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Tioga Pass and Alternatives as Winter Approaches

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Lots of us northern and central California photographers make trips to the eastern Sierra in the summer and fall – I know that many of you have been there in the past month to photograph aspens and other fall color. For many of us the standard route to the “east side” is through Yosemite National Park and over Tioga Pass on State Highway 120 to Lee Vining and the area near Mono Lake. From here it is a short drive south to Mammoth (about a half hour) and Bishop (an hour) and points south, including Big Pine, Independence, and Lone Pine.

As the fall season arrives and winter weather approaches, Tioga Pass becomes a less reliable route and eventually closes for the season. The seasonal closure typically occurs sometime in late October or in November, though the historical records show that it has happened as late as January 1! Continue reading Tioga Pass and Alternatives as Winter Approaches →

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Keeping an Eye on Eastern Sierra Weather

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Those of us spending time in the eastern Sierra this time of year as we chase aspen color (and other subjects) need to pay a bit more careful attention to the changing weather, for photographic reasons and for safety reasons! October is a transitional season in the Sierra, and it can be warm and sunny one day and winter-like and snowy on the next.

Right now there are some question marks in the forecast for the upcoming weekend. I think we are still a bit too far away to get a truly precise forecast, but it does seem likely that the eastern Sierra will feel some effects from a passing weather system by late Saturday or on Sunday.

Some resources for those tracking the weather include:

  • The MammothWeather.com Dweeb Report. This is a private site that is really useful, especially if you learn to read between the lines a bit. To paraphrase (and read between those lines…) it is getting very cold in the eastern Sierra right now, will warm a bit later this week, and then “something” is passing through during the weekend.
  • For slightly geekier (as opposed to dweebier?) weather trackers, the California Forecast Discussion page at the NWS often gives some good hints about how the weather may develop. Currently the sum of the reports here suggests that a) it is going to get colder this weekend, b) a front is going to pass through, c) there is some chance of light snow in the eastern Sierra starting Saturday night, and d) there could be some windy conditions.
  • The NWS Sierra Nevada from Yosemite to Kings Canyon 7-Day Forecast covers a good chunk of the higher portion of the range in short form. Current forecast suggests cloudiness from Saturday evening through Sunday with some chance of precip.

What does it all mean to aspen hunters? A few thoughts cross my mind:

  • If you want reliable sun light in the very early morning hours this weekend, Saturday will be your day. Get up early and be in place before the sun rises.
  • There is some potential for interesting cloud formations and effects as the front approaches (if we get lucky, perhaps close to sunset on Saturday?) and then clears (later in the day on Sunday?).
  • There is a good chance that you’ll be shooting in at least some cloudy conditions. This can be a good thing! Photographing the aspens up close in cloud-diffused light can provide some wonderful saturated colors, though you’ll probably want to do some color adjustments in post. (The light will tend to be a bit blue.)
  • Think of light snow as a positive thing for photographs. There are tons of aspen photographs – but not nearly so many that combine the colorful leaves with a fresh dusting of snow.
  • Dress warmly. If you plan to camp be prepared for wet and cold, and probably give yourself a bit more time to get set up and so forth. Consider camping at a lower elevation if you aren’t prepared for the cold. Think about how you’ll manage your gear as you continue to shoot in cold and damp.
  • Watch out for difficult driving conditions. While a dusting of snow is not usually a major problem, falling snow and dark conditions can make things more difficult – and while you may not find this challenging, keep in mind that quite a few other drivers may not be as secure about this as you are. Also, even a little snow can temporarily close some Sierra passes – the NPS is notorious for closing down Tioga Pass for tiny bits of snow.
  • Wind may be an issue – in several ways. It is not uncommon for a front with strong winds to suddenly bring down some of the most colorful leaves. If you have a higher elevation grove in mind, go Saturday! The wind can also compound the problem of light diminished by clouds – the leaves may be moving a lot. Look for more sheltered areas, wait for a pause in the wind, increase ISO and use a faster shutter speed… or embrace the blur and make it part of your shots. And don’t forget that wind increases the effect of the cold.
Commentary

Tough Times for Photo Sites and Photographers Who Use Them

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Jim M. Goldstein posted an article at his blog yesterday that deals with recent changes at Photoshelter and Digital Railroad, two sites that have provided galleries, archival storage, and sales/licensing resources for many photographers. Photoshelter (which I’ve checked out and which seems to have a lot of interesting resources to offer) recently changed their service, eliminate an important element of what they originally offered to photographers. Digital Railroad suddenly announced its shutdown with almost no notice earlier this week, leaving many photographers in the lurch. In both cases, it appears that these services ran into funding problems that interfered with their business plans. Follow the link back to Jim’s article to read more background on this.

I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit recently as well. Being somewhat internet-savvy, I have worked with web hosting companies and more or less operated my own server applications, including the software that supports this blog/web site and other software that supports my gallery. This has not been without its problems. Ignoring for the moment the fact that hosting companies can also fail (keep good backups! of everything!), I ran into a serious customer support issue with my previous hosting company and had to move my entire web presence to another host (which seems to be doing a fine job, by the way) on very short notice. Although it is probably a story for another time, I’ll acknowledge that my choice to manage my own web presence cost me a ton of time during the past month, and has left me with some problems at this site that are still unresolved. (Notably a number of photos are now missing and, in some cases, stories are now linked to the wrong photographs.)

During this little web debacle that I’ve dealt with, I almost came to a decision to host my photographs at one of these commercial photography sites. I looked at three: pbase, zenfolio, and Photoshelter. While a full review is beyond the scope of this post, I will say that all three have a lot of worthwhile features to offer, the pricing seems reasonable to me, and I came “that close” to moving my photographs to one of the three. While it still could happen, at this point I’m going to sit tight for a while and see what happens to this segment of the photography industry first.