Ahwahnee Meadow Oaks, Autumn. Yosemite National Park, California. November 11, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

I had a few free hours on this afternoon – between shooting morning subject and my intended evening subject – so I wandered on over towards the Ahwahnee, passing this nice grove of oak trees on the way. I had previously photographed the small grove in the distance, but I liked this view with the more distant trees framed by the trunks of the nearby grove.

Yosemite Valley Forest, Autumn. Yosemite National Park, California. November 4, 2007 © Copyright G Dan Mitchell

I’m always intrigued by the combination of the strong verticals of the tree trunks (often interrupted by the diagonal of a fallen tree or two), the filtered light coming through the trees, and the warm tones of the leaves and needles on the forest floor interspersed with boulders and rocks that likely fell from the Valley walls many years ago.

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.