Reflections along the Merced River
Last Thursday night a weak storm brought rain and snow to the Sierra. Before going to bed I checked the satellite and radar images online, and it looked like the storm might clear by sunrise, so I set my alarm for some ungodly hour. When the alarm went off I looked at the satellite photos on my iPhone without even getting out of bed. At moments like these, half asleep, warm under the covers, I almost hope those little animated images will show lots of clouds, so I can just roll over and go back to sleep. But alas, it looked like it was clearing. I got up and looked out the window: stars. The only thing worse than getting out of bed in the dark on a cold morning is missing a great sunrise. Time to get dressed.
When I arrived in Yosemite Valley I found three inches of new snow coating the still-colorful maples and dogwoods, plus some mist and broken clouds. Perfect. I’d planned on staying for only a few hours, but there was so much to photograph I ended up spending the whole day in the park. Around noon, as snow melted off the trees in the Valley, I moved to higher elevations along Highway 120, looking for, and finding, colder temperatures, still snow-covered trees, and colorful dogwoods. And then it was back down to the Valley for sunset on Half Dome. All the accompanying photos were made on Friday.
This day reminded me of November 8th last year—another magical day for photography. I wrote two blog posts about that day: here and here. In the second post you’ll find a link to a Flickr group with images from other photographers who were in Yosemite then. And though I didn’t make it up, I heard it was beautiful in Yosemite this past Sunday. So if you were in the park Friday, Saturday, or Sunday (Nov. 4th, 5th, or 6th), I’d love to see some photographs! Please feel free to post links in the comments.
The next question is… what did the storms do to the fall color? While the rain and snow Thursday night knocked some leaves down, things were still in pretty good shape on Friday. But it got colder Friday night, and then there was another storm, and more cold temperatures Sunday night and last night. I spoke with Ansel Adams Gallery staff photographers Evan and Kirk, and it seems that the trees that were already turning, particularly the big-leaf maples in many spots, lost most of their leaves. There’s still some good color around Fern Spring, and Valley View, and some oaks and dogwoods in the eastern end of the Valley are still partially green. It’s been a long, slow-changing autumn in Yosemite, with no real peak. The best color is probably over, but some spots could have good color for awhile longer.
—Michael Frye
Related posts: A Magical Day; More Images From That Magical Day—and a Call for Photographs
Michael Frye is a professional photographer specializing in landscapes and nature. He is the author and photographer of The Photographer’s Guide to Yosemite, Yosemite Meditations, and Digital Landscape Photography: In the Footsteps of Ansel Adams and the Great Masters, plus the eBook Light & Land: Landscapes in the Digital Darkroom. He has written numerous magazine articles on the art and technique of photography, and his images have been published in over thirty countries around the world. Michael has lived either in or near Yosemite National Park since 1983, currently residing just outside the park in Mariposa, California.
Snow-covered fir
Dogwood along Highway 120
Snow and leaf carpet
Half Dome, North Dome, and the Merced River
All I can say is I’m jealous! 🙂 My friends and I only had pure blue skies when we were there. Of course…that just means we needed to concentrate on scenes that didn’t involve the sky. Still, the scenes you show here are magical. I love the hint of yellow in the first.
Vivienne, someone once said to me, “Photography is all about making your friends jealous.” Obviously a bit tongue in cheek, but still there’s a grain of truth there… 🙂 Glad you like these images.
Char and I were I the valley on Sunday the 6th. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending how you look at it), I didn’t check the webcams until mid-morning, so I didn’t have to drag myself out of bed in the wee hours. The clouds and mists prevailed until early afternoon when we started getting more blue sky. A little later in the afternoon the mists started to close in again. I noted to Char on the way home that I’d only taken one photograph of fall color. That of some of the few leaves left on the black oaks across from Yosemite Falls. Still, a lovely day in the Valley.
While parked for lunch near Yosemite Falls we ran into Mike and Keith who were leading a photo workshop. From the mood of the workshop participants, it would appear that they were having a wonderful day. I didn’t get a chance to hear much about their morning as they were soon scurrying off into the oak woodland looking for color.
Dave, thanks for the story about your day in the Valley. Sounds great! And I have no doubt that Mike and Keith and their students were happy, as they should have been.
Nice photos!! 🙂 I sure hope I can find a little fall color next week, but hope to have some stormy weather and snow. 🙂 Is there a typical area that is good for rainbows if the conditions are right this time of year? I am not sure if this question even has an answer, but I thought I would ask it anyway. 🙂
Thanks Michele! You may get fall color and stormy weather… or neither, it’s hard to say! There’s really no such thing as a typical area for rainbows. Anywhere in the world, to see a rainbow you have to have the sun at your back and be looking toward rain or spray. Good luck!
WOW This pictures are Beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks Perla!
…. Which planet did you take the picture.. I never see such a beautiful scene..particularly the last one..
Thanks CC – it is a nice planet we live on. 🙂
Simply beautiful Michael.
Thanks Edith!
