Confluence of Cascade and Tamarack Creeks. Yosemite National Park, California. January 16, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
Long exposure in evening light of the boulder-strewn confluence of Cascade and Tamarack Creeks, Yosemite National Park.
Right below the bridge along the Crane Flat Road (often described as highway 120) route into Yosemite Valley, two wildly cascading creeks join together before their final descent to the bottom of the canyon where they join with the Merced River. Cascade Creek is probably the better known of the two since some spectacular sections of its descent are clearly visible right above the roadway. Tamarack Creek is easier to miss since you have to look carefully into the trees if you try to spot it from your car, or else get out of the car and look more closely. In the photograph, Cascade Creek flows away from the bottom of the frame, and Tamarack joins from the right in the upper portion of the frame.
I’ve always paid more attention to the section of Cascade Creek that is above the bridge. However, after recently having several opportunities to carefully (and admiringly) view Charlie Cramer’s stunning print of his “Cascade Creek, Spring, Yosemite”, I decided that I really needed to look off the other side of this bridge! (Charlie, I found your rocks. First, I’m even more impressed now that I realize how obscure and out of the way the subject of your photograph is. Second, how the heck did you position the camera over the side of the bridge to make that photograph!?) With that in mind, I visited this spot several times on this weekend trip to Yosemite and tried photographing it in different types of light.
This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.
G Dan Mitchell Photography
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.
Thanks, Greg. I love this kind of light, and I hit Cascade three times on this trip in the soft, low light conditions.
Dan
At least for me the soft, diffuse lighting makes the photo.
Love this one, Dan! I’m a boater, so I always look at these water images in terms of flow, and this one’s a bit of a mindbender in that way. Everything’s flowing in opposite directions into the center, with no downstream visible; almost makes it look like an Escher sort of set-up, some kind of magical waterfall vortex. Very fun!
Excellent Image. The variation of textures is wonderful! The balance between the hard lines of the boulders and the flow pattern from the slightly extended exposure make for a great image!
All the Best,
Mike