Dogwood Tree in Bloom, Detail. Yosemite Valley, California. May 9, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Light filters through the branches of a blooming dogwood tree, Yosemite Valley.

The dogwood trees were blooming all over Yosemite Valley when I was there on May 9. (Unfortunately, the place was swarming with other park visitors as well, but that is a story for another time.) After entering the Valley very early on a Saturday morning I decided to head across to Northside Drive and photograph trees in El Capitan Meadow, one of my favorite photography locations. After finishing up there I thought I’d head back up into the Valley which, with the one-way road layout there, required me to first drive back down the Valley to cross over to Southside Drive. On the way the route passes the famous and iconic "Gates of the Valley" site – and I can hardly ever resist at least a brief stop there. I stopped, got out, and reassured myself that this was not the time to shoot this scene. (I’ll photograph it, but only if the conditions are very, very special.) However, across the road and a bit to the west I spotted several big dogwood trees in full bloom… and in soft partial sun created by the shadows from taller trees nearby. Usually I am not looking for dogwood blossoms so late in the morning, but these looked interesting – I ended up spending some time shooting them from underneath and trying to capture the backlit translucent blooms.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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