Whenever I visit Yosemite, I usually make a short hike to the Mirror Lake. In fact, this is probably the easiest hike in all of the park. It’s about a mile long one way, but paved with the asphalt all the way. We haven’t hiked since we had our second child last fall, but decided this hike is short and easy enough to try it with both of our kids.

I carried our older son in a backpack behind me. One thing I learned on that short hike is that I really have to start planning which lenses come with me and which stay behind. With my 30 pound son, the tripod and all my lenses, filters, the camera bag became way too heavy to carry and not think about it. Maybe I’ll hire a donkey next time, like Ansel Adams did back in the day when he would hike around Yosemite with all his heavy gear.

Unfortunately, when we got there, there were several groups swimming in the lake, and I had to wait half an hour before getting a frame without random people swimming in the Tenaya Creek. The rangers are never there when you need them.

Nikon D300
20mm, f/16, 80 sec, ISO100
ND400 + Lee 0.9 ND Grad

I love that the spring weather in Yosemite is actually in June.

Nikon D300
200mm, f/9.0, 1/6 second, ISO 200
Singh-Ray Gold-N-Blue Polaraizer

What made last week’s visit to Yosemite was the water level. As I wrote before, the weekend marked the peak of water levels for the season. We had an usual amount of rain in this past winter and spring. Coupled with melting snow up in the mountains, it was a beautiful show.

On our way back from the hike to the Mirror Lake, I had to stop and take a few shots of the Tenaya Creek in full flow. As this was also the sunset time, beautiful reflections were everywhere.

Nikon D300
125mm, f/9.0, 1/13 second, ISO 200
Singh-Ray Gold-N-Blue Polaraizer

While the summer is almost here in Northern California, the spring has been a beautiful one this year. There were good number of spring storms that passed through, and a few of them were clearing right around the sunset.

I took this shot few weeks ago in a park nearby my house. We’ve lived here for few years now, but I can count on fingers of one hand how many times we’ve seen a sunset like this.

Sorry for the lack of Flickr activity recently. The month of May has been a crazy one, with lots of work, and two weddings I’m shooting (one today!).

Nikon D300
10mm, f/16, 1/6 sec, ISO200
Lee ND Grad 0.9+0.6

Last Monday I got off work just in time to catch one of the more memorable sunsets I have seen here in Silicon Valley. I grabbed my son who wanted to catch some fresh air and headed for the county park behind our neighborhood. If you think you’ve seen this oak tree before, you’re right – it’s the same tree that’s located next to an important IBM R&D facility.

Even if I’ve been there many times before, this was actually the first time I shot in this park while the grass was still green. This color only happens for a few months in the winter and spring.

That’s the beauty of living in the SF Bay Area. All the big high tech companies have their headquarters in the midst of a beautiful nature and we enjoy warm weather all year around. Just last night I almost hit a coyote and two bobcats, within 30 seconds of each other, right here on the streets of San Jose.

Nikon D300
10mm, f/16, 1/15 sec, ISO200
Lee ND Grad 0.9+0.6

El Capitan is one of the most recognized Yosemite’s landmarks. Standing at 3,000 feet, the granite monolith is also one of the favorite locations for rock climbers.

Below El Capitan lies the Yosemite Valley. The Valley floor was formed by the glacier that was there for millions of years and that was largely gone about 10,000 years ago. What’s now left of the glacier is the Merced River that flows through the heart of the Valley.

Nikon D300
20mm, 25 secs, f/16, ISO200
ND400 + Lee ND Grads 0.9+0.6

As I got to Yosemite earlier this week, the forecast was calling for rain and snow in the second half of the day, but the sky was clear in the morning. The clouds started rolling in a later afternoon, and by next day, the snow and rain was in full action. Right now we’re experiencing one of the last storms of this winter. To capture two moving elements in this image – the clouds that were moving left, and the Merced River that was moving right in this photo – I decided to do it with a long exposure.

I kept going back and forth whether to keep this one in color or not. In fact, it’s been a while I posted a B&W image, but I decided to try something different here, and keep it monochrome.

Nikon D300
20mm, f/16, 61 secs, ISO100
ND400 + Lee ND Grad 0.9+0.6

We’re in the middle of winter storms here in SF Bay Area.

Last week as the day was coming to an end, there was a short break right around the sunset time. I quickly grabbed my gear and headed out of the door to the nearby park that our house is close to. The color was there, but not spectacular, since there were too many low clouds. So I decided the scene is better suited for B&W. Standing there in this weather I couldn’t help but enjoy the fresh air that these storms bring. Next few weeks will also be the best time for landscape photography around here, as storms tend to clear the air and bring high clouds.

The nature is mean out there right now, but that’s expected for January. Please drive safely.

Nikon D300
1/20 sec, f/16, 24mm, 100 ISO
ND Grad 0.9 (3-stop)

I have few more of more abstract shots to post like the one I posted yesterday, but before I go that route, I wanted to post a more straight forward view of the redwood trees that I caught on the same day.

Some photos help us remember not the visual sense of the place, but also the feeling and sometimes even the smell of it. This is one of those.

It was on a morning like this that I was once again reminded why I do miss living in the mountains.

I just got back from a family trip to Utah where we spent the last few days. While the trip was mostly family rather than photography oriented, I did manage to get out and shoot outdoors on a couple of occasions so I will share the photos from the trip in the next little while.

This particular image was taken on Monday at sunrise. I think I figured out an easy solution of how to get up at 5am to capture a scene like this, and it is to sleep on a couch the night before. It worked and I woke up without an alarm (sleeping on a couch is a burden) to drive up to the Provo canyon with this image in mind. I had no expectation about the great light, because recently it mostly alluded me, and I almost thought I’d have no chance for anything to happen until suddenly, after I already been around the lake for about an hour, my favorite mountain, Mt Timpanogos, began glowing with an alpenglow, which is an optical phenomenon that’s sometimes seen at high altitudes when the sun is just below the horizon. It only lasts a few minutes, but luckily, I already had my camera set up in the exact spot where I wanted it and I was able to record this scene.

More to come.