Pre-Dawn Sky Above the Clark Range – Glacier Point. Yosemite National Park, California. November 4, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.
On this early November morning I woke up at my Yosemite Valley camp site at 4:45 and was immediately on the road, arriving at Glacier Point as the first light began to illuminate the High Sierra crest.
Autumn Sunset, Half Dome and Merced River. Yosemite National Park, California. November 4, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.
I had planned a different photograph in an entirely different location on this evening. As I started up the road to the north park entrance to get there I saw that it would be obscured by thick smoke from a managed fire – so I quickly adjusted my plans and decided to head back into the Valley to photograph this classic scene. When I arrived there really wasn’t anyone else there yet, which surprised me since this is one of the more popular photographic locations in the Valley. I shouldn’t have worried! Soon many others showed up, ranging from folks with serious photography equipment to casual tourists who probably figured, “Hey, all those folks with tripods are set up here – must be a good shot!” :-)
A couple of notes about the photo: I employed the “multiple exposures” technique here since the dynamic range between the sky and the shadowed foreground was so huge. Portions of two exposures were combined to get the image you see here – which corresponds more closely to what you would have seen had you been there. Also, I timed several of my shots to capture the interesting ripples in the water as feeding trout rose to the surface – you see some of this in the foreground of this photo.
Photographer Inge Fernau seems to have become even more obsessed (in the most positive sense of the word!) than the rest of us with photographing eastern Sierra Nevada autumn colors. She has posted a narrative summary of this fall’s journey, along with a lot of interesting information gleaned from her visits to most of the great aspen color sites:
2007 Fall Color Summary Planning my trips to hunt for Fall Colors in the Eastern Sierra starts about 10 to 11 months prior to Fall. Sooooo I start planning in November for the next year.
After 5 years of coming on different days throughout September and October, I finally came to the conclusion that the best time to catch Fall Colors in the Eastern Sierra is the last week in September (~9/23) to about the second/third week in October (10/20). Cold spells, snow and high winds can change this drastically. I also must say that 2007 was not a banner year for the colors on the East side. In 2007 I logged over 4000 miles of travel.– Magical Glow Photography [Journal of my travels for the perfect photo]
Follow her links to read more… much more.
Autumn Dogwood Leaves, Yosemite Valley. Yosemite National Park, California. November 4, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell