Africa...Yosemite Photos...
We arrived in Yosemite National Park on the evening of the 12th of July 2005 following our drive from San Francisco. Tammay and I had arranged to take part in a 5 day photography course taken by Michael Frye (a professional photographer who lives in Yosemite Valley). We stayed at Murphy's Hotel in Lee Vining, just a short drive from the Mono Inn where our photography course would be based. Some of my favourite frames are shown below. You can also see Tammay's favourite frames.
San Francisco
Cathedral Peak.
San Francisco
Cathedral Peak.
San Francisco
Cathedral Lakes.
San Francisco
Cathedral Peak.
San Francisco
Mono Lake at sunrise.
San Francisco
One of Mono Lake's tufa towers, back-lit by the rising sun.
San Francisco
Tufa towers at sunrise.
San Francisco
Ferns around Mono Lake.
San Francisco
A bear that decided to join our photography course.
San Francisco
Dead tree back-lit by the setting sun.
San Francisco
Flowers near the Tuolumne River.
San Francisco
A view of Cathedral & Unicorn Peaks from near the Tuolumne River.
San Francisco
Flowing water on Tuolumne River.
San Francisco
Sunset over Tuolumne River.
San Francisco
Unicorn Peak and Tuolumne River.
San Francisco
Sunset over Tuolumne River.
San Francisco
Sunrise over Greenstone Lake.
San Francisco
Sunrise over Greenstone Lake.
San Francisco
Greenstone Lake.
San Francisco
Greenstone Lake.
San Francisco
Gaylor Lakes (and Carroll's shadow).
San Francisco
Reflections in Gaylor Lakes.
San Francisco
Reflections in Gaylor Lakes.
San Francisco
Reflections in Gaylor Lakes.
San Francisco
Sunset over Gaylor Lakes with a view of Cathedral Peak.
San Francisco
Bodie.
San Francisco
Sunset reflections of clouds in Tuolumne Meadows.
San Francisco
The Mist Trail living up to its name near the base of Vernal Fall.
San Francisco
Flowing water on the Merced River.
San Francisco
Half Dome.
San Francisco
El Capitan, Cathedral Rocks and the Merced river.
San Francisco
Cathedral Rocks.
San Francisco
El Capitan.
San Francisco
El Capitan from Cathedral Beach.
San Francisco
Reflections in the Merced river.
San Francisco
A view of the Lower Yosemite Falls with a lunar rainbow. This image was taken at approximatly midnight with the scene solely lit by the full Moon.
San Francisco
The base of the Upper Yosemite Falls.
San Francisco
The base of the Upper Yosemite Falls.
San Francisco
A view of the base of the Upper Yosemite Falls from our hotel room at the Ahwahnee Resort.
Below you will find an overview of what we did on the course, followed by a few photos of the group.
Basic itinerary:
| 13th July – Day 1: | |
| 14th July – Day 2: | |
| 15th July – Day 3: | |
| 16th July – Day 4: | |
| 17th July – Day 5: | |
Group Photo
Murphy Creek
14th of July – Our second day on the course and an evening hike to Murphy Creek. Some of our group taking a break after the session – from left to right, Sara, Bob, Bill, Michael, Carroll and Matt.
Greenstone Lake
16th of July – Me on the edge of Greenstone Lake after an early morning hike – we left Murphy's Hotel just after 4:00am that morning and after a half hour drive and an hour and a half hike we arrived in time for sunrise.
Greenstone Lake
John, Bill, Michael, Carroll and Matt around Greenstone Lake.
Greenstone Lake
Michael and Bill.
Greenstone Lake
Carroll and Bob.
Greenstone Lake
Michael taking a group photo.
Saddlebag Lake
On our return from Greenstone lake, we spotted a small ferry boat taking fishermen across Saddlebag Lake... a $6 ferry ride was a small price to pay to cut an hour off our return hike!
Saddlebag Lake
John, Bob and Bill on our return.
Bodie
17th of July - Tammay and I decided to visit the town of Bodie, 30mins drive outside Lee Vining. Bodie was a gold-rush town that saw its heyday in the 1880's. From 1900, Bodie fell into decline with a number of fires that eventually destroyed 95% of the town's buildings. Bodie became a State Historic Park in 1962.
Bodie
Some of the remaining buildings.
Tuolumne Meadows
17th of July – Our final evening of photography classes in Tuolumne Meadows.
Tuolumne Meadows
John and Carrroll.
Tuolumne Meadows
Reflections in a lake on Tuolumne Meadows.
Tuolumne Meadows
Following sunset and a loss of light, Tammay and I headed further along the Tioga Pass Road and into Yosemite Valley for the first time. We checked into The Ahwahnee late that evening.
The Ahwahnee
Our room at the Ahwahnee Resort in the Yosemite Valley.
The Ahwahnee
Reception at The Ahwahnee Hotel
The Ahwahnee
The dining room at The Ahwahnee Hotel.
Vernal Fall
18th of July – Our first day in "The Valley". Following a conversation with a waiter at breakfast we decided to hike the Mist trail from the valley floor to Vernal Fall and further up to Nevada Fall, then take the John Muir Trail passed Clark Point back to the valley as detailed in Michael Frye's book "The Photographer's Guide to Yosemite". Even though the book states that the hike is 5.9 miles long with a 1900 foot elevation gain, we believed the waiter when he said it should take a couple of hours. Needless to say it actually took 6.5 hours (including time spent taking photos) and we ran out of water before we got to the top of the Nevada Fall!
Vernal Fall
The Vernal Fall from the Mist Trail.
Vernal Fall
A rainbow at the base of the Vernal Fall.
The Merced River
Me and the Merced River above Vernal Fall.
Nevada Fall
A view of Nevada Fall from the Mist Trail.
The Merced River
The white water above Nevada Fall.
Nevada Fall
A spectacular view of Nevada Fall from the John Muir Trail.
Yosemite Valley
A view of Yosemite Valley from Tunnel View just before sunset on the 18th of July. El Capitan on the left, Cathedral Rocks and Bridalveil Fall on the right. Half Dome can just be seen at the centre of the frame.
El Capitan
El Capitan and the Merced River at sunrise on the 19th of July, from Cathedral Beach.
Carroll and myself
While on Cathedral Beach that morning we bumped into Carroll.
The Upper Yosemite Fall
The Upper Yosemite Fall.
Half Dome
Half Dome as seen from Cook's Meadow.
Bridalveil Fall
Bridalveil Fall and the Leaning Tower.
Lower Yosemite Fall
Lower Yosemite Fall.
Lower Yosemite Fall
Tammay and myself at the base of the Lower Yosemite Fall on the morning of the 20th of July. The vast number of people present contrasted with that of the previous evening when we had photographed the Fall by Moon light (we were even able to see a rainbow created by the spray in the full-moon light).
Half Dome
Half Dome as seen from Columbia Point on the Yosemite Falls Trail.
Upper Yosemite Fall
Upper Yosemite Fall as seen from the Yosemite Falls Trail, just passed Columbia Point.
Half Dome
Half Dome as seen from the Yosemite Falls Trail, just passed Columbia Point..
Thursday the 21st of July 2005, we head back to San Francisco for our journey home. We took a 16:30 flight out of San Francisco, back to Heathrow.