Yosemite Valley
Day 0
On this trip, I was joined by Benjamin Huseman and Bob Gojkovic of Bob Gojkovich Photography.
We three sat at our PCs waiting. We were all logged into our Recreaction.gov accounts, we had our desired dates entered, and were ready to pull the trigger in the hopes of getting a day-pass within Yosemite National Park. Apparently, so was nearly everyone else on Earth.
The date requested just happened to coincide with peak Firefall season. This event only happens once per year and lasts about 20 minutes per day for a few days. We desperately wanted to be a part of it.
“Server error due to high traffic.” When attempting to nab a reservation, a server error message similar to this continually popped up. Each time, you had to refresh the page and reenter all of your information. Available passes were ~400, then, after the first refresh, there were 200 available, then 163, then 64…. Then, there were none. It seems we’d missed our opportunity. 😔
My wife sent me a message, “Did you get a pass!?” “No,” I replied. It seemed our trip would be canceled.
Suddenly a message came through. It was Bob. He had made it into the “shopping cart" area, but it seemed to be frozen. Neither Ben nor myself ever made it this far in the selection process.
“Be patient!” I messaged back to Bob. “You are our only hope!”
Luckily, Bob stayed patient and was able to, eventually, process through and get a day-use pass. We were going to Firefall…!
Below is a sneak peek into the main event…!
A Sneak Peek: Twenty-three seconds of Firefall…
What better way to start this trip than staring at the United Airlines plane that was dropping parts over Colorado after having its right engine fail? Awesome… Oh? You haven’t heard about this incident. Here’s a news link if you are interested. (Link opens in new tab)
Emergency crews surrounding UA plane
(Taken with S8)
Regardless of the extracurricular activities going on with the emergency crews, both the airport personnel as well as Southwest's personnel were able to get us on our way without delay.
Our engines were doing fine, so far…
(Taken with S8)
Then (CO) and now (SFO)
(Taken with S8)
SFO was a ghost town
(Taken with S8)
Day 1
After a short night's rest, it was time to get to Yosemite! We were lucky enough to have received a day pass and we wanted to make full use of it.
BTS at Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls
(Taken with S8)
I spent the morning exploring around a partially frozen Yosemite Falls. I was searching for a particular composition that I’d seen, but with the number of freshly downed trees in the area, my hopes were quickly dimming.
A Partially Frozen Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls
Prints Available
Nikon D750 | Tamron 24 - 70mm f/2.8 | 65mm | f/11 | 1s | ISO 100
The morning light is my favorite light. Too bad I am so lazy and miss a lot of sunrises. :-)
Oftentimes, I’ll wake up and peek out a window at home and want to kick myself for not getting out of bed and being out to witness the new day’s sunrise. Even still, I do probably see more than the average American, which sadly isn’t saying much. Maybe my New Year’s resolution next year will be to shoot a year’s worth of sunrises… Hmmm, sounds interesting; challenging, but interesting.
Water pooling beneath Lower Yosemite Falls
Nikon D750 | Tamron 14 - 24mm f/2.8 | 14mm | f/11 | 0.5s | ISO 100
Rainbow in the Lower Yosemite mist
(Taken with S8)
There was little doubt why there were so many downed trees. In addition to the terrible windstorm the valley saw just recently, there were boulders falling from the cliffs, and they came down hard! In addition to the boulders falling, there were a lot of ice chunks breaking loose from the Upper Yosemite Falls. Though their crashing sound was less intimidating than the rocks, they were still very awesomely intimidating to hear!
After a good search, I abandoned looking for the tree-based composition that I came for and turned my sights towards the falls as the sun recently busted through the canyon and was hitting the falls directly. I had missed the early morning light while wandering around in the woods. All that was left was late morning sunlight. It just so happened that The sunlight was refracting in the waterfall’s spray creating a nice rainbow which I couldn’t pass up!
Rainbow in Lower Yosemite Falls
Nikon D750 | Tamron 70 - 200mm f/2.8 | 116mm | f/16 | 1/160s | ISO 400
“Why do rainbows exist?”
If you are interested in the reasons we have rainbows, you can learn all about them on this quick read NOAA page.
BTS at Valley View
(Taken with S8)
After shooting Yosemite Falls, and recharging with a nice breakfast, we moved on towards Valley View. The “good light" was gone, so my preferred shot wasn't going to happen. Regardless, Bob and Ben had not been to the area, so the stop would definitely allow them the ability to put eyes on the situation thereby preparing them for a later date’s return. Surely there's going to be a return trip, right? 🤔
Tunnel View in Yosemite National Park
Prints Available
Nikon D750 | Tamron 24 - 70mm f/2.8 | 50mm | f/11 | 1/1600s | ISO 100
Our last stop, before heading to where we planned to shoot Firefall, was the ever beautiful Tunnel View. I could shoot this scene every day for a year and still be excited to shoot it the next day as well…! Often photographed, due to its ease of access as well as the number of features captured in one image, this overlook still seems to always impress.
