A Trip in Yosemite: #2

On the Road to Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park, CA

With our national park annual pass in hand expiring in October, we knew we had to make a trip back to Yosemite. We had a good idea of what we wanted to shoot this time, having already traversed many of the main Yosemite photography spots. So this time, we went out to find unique views of this treasured park! With our new Pulse - which allowed us to remotely control our camera from our tripod - in hand and our new Sigma 35mm f/1.4 lens, we were super excited to share these photos!

Midday at Olmstead Point, Yosemite National Park, CA

Sunset at Taft Point, Yosemite National Park, CA

Sunrise on the Way to Glacier Point, Yosemite National Park, CA

Sunrise at Valley View, Yosemite National Park, CA

Our first morning in Yosemite was spent catching the sunrise at Valley View. After much practice getting up in brisk cold mornings and driving up mountain roads in the dark only lit by starlight, we made it up to the valley from Crane Flat in no time. It took a while for the sun to rise, and so while we waited, we found amusement in the row of tripods all lined up along the railing.

Yosemite Valley Chapel, Yosemite National Park, CA

After a very early morning, we were ready for some coffee. So we headed onto the valley to grab some hot water, with our aeropress ready to brew. As we drove into the valley, I couldn't resist capturing these light rays! In fact, we drove through these twice just to get these shots. What a welcome into the valley!

With the morning light burned off, we headed to Olmstead Point since we had planned to go the opposite direction for sunset. The layers of rocks made for a beautiful minimalist background, so we spent some time playing with angles using our Pulse remote.

Olmstead Point, Yosemite National Park, CA

Oh, the classic Taft Point, loved by Instaphotographers everywhere. We had caught Taft Point in sunrise last year, so wanted to see what the light would be in sunset. With many more visitors at this time, we did manage to snap this photo before being swarmed by other photographers.

Taft Point, Yosemite National Park, CA

So instead we adventured down the other side of the cliff to get sunset shots! Little did we know that an audience had gathered around as we set up our tripod up the side of the cliff and clicked away. As we headed back up the check the shots, we saw other photographers eying our spot. But it was great meeting and chatting with photographers like @artmedina! Everyone was amused and impressed by our remote control set-up (imagine seeing a tripod all the way on the top of the cliff as we posed down the side of the cliff) but we got some awesome shots from it! The Pulse remote had an impressive range and let us get the best shots with its thumbnail preview and ability to change the aperture and shutter speed from far away.

After Taft Point, we headed up to Glacier Point to get night shots. But the moon was a bit too bright, lighting up the landscape so much that we could see our own shadows. I did catch this fun shot though, which we couldn't have done without our new Pulse remote (but it is difficult staying in one place for 30 seconds straight).

The next morning, we got up early again to catch the sunrise on the road to Glacier Point. We ran into another awesome photographer, @austin.rhee, and had a fun time taking photos with him and his model Jane. With only serious photographers up that early, there was an unspoken understanding for the reverence of good photography. And the kind yell of "CAR!" everytime someone could hear one coming down the road so we could all scram...before returning to the middle of the road to get our shots...aha.

And with that, we packed up our camping gear and headed home - though not without a somewhat-quick detour to SF to grab some pho and dumplings. Until next time Yosemite!