Yosemite Valley from Glacier Point

Some Ideas for Cycle #2

I'm in the planning stage for cycle #2 which starts, unofficially, around the end of January. I'm intending to spend all of February in and around LA, shooting timelapse and video for my project and taking pictures for my portfolio. I expect lots of rain as El Nino is building to a historic level so plan to see lots of wet views and images. Hopefully I won't get too sick while there but who knows. I'm also looking at visiting as many parks in CA as I can, depending on the snow load and how well they are kept open. I'll then spend some time in AZ/UT, visiting places I went during cycle #2, including Zion, Vermilion Cliffs, Grand Canyon and maybe a few more. Depends on how much snow they have and how much time I have. I'm considering applying for a permit to hike into "the wave" which is something I really want to do given time and a favorable outcome of my application. I'll finish up with a few locations in NM. Expect to return around the end of April although that could adjust depending on how much I still want to do and how much energy I have. I'm hoping I can take upwards of 3-4 terabytes of data which should keep me busy for the rest of the year. It should be an exciting trip.

Yosemite Valley from Glacier Point

One afternoon, about the middle of my stay in Yosemite, I took the long drive up to Glacier Point. From this overlook one can see the entire valley and the view is spectacular. Most of the park is visible from this high vantage point and there is so much to see. Of course, you can see half dome and the waterfall but you also see the high Sierra mountains. The view really does take your breath away.

I took this as the sun slid below the horizon and only half dome and the high mountains are still illuminated. Yosemite village is in the valley below, to the left of the picture. At the center bottom you can just see the parking lot for one of the hotels. Yosemite Valley is straight ahead, to the left of half dome. This is a glacial valley, it's sides polished smooth by the massive glaciers from the last ice age as they slowly slid down the valley and then melted. It has the classic "U" shape although the bottom has been filled in over the years with wash and landslides so the valley is flat but scientific studies (using oil exploration rigs) found the rounded bottom a glacial polished valley must have. This is an HDR panorama shot from the extreme corner of the overlook facing to the northeast.

As I pointed out in a previous entry, it's difficult to get really stunning color photos in Yosemite because the granite is all gray. Compare this with my pictures from Zion or Bryce and you see what I mean. The iron rich sandstone from the Great Basin gives the whole area a very warm and inviting hue that is lacking in Yosemite. Only the amazing rock formations and the high mountains make Yosemite really special. And it's close proximity to LA and SF guarantees a steady stream of visitors.

For comparison, I've included both a color and B&W image. You can see why so many iconic images from Yosemite are done without color. By removing all color you're forced to see the amazing shapes and contours that define the valley. Maybe I should leave this image B&W. What do you think?

Yosemite Valley from Glacier Point - 16mm(1.6 crop),f/18,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Yosemite Valley from Glacier Point(B&W) - 16mm(1.6 crop),f/18,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Winter Wonderland

The Most Expensive Photo Ever

I read yesterday that a photographer, Peter Lik, recently sold a photograph for a whopping $6.5 million. The buyer is, of course, anonymous (if I'd paid that kind of money for this B&W photo I'd want to stay safely in the shadows too). The photo was taken in Antelope Canyon, Arizona and shows a dust cloud, shaped vaguely like a human form, being illuminated by a beam of light from above. Quite frankly, I've seen better and more pleasing images taken in roughly the same place and they've not sold for anywhere near that amount. I don't know much about Lik other than he's a very aggressive character who has several galleries around the world where he sells his images for very high prices. The approach uses high pressure sales techniques and targets the less than knowledgeable 'walk in' trade. He sells limited edition (if one can call 950 copies limited) and increases the price for each image as the number remaining dwindles. It's brilliant marketing but I'm not sure it's fine art. The article I read (can't find it again unfortunately) was highly critical of both this piece and his tactics in general. I can't comment on any of this but do find the idea of pressuring buyers is unethical at the very least. Of course, it's always nice to see photos sell for high prices but one hates to draw negative attention to the business as it hurts all of us. I'm not sure yet what the long term impact will be but wish the photographer's reputation didn't lend some uncomfortable color to the record.

A Strange Snow Day

Although Crimea is in the extreme south of Russia (as of last spring we're no longer part of Ukraine ... that's another interesting story I'll probably tell over time in this blog) but we get some very brutal winter weather. Earlier this year it was -27 degrees C (that's -17 degrees F for the metrically challenged) and, damn, it was cold. The tears froze on my cheeks as I walked our dog. Anyway, most of the time it's a bit milder and we get snow. One morning I went outside to walk the dog and discovered that sticky snow had stuck to all the trees but was mysteriously missing from the ground. I assume the ground temperature was just above freezing and the snow melted on contact but the trees had gotten cold enough to capture and preserve the snow as it fell. The effect was magical and I spent a long time wandering around, enjoying the beauty of the moment (fleeting as it was ... in a few hours the wind had knocked most of the snow down). When I got home I took my camera and shot down on the trees from our eighth floor flat. The image below was the best of the lot.

It was a dreary day and the initial image wasn't too exciting. The histogram was a single, broad hump near middle intensity with some strong side lobes at lower values. To fix this I created a luminescence mask that selected the snow and used a neutral overlay layer and a white brush to selectively paint in the highlights. When I finished I had 2-humped camel histogram which was what I wanted. My final step was to change the image to B&W.

I love how the main vertical branches seem to disappear into the dark background, as if the tree is floating in the darkness. It gives an ethereal quality to the image. The random scatter of the branches gives the image a surreal quality that I find very appealing. What do you think?

Winter's Beauty - 70 mm (1.6 crop), f/8, 1/20 sec, 100 ISO (license CC BY-NC 4.0)