With only one sunrise spent in the park, and sunset being taken by Firefall, I opted for a black and white image of Tunnel View in the afternoon’s harsh light. Speaking of Firefall, it was time to head that way.
I’ve got Horsetail Falls in my sights
(Taken with S8)
I knew to have to expect to get to my Firefall shooting location early. The event would be in the 5 pm hour. With that, I figured I'd need to be in place in the 1 pm hour. Wrong! By this timeframe, parking was already becoming an issue. It looked as if someone kicked a hornet’s nest full of people as they were scrambling around every-which-way taking any spot they could all visibly excited despite the long walk that still lay ahead of them.
The two northside spots that I was interested in were taken. Moving just to their right/left or front/back just didn’t work. Noted for next time. I’d have to do a bit of unfortunate last-minute searching.
I managed to find a spot that I was decently happy with. Ben found a spot that was just as good, if not better, and would better accommodate the three of us. We chose to set up there. Luckily we were still early enough to have this option.
We were soon joined by a couple thousand of our closest strangers.
It appeared as if Firefall was setting up to be spectacular! There were high-altitude clouds in the skies above the falls. This had me quite excited! Would I actually be able to capture Firefall as I imagined it on my first try!?
Go Pro video of Firefall event
Firefall was definitely not a disappointment by any stretch of the imagination. Even the crowd wasn’t a problem. As a matter of fact, I met quite a few very nice people while shooting. I suppose that tends to happen when you get a bunch of people together that do not mind standing around waiting for five hours just so they can witness and shoot an event that lasts fifteen minutes. :-)
My GoPro camera was attached to my tripod along with my Nikon D750 and Tamron 24mm - 70mm. (This can be seen in the image above that shows my two cameras and my GoPro set-up.) With so many people around, I decided not to get my wireless remote shutter out as I had seen another have cross-talk with another’s remote. Each person was controlling the other’s camera. I decided to manually press my shutter button and adjust the settings. The negative of that was that I introduced a slight bit of camera shake when I made camera adjustments. The shake can be seen in the video above.
Firefall (Prints Available)
Nikon D750 | Tamron 70 - 200mm f/2.8 | 100mm | f/11 | 1/25s | ISO 100
After the Firefall event came the now-it-is-time-to-get-out-of-the-park event.
The Park Rangers had traffic stopped in an attempt to allow the majority of the people to walk back to their vehicles in the dark without being hit by vehicles going the opposite way. This was slightly irritating to me until I gave it some thought. I finally came to the decision that it was for the best. Now, for the guy who had it all planned and was going to be the first one back to his vehicle so he could quickly leave, yeah, I’m sure he wasn't happy about it.
Firefall (Prints Available)
Nikon D750 | Tamron 70 - 200mm f/2.8 | 200mm | f/11 | 1/20s | ISO 100
After a l-o-n-g drive back to the SFO area, it was time to catch a few ZZZs and get ready for an early morning shoot. What? You didn't think I was going to let a sunrise pass just because I had to catch a plane, did you?
Day 2
BTS at Golden Gate Bridge just prior to Sunrise
(Taken with S8)
We made our way to the Golden Gate Bridge in the hopes of better conditions than what was predicted. Unfortunately, the prediction was spot on. It'd be a cloudless sunrise.
Presunrise at Golden Gate
Symbolized
Sometimes I wonder, all of these couples that “locked” their love here at the Golden Gate Bridge; how are they doing?
Alcatraz Sees A New Day
(Taken with S8)
The conditions weren't perfect as far as photography goes, but how could I really complain? After all, I just watched another sunrise and I did it from Golden Gate. It's a nice way to start the day if you ask me. 😀
Golden Gate: A Different Perspective
(Taken with S8)
With the sun up, we changed vantage points in an attempt to scope out a few more shooting locations for future shoots. These rocks were “shootable" even though we were at/near high tide.
Golden Gate Boat Dock
(Taken with S8)
I’m sure there is a composition here, I’ve just got to find it.
Back in DEN
(Taken with S8)
It was a quick trip and surely won’t be the last one. All-in-all, it was a good trip. We got to witness Horsetail Falls transition into Firefall and back as well as scope out a few compositions for future trips. These two guys were a blast to shoot with. Lookin’ forward to our next adventure!
