalls, autumn trees, and giant red-rock canyons. What an amazing place! We were the 3rd car to arrive and just as we arrived at the cascade falls (Archangel Falls) we ran into the other hikers. One of the photographers, Andy Cook (from Colorado) was super nice and we chatted with him for a while before he took off to beat us to The Subway. When we finally arrived at The Subway we met the other 5 hikers … all of them for some reason were shooting from the bottom of The Subway! That's when we informed them that they needed to go up into it to take the classic shot! We thought it was amusing that we told some professional photographers how to shoot The Subway :P Luckily for us there were only 6 or 7 of us in total (we heard the previous day there were 35 photographers trying to cram in!). One guy must have arrived much earlier cuz he took off almost as soon as we got there. Another couple took their photos pretty quickly and then left. That just left my buddy and myself and Andy Cook and his friend. We took turns taking photos and each got our shots. My buddy and I then left Andy and his friend to have the entire area to themselves. Although it took us 4 hours to hike in, we hauled #($* and made it back to the car in 2 hours! Just enough time to get back to try to photograph The Watchman for sunset. For anyone wanting to do the hike, you can read on -- otherwise I advise you to stop reading now :P I strongly recommend you get canyoneering boots for this hike -- they will keep your feet dry and seem to suction themselves to the rock and lessen the chance that you'll slip! To get to The Subway first you have to apply for a permit via the Zion National Park website. We got our permit a week before we were arriving since it was the down-season (in the busy season you can get it 3 months prior to your trip). You drive out of the park, into the town of Virgin, and then back into the park via Kolob Terrace Rd before parking at the Left Fork parking lot. You then travel about a half mile before descending down an extremely steep 400 ft plunge from the top of the red-rocked canyons to the river floor. When you get to the bottom you need to make note of the surroundings because it's easy to miss the trail up to the parking lot on your way back. There's a couple exit signs marking the trail up but be careful because you may be on the other side of the river bank on your way back and may never see the signs. After 9 miles you don't want to miss the exit! Why would you be on the other side of the river bank you ask? Well, because there's no trail to The Subway and back -- you're literally making your own way upstream. I think we crossed the stream 30-40 times each way. Although there's no real "trail" to The Subway there is a defined "path" for most of the hike. I put "path" in quotes because it's just stretches of land where people have walked before and pushed some of the reeds and sand down. For most of the way to The Subway we could find the "path" and figure out when/where to cross. The Left Fork was also pretty low and we were able to cross on top of rocks without getting our feet wet. This is not an easy hike -- numerous times we had to climb up boulders, climb down rocks, and pick our way upstream. I'm glad that I had some rock-climbing skills just so I didn't turn an ankle (note you don't need to be a rock-climber to do this, but it helped when we were going over rocks to have a better idea where to place my feet/hands). I used a walking stick for the hike to The Subway but quickly realized on the way back that it was slowing me down and got rid of it. When you get about ¾ of a mile away from The Subway you come to these gorgeous cascade waterfalls. From here you have to walk on the side of the river (in the river, although it was so low that our feet stayed dry), up to The Crack. There's a couple fake cracks that are obviously not "The Crack" -- when you get to "The Crack" you'll know it. It's impossible to miss because practically the entire river flows through it! You then walk a bit further and arrive at The Wave! When you get there make sure to go up *into* the subway and shoot down-stream (for the more popular shot). You can also get some shots going up the stream but those aren't as exciting. There's a lot of neat little pools of water that are about 2-3 feet deep that you can photograph as well. I carried a GPS tracker that my friend made and exported the path as a KML file. Unfortunately it lost signal a couple times and the path is all screwed up. You can get the gist though :P On the way back make sure to stop at the Dinosaur Tracks (don't touch the rock or it'll disintegrate!). The 400ft climb up back to the top of the canyon and our car was a PAIN but we were so pumped that we just busted up it in about 10 minutes. What an amazing hike! Nikon D700 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S: 34mm, f/22, 15 sec, ISO 100 Tripod B+W F-Pro Circular Polarizer
Ancestor's Delight
Sunrise Over Ancient Petrogylphs
California

It's not every day that you can witness snow capped peaks and 5,000 year old petroglyphs while the sky explodes with color around you. As fate would have it I was treated to this amazingly rare scene while on a weekend trip to the Eastern Sierras. Knowing how special this morning was I made sure to cherish every moment of it, as well as to step away from the camera to embrace the scene and take it all in. Carved thousands of years ago by removing the top layer of granite these symbols let ones imagination run wild as to their meaning.

The weekend was spent with early mornings, long car rides, constant Wunderground iPhone App checking, a little bit of prayer, much less complaining than the previous weekend, and most importantly beautiful scenes. In all I drove about 1,000 miles, saw my first Joshua Tree, roamed around dry lake beds in Death Valley, bundled up in jackets, stripped down to just shorts and t-shirts, survived a snow storm, and explored natural sandcastles.

The weather reports for this weekend had been changing daily and it wasn't until the hotel cancellation deadline had passed that the trip became a reality. Boy am I glad it did! The previous afternoon started with clear skies and no cameras but as the sun started to set I caught my first glimpse of the clouds. After sprinting back to the car, lots of exhaustion and a race with time my 4th attempt at photographing the petroglyphs ended with a colorless sunset.