Hi Michael
Fantastic images as usual. I love reading your updates as it helps me plan my escapes to Yosemite or as I call it…”Disneyland for Nature Lovers”. My Dad and I were in the valley this weekend and we hoped that the storm would leave snow at our doorstep Sunday morning. After shooting at the Gates of the Valley we used your iPhone app to help guide us to Cathedral Beach in hopes of finding reflections of El Cap and the Three Brothers. Since you asked here is my image from Sunday morning. Thanks for the great app!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/michael-p-ryan/6324496487/in/photostream/lightbox/
Thanks very much Michael – glad you like the photos and the Disneyland updates. Maybe I’ll call them that from now on. 🙂 Beautiful photo – it reminds me of one of mine from a few years ago.
Hi Michael! We ran into each other at Tunnel and also up near the village meadow, and yes, I was the photog who walked right into your frame, wandering in my own little world of amazement. Sorry for doing that, but I hope at least you photographed my good side. I had the best time and this turned out to be my best photography outing ever. I stayed through sunday morning and it was warmer with wetter snow which began melting quickly. Still, I couldn’t believe my luck to have two snow blasts in one trip. Saturday was bright overcast, which allowed me to look for foliage. Hard to find, but it was there. I also headed up 120 and backtracked up 140 to the higher elevations for more snow scenes as well. I have a few images on my facebook wall (https://www.facebook.com/socalphotog) but I will hold off sharing all of them. I am working on a short movie of the trip. All told, 540 images, 53 video clips and 6 timelapse sequences, but by the time I whittle the images down, probably a dozen memorable photographs will make the final cut. It was a pleasure meeting you, although brief. Perhaps next time it snows you may catch me there again!
Mark, thanks for chiming in. It was nice to meet you, and no worries, you didn’t walk into my frame, I was quite zoomed in! But next time I’ll try to get a photo of your good side. 🙂 You were indeed lucky to have such a beautiful weekend, and I hope the images live up to your expectations once you’ve processed them all!
Great! I was going to go to Yosemite that day. When the alarm went off I opted to stay under the covers. Will power is a wonderful thing, when you have it. Lesson learned…
Sorry about that Kevin. Just pretend you didn’t see this.
Hi Michael, I envy you for being there at the right moment, I really like the snow and leaf carpet image but all of them are really nice. I had just a small window to get some in the east side during one workshop, but I’ll settle for that. I guess it’s winter next and can’t wait to get down to the valley. Great shooting Michael, have a great winter season.
Thanks very much Jesus, and I hope you have a beautiful winter visit.
Michael, wonderful images. I am greatly envious!
Thanks Dale!
Michael, really nice to see your images and how you explored the Valley that day! Great meeting you. A few images from me:
http://goo.gl/JrWJd
Paul, great meeting you too, and thanks for sharing the photos. I see you noticed those cottonwoods near Swinging Bridge too. I photographed them also, maybe I’ll post one of those images sometime.
I just posted a few of my images, look forward to seeing more from people who were there, Michael especially you! Hope all is well.
http://goo.gl/6MSZS
Good stuff Paul, thanks for sharing!
Thank you for the inspiration. I appreciate reading about someone who has the huevos to get up early and freeze your fingers, from the comfort of my computer chair. I’ll have to get up early tomorrow. I believe there is still fresh snow up high on the mountains here in the Northern Sierra and lots of Fall color that I need to go capture before it is gone completely.
David, thanks, and you’re welcome. Hope you have a fun and productive time tomorrow!
Hi Michael,
Yes indeed, Yosemite was a winter wonderland for those 4 days. I was lucky enough to be there for both snow falls. Thanks for inspiring us all to make the most of the light, weather and our surroundings.
Here is a link to some of the images I captured… http://www.flickr.com/photos/rjvalenti/6328429336/in/set-72157624263503259
Richard, glad you were there to see it all, and beautiful photos, as always!
Michael, could you share the website you use to check the cloud cover and how you interpret the pictures on the site? Thanks!!
Tony, I usually use the National Weather Service site for satellite photos. During the day the visible satellite is the most useful for photography, as it shows the most cloud-cover detail, but early in the morning it’s too dark for visible photos to work, so I look at the infrared images. I also use an iPhone app called MyWeather.
As for interpretation, there’s not much to say except that I look at the animated images and try to gauge the speed and direction of the cloud movement, and estimate what the cloud cover will be in an hour, two hours, etc. This can be hard to interpret though, as often in the afternoons it will look like clear skies over the Central Valley are moving toward the Sierra, but instead the clouds just keep building in place over the mountains and it never clears. But then sometimes it does! So these things are never completely predictable.
Beautiful pics as always Michael. I went to the park last Friday as a late day spur of the moment thing. Wasn’t even going to blog about it, because I didn’t get the shots I was hoping for. Entering the park at 4pm doesn’t give one a big time frame to scout around. For me it was a gamble that didn’t pay off as hoped. Next time I’m going in super early.
http://commonteri.blogspot.com/2011/11/winter-comes-knockn.html
Terry, sorry you didn’t get what you were hoping for, but I hope you enjoyed the day anyway, and maybe next time.
Thanks Michael. It goes to show how important timing and a bit of planning can be to getting good pics. You definitely had the right idea by going in early. Never the less we still enjoyed what little time we had there.
I was in Yosemite on Sunday morning. I was at the tunnel view at 5:45 am and was in the valley past sunset. LOVE Yosemite. I wish I had your talent. Hopefully the link works. The