Yosemite today

Thwack

I spent three days during Thanksgiving week (including Thanksgiving day itself) poking around Yosemite with family (in from Louisiana). We had great weather and near-zero crowds. Right after they headed back home, a storm moved through that dropped a bit of snow on Yosemite and the temps have stayed cold enough that there's still snow on the ground and on some of the peaks, so I went back today to get some pics to send to family (show them what they narrowly avoided or nearly missed depending on your view point).

We came into Yosemite along Hwy 120 and when that merged with Hwy 140, I pulled over at the nearest parking lot, hopped out, and snapped some shots of the Merced River:



Further up the road, we stopped at Bridal Veil Falls. None of my shots of the falls came out like I wanted and there wasn't enough snow/ice near them right now to make it really interesting.

However, there were some cool icy spots in the water just below Bridal Veil Falls (along the path up to the Falls):



Can't see it very well in the tiny version posted above so here's a closeup of some icicles hanging under the rock next to the little waterfall):



And just another random icy area along that same path:



We need at least one more good storm though before scenes like the one below will really stand out:




I gotta work on my snow-picture technique. I had a monopod with me today to help steady the camera for low-light situations but it wasn't stable enough and wasn't tall enough (and I'm not stable when crouched way down). The best shots came with the camera parked on a rock, tree, etc. I'll bring a bean bag or something similar next time to see if that helps.

dbaker1221

thanks for sharing , I'll bet that's a lot of fun there

Thwack

Oops, my apologies for creating this in the wrong place. Thanks to who ever moved it where it belonged.

I could spend a lifetime taking pics there and still not cover everything. It doesn't help that the shops have piles of poster-sized pics taken by legendary great photographers to help remind rookies like me how much work lies ahead (but at least they're inspiring since it proves that really cool shots can be taken there).

ehughes

It was beautiful in the park today, I was running around there most of the afternoon. I'll see if I can post something from today a little later.

Thwack

ehughes

I found your pics from today in your gallery. Some nice shots in there!

I like the shot with El Capitan in the background and the frozen grass in the foreground. I passed a small meadow with grass like that but didn't stop to get a shot...I figured I'd come back around later in the day but never did. Next time I get out there for pics, it'll probably be buried in snow and I'll have to wait until the first storm next year to try again.

ian408

Nice Thwack! Yosemite is such a cool place in the winter.

Thwack

The pictures used in this thread have all been shuffled and no longer show up (my fault). None of them were all that good, so maybe it's best if this thread were sent to the recycle bin.