On 26 December 2021, I visited Yosemite National Park in California for a day trip. I went right between 2 of the biggest snowstorms of the season so far, and there was only a period of around 9 to 10 hours that were snow free. I knew the scenery inside Yosemite is going to be very beautiful after a snowstorm, so I went to take some photos. I only brought my mirrorless camera this time as the polarizer on my big camera is completely jammed (I found out about this on my trip into Yosemite 10 days prior). I took both photos on my cellphone and my mirrorless camera on this trip. The photos are split into 3 parts. I hope you enjoy viewing my photos.
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As mentioned, I had taken a trip into Yosemite National Park 10 days prior this trip on 16 December 2021. I have lumped the links to the blog posts for both of the trips together.
Parts (16 December 2021): 1 | 2 | Cellphone Photos (Part 1)
Parts (26 December 2021): 3 | 4 | Cellphone Photos (Part 2)
This is part 4 of my photos from Yosemite. The photos for today are photos I took with my mirrorless camera on 26 December 2021. The photos for today are from Yosemite Valley and feature scenery from Sentinel Bridge and Cook's Meadow.
A snowy scenery photo of El Capitan shot near Southside Drive.
Approximate GPS location (type into Google): 37° 43' 14" N 119° 38' 55" W
A snowy scenery photo of Half Dome and the Merced River shot at Sentinel Bridge.
Approximate GPS location (type into Google): 37° 44' 36" N 119° 35' 23" W
A black and white process of the photo above.
A snowy scenery photo of Half Dome shot at Sentinel Bridge.
Photo shot at the same position as above.
A black and white process of the photo above.
A scenery photo of Yosemite Falls and Cook's Meadow shot on Cook's Meadow Loop Trail. The photo was shot around sunset time, but since it was overcast, the sunset was not visible.
Approximate GPS location (type into Google): 37° 44' 39" N 119° 35' 25" W
Next up, I arrive at the spot of the tree in Cook's Meadow that I took photos of during my previous day trip to Yosemite. The photos of that tree from the previous trip turned out so gorgeous I wanted to take more photos of it. It was around dusk when I arrived, I was losing daylight fast. I'm still night blind from visual snow syndrome, so it was a race against time. You might be asking, "How did you take the next 3 photos?" The worst case scenario would have been me walking into the snow and then walking back out with no photos because I could no longer see. My parents were watching me from the main road (Northside Drive), I have a very bright 1000 lumen headlamp on me (it doesn't fix my night blindness, but it does assist me in a pinch), falling butt first into the powdery snow doesn't hurt, and I'm pretty familiar with the area since I already went there during the day on my previous trip. It was just a couple steps into the snow from Northside Drive (so it wasn't very far). I decided to take a gamble at it since the risk was pretty small.
I slowly made my way into snow covered Cook's Meadow falling butt first several times. There was still enough light out for me to kind of see where I was going and for me to make out the rough shape of the tree when I was heading in. I was already half blind for the first photo in the series, but I can still kind of see the tree. I shot a photo in the general direction. The last 2 photos in the series, I shot almost completely blind. I was no longer able to see anything except a small area of 3 to 5 feet around me lit by my super bright headlamp. This was aided by the super reflective snow as under normal conditions I don't even get that. Now your question is probably, "How did you accomplish the last 2 photos?" Not surprisingly my camera is a lot better at seeing things in the dark than me. With my very bright headlamp pointed in the general direction of that tree, my camera was able to make out a small section of the tree trunk. I used this to roughly compose my shot, but for the most part, I was just shooting in the general direction of the tree. I knew the photos were not going to be perfect, but I was fine with cropping them later and bringing up the exposure in Adobe Camera RAW. Luckily none of the photos needed to be cropped, but all of the shots were severely under exposed as I was on a race against time. In Adobe Camera RAW, I brightened the photos by 0.5 stop, 1.5 stops, and 2.75 stops respectively. I'm surprised at how great these photos turned out despite the severe under exposure, especially on the last 2 shots. Unfortunately it is almost impossible to get rid of the blue cast on the photos as it was shot at dusk.
A dusk snowy scenery photo of a tree and Cook's Meadow.
Approximate GPS location (type into Google): 37° 44' 46" N 119° 35' 30" W
A black and white process of the photo above.
A dusk snowy scenery photo of a tree and Cook's Meadow. The red cast you see in the photo are from the vehicles on Northside Drive.
Photo shot near the same position as above.
A black and white process of the photo above.
A dusk snowy scenery photo of a tree and Cook's Meadow. On the left is Half Dome.
Approximate GPS location (type into Google): 37° 44' 46" N 119° 35' 29" W
A black and white process of the photo above.
I finished taking photos of the tree in Cook's Meadow, but I was almost completely blind at this point. You are most likely wondering how I got back to Northside Drive and then the car. Even with my super bright 1000 lumen headlamp lighting the area in front of me, my night blindness still limited me to around 3 to 5 feet of really rough vision. Everything beyond 3 to 5 feet was practically pitch black. I had a very rough directional sense, but it was not enough to get me out. I shouted at my parents, and my dad verbally helped guide me out of the snow from the main road (Northside Drive). I very slowly made my way out falling butt first into the snow every few steps. Once I got to the main road, my dad physically guided me back to the car. Everything was good and I got the photos I wanted. 😁
This is all the photos for today. I hope you have enjoyed viewing the photos! Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Instagram. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.
As mentioned, I had taken a trip into Yosemite National Park 10 days prior this trip on 16 December 2021. I have lumped the links to the blog posts for both of the trips together.
Parts (16 December 2021): 1 | 2 | Cellphone Photos (Part 1)
Parts (26 December 2021): 3 | 4 | Cellphone Photos (Part 2)