It was early to bed and an even earlier to wake but my 5th attempt turned out much more successful! The storm clouds had finally rolled in and as I began my trek to the petroglyphs I watched as the sky lit up with beautiful pinks, oranges, and reds all around me. I constantly walked in circles just to take it all in. What an amazing morning!

Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 ED-IF AF-S:
17mm, f/11, 1.0 sec, ISO 125
Ancestor's Delight Sunrise Over Ancient Petrogylphs California It's not every day that you can witness snow capped peaks and 5,000 year old petroglyphs while the sky explodes with color around you. As fate would have it I was treated to this amazingly rare scene while on a weekend trip to the Eastern Sierras. Knowing how special this morning was I made sure to cherish every moment of it, as well as to step away from the camera to embrace the scene and take it all in. Carved thousands of years ago by removing the top layer of granite these symbols let ones imagination run wild as to their meaning. The weekend was spent with early mornings, long car rides, constant Wunderground iPhone App checking, a little bit of prayer, much less complaining than the previous weekend, and most importantly beautiful scenes. In all I drove about 1,000 miles, saw my first Joshua Tree, roamed around dry lake beds in Death Valley, bundled up in jackets, stripped down to just shorts and t-shirts, survived a snow storm, and explored natural sandcastles. The weather reports for this weekend had been changing daily and it wasn't until the hotel cancellation deadline had passed that the trip became a reality. Boy am I glad it did! The previous afternoon started with clear skies and no cameras but as the sun started to set I caught my first glimpse of the clouds. After sprinting back to the car, lots of exhaustion and a race with time my 4th attempt at photographing the petroglyphs ended with a colorless sunset. It was early to bed and an even earlier to wake but my 5th attempt turned out much more successful! The storm clouds had finally rolled in and as I began my trek to the petroglyphs I watched as the sky lit up with beautiful pinks, oranges, and reds all around me. I constantly walked in circles just to take it all in. What an amazing morning! Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 ED-IF AF-S: 17mm, f/11, 1.0 sec, ISO 125" href="javascript:openLB(2470662107,'',XLarge,'',1024,684);">Ancestor's Delight Sunrise Over Ancient Petrogylphs California It's not every day that you can witness snow capped peaks and 5,000 year old petroglyphs while the sky explodes with color around you. As fate would have it I was treated to this amazingly rare scene while on a weekend trip to the Eastern Sierras. Knowing how special this morning was I made sure to cherish every moment of it, as well as to step away from the camera to embrace the scene and take it all in. Carved thousands of years ago by removing the top layer of granite these symbols let ones imagination run wild as to their meaning. The weekend was spent with early mornings, long car rides, constant Wunderground iPhone App checking, a little bit of prayer, much less complaining than the previous weekend, and most importantly beautiful scenes. In all I drove about 1,000 miles, saw my first Joshua Tree, roamed around dry lake beds in Death Valley, bundled up in jackets, stripped down to just shorts and t-shirts, survived a snow storm, and explored natural sandcastles. The weather reports for this weekend had been changing daily and it wasn't until the hotel cancellation deadline had passed that the trip became a reality. Boy am I glad it did! The previous afternoon started with clear skies and no cameras but as the sun started to set I caught my first glimpse of the clouds. After sprinting back to the car, lots of exhaustion and a race with time my 4th attempt at photographing the petroglyphs ended with a colorless sunset. It was early to bed and an even earlier to wake but my 5th attempt turned out much more successful! The storm clouds had finally rolled in and as I began my trek to the petroglyphs I watched as the sky lit up with beautiful pinks, oranges, and reds all around me. I constantly walked in circles just to take it all in. What an amazing morning! Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 ED-IF AF-S: 17mm, f/11, 1.0 sec, ISO 125
Ancestor's Delight
Sunrise Over Ancient Petrogylphs
California

It's not every day that you can witness snow capped peaks and 5,000 year old petroglyphs while the sky explodes with color around you. As fate would have it I was treated to this amazingly rare scene while on a weekend trip to the Eastern Sierras. Knowing how special this morning was I made sure to cherish every moment of it, as well as to step away from the camera to embrace the scene and take it all in. Carved thousands of years ago by removing the top layer of granite these symbols let ones imagination run wild as to their meaning.

The weekend was spent with early mornings, long car rides, constant Wunderground iPhone App checking, a little bit of prayer, much less complaining than the previous weekend, and most importantly beautiful scenes. In all I drove about 1,000 miles, saw my first Joshua Tree, roamed around dry lake beds in Death Valley, bundled up in jackets, stripped down to just shorts and t-shirts, survived a snow storm, and explored natural sandcastles.

The weather reports for this weekend had been changing daily and it wasn't until the hotel cancellation deadline had passed that the trip became a reality. Boy am I glad it did! The previous afternoon started with clear skies and no cameras but as the sun started to set I caught my first glimpse of the clouds. After sprinting back to the car, lots of exhaustion and a race with time my 4th attempt at photographing the petroglyphs ended with a colorless sunset.

It was early to bed and an even earlier to wake but my 5th attempt turned out much more successful! The storm clouds had finally rolled in and as I began my trek to the petroglyphs I watched as the sky lit up with beautiful pinks, oranges, and reds all around me. I constantly walked in circles just to take it all in. What an amazing morning!

Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 ED-IF AF-S:
17mm, f/11, 1.0 sec, ISO 125
See photo in original gallery.
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