Yosemite is one of my favorite locations and if you can go in the Winter you’re in for a treat. There are no crowds and Yosemite after a snowfall is just incredible. I had been to this location along the Merced river on many occasions and taken a number of photographs. Some were OK but many were just ordinary.
This particular winter morning was a chance encounter. I happened to be staying in the park at one of the hotels when the forecast for significant snowfall came on the news. It’s a good thing I was inside the park since many times when they get a lot of snow overnight, you can’t get in until they have cleared all the roads. By that time the good light may be over. I got up very early the next morning and took a peek out my hotel door. It was still dark but I could see that a lot of snow fell overnight. I could also see stars in the sky which meant the potential for clear skies so I hurried to get my gear together and head on out. Since this vantage point was great in morning light I knew just where I wanted to be at sunrise. No time for breakfast. If you’ve been to Yosemite in the Winter you know that once the sun is up, the snow starts to melt off the trees. You’ve got to get your shots early.
Once I was in the car I could tell this was going to be something special. The sky was clear and it was cold. Single digits cold. This was shaping up to be an awesome morning. With these temperatures, the snow would stay on the trees that much longer. It was just barely getting light out when I got to the parking area off the main road. I was the only one there. I pulled my backpack and tripod out of the back seat along with my case of film holders. That’s right, I was shooting film and I had my 8×10 large format camera with me on this trip. I trudged through the snow carrying all my gear and since I had been there before I had a pretty good idea where I wanted to set up. Usually when I get to a location I take some time to look around before ever setting up my camera. I need to pre-visualize the image from several vantage points and evaluate potential compositions. I didn’t need to do that on this occasion since I knew it pretty well plus I didn’t want to track up the snow. The sun was making its way over the horizon and I needed to get set up.
I made the necessary adjustments to the view camera and using a loupe on the ground glass checked for focus. I had to hold my breath while doing this so frost wouldn’t accumulate on the glass. Did I mention it was cold? Once I had everything locked down on the camera I came out from under the dark cloth and wow, what a scene. This was a sensory overload kind of scene. The sun was now out in all its glory and I had to find my sunglasses since I was under the dark cloth for so long. I waited for the sun to get high enough in the sky to illuminate the entire face of El Capitan. It was just a gorgeous morning in Yosemite. I was still the only one there and it was awesome. I made several exposures on color negative film and this is the best one. I have enlarged this to 30″x40″ and it looks amazing. Tons of detail. No grain. That’s 8×10 film for you. Plus color negative film can handle the contrast extremes in a scene like this. Many stops of exposure latitude. After hanging around for awhile soaking in the beauty of this wonderful place, I packed up my gear and headed back to the car. Time to go get some breakfast.
Sometimes you can’t predict what nature will throw your way so you have to be ready to adapt. Many times you also just need to get up early and be there when the sun comes up. Good photographs require good light and generally the beginning and end of the day gives you that good light. If you’re on a road trip with a limited number of days available for shooting, get up early and maximize the time you’re there on location. You can sleep when you get home.
Shen-Hao 8×10 view camera, Nikkor 150mm SW wide angle lens, Kodak Portra 160VC film.
