“Forest and Pond” — Trees reflected in the still water of a subalpine pond, Yosemite.
I have had my eye on this little scene for a while. The trees stand along the far bank of a small subalpine pond in the Yosemite high country. During the daytime it is a tough photograph, with the sunshine becoming almost unbearably bright. My ideal might be to photograph it before sunrise or after sunset. But this time I found myself here a bit earlier in the day — so I went ahead and made some photographs.
A challenge with scenes like this is that the dynamic contrast between the highlights on the trees and the background shadows can be huge if there is direct sunlight — too big to capture in a photograph. That’s partly why the soft light helps —before sunrise, after sunset, or when something else shades the scene. I timed this so that the trees were entirely shaded, yet nearby subjects in brighter light cast some directional light into the scene.
“Charlie’s Tree” — Trees growing on the side of a granite dome, Yosemite.
This tree (along with a companion hiding behind it) is situated in an especially picturesque location at the base of a granite dome, where it grows out the upper edge of a pile of rocks. At just the right moment the sun moves around from behind and above the dome and illuminates the tree from behind. (You may have seen this tree in another photograph I recently shared, one that takes a wider view of the scene.)
There are many reason s that I like this tree, but one is that it always reminds me how easy it is to overlook something interesting. It is along a road that I have driven for decades. For years I whizzed past this spot without noticing it at all. Then I saw a photograph of this tree by Charles Cramer, and since then I do notice it. I often stop and look, and if the light is decent I’ll make a photograph or two — but in the end it will always remain “Charlie’s Tree.”
“Meadow, Mountains, Morning Mist” — Morning mist rises from a subalpine meadow with trees in the foreground and peaks in the distance.
For a few days in early July I had this usually-crowded Yosemite location almost to myself. The nearby high-country campground was not yet open, and entry-restrictions to the park reduced the number of visitors. I camped just outside the park’s boundaries, and I entered in the mornings before sunrise — there was no line and I could get to my destinations quickly. On a couple of mornings the sunrise destination was this great subalpine meadow.
The meadow runs from east to west, so sunrise and sunset tend to send light down its length. I positioned myself near the west end on this morning, which meant that I was shooting nearly directly into that morning light. Here I placed a group of trees along the right side of the frame, to contrast the dark forms of their trunks and shadows with the lighter distant mountains, details muted by backlit haze.
“Pond, Forest, and Fog” — Fog rising from a subalpine pond drifts through pine forest, Yosemite.
This is one of several photographs I made in this area on the morning after a significant storm moved through the Yosemite high country. It rained for hours and made photography virtually impossible. But it also primed conditions for beautiful morning fog the next day, so I was up very early and out looking for it before sunrise.
Before long I passed a small lake that I’ve known about for decades but rarely photographed. This time the scene was sublime — fog was rising from the surface of the little lake and slowly drifting into the forest. The early morning light (from the now-clear sky) illuminated the scene, but there was no direct sun to overwhelm it. I began photographing, walking slowly along the shoreline and into the forest, eventually tearing myself away in order to seek out some other subjects.
Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
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