MoonriseMoonrise and Last Light on Half Dome Yosemite National Park, California Every year I travel to Yosemite around my birthday in May and my camera is always with me. One photo I have always wanted was the moonrise over Half Dome. At this point in my photography career I didn't know enough to calculate when this would happen and I just kept hoping I would be in the park at the right time to catch it. Although this evening wasn't that night I was excited when I saw the moon pop up over the meadow near Yosemite Falls. I was driving back to our campsite with my girlfriend at the time when I noticed the moon and the last light on Half Dome. I immediately asked her to stop the car so I could take some photos. After receiving the evil eye ... she was hungry after all ... she relented and pulled over. I grabbed the tripod and snapped away as quickly as I could. It wasn't until she had been fed and the smile returned to her face that I was able to finally relax and enjoy the photos I had just taken. Nikon D80 w/Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5: 27mm, f/4.5, ISO 320 (Please excuse the poor settings, I didn't really know what I was doing back then)
Sunrise over Mt. Rundle Vermillion Lakes, Banff National Park, Canada Willie and I had grand plans of exploring as much of the Banff National Park and surrounding area as we could. Kananaskis County and Jasper, Yoho, and Kootenay National Parks are all nearby. Unfortunately, a giant snow storm hit and impeded our ability to travel beyond Banff. We spent more sunrises than we would have liked visiting Vermillion Lakes, trying to capture icy mountain reflections with a pink and red sky. There are actually 3 Vermillion Lakes and they're all one right after another. I imagine during floods, they turn into one giant lake. The First Vermillion Lake was mostly frozen by the time we arrived and the Third Vermillion Lake, while pretty, didn't have much exciting shoreline for us to explore. Second Vermillion Lake, however, became our go to sunrise location and we visited on 3 separate occassions. When we woke for this morning, we weren't sure if the sky would be entirely clouded over, or entirely clear but we hopped out of bed and drove to the lake anyways. On the drive we noticed that they sky was already glowing purple, illuminated in pre-sunrise glory. This early burn, we knew meant that a beautiful sunrise was coming. Sure enough, once the sun began to approach the horizon, it lit the clouds in beautiful pinks, oranges, and reds. Light beams even managed to streak out from behind Mt. Rundle, giving off a divine appearance. Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8: 50mm, f/10, 1/25 sec, ISO 100
Snow Blowing off Mt. Williamson Eastern Sierras, California I spent a weekend in the Eastern Sierras with Willie and Sammi trying to find some snowy scenes to photograph. We had a pretty good idea of where we wanted to shoot but sometimes even with all the planning and scouting you just happen upon a beautiful scene. It’s even better when you don’t sleep through it! The benefits of keeping an open eye while in beautiful places ... I was driving down CA-395 on our way to the Alabama Hills when I looked to my right and saw snow blowing off Mt. Williamson and creating this awesome scene. I slowed the car down and looked back at Willie to see if he had noticed. He was fast asleep … mouth open, head back, practically in a snore. “Willie, look to your right!” I screamed, waking him up. He response was “woah, yea, pull over.” Pull-over I did and we spent about 30 minutes watching the wind blow the snow off the mountain and snapped photos the entire time. I just loved the way the wind created a lot of motion, even in a still photograph. The combination of shadow, wind, and light-rays all made for a gorgeous scene! Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8D ED AF: 190mm, f/11, 1/125 sec, ISO 125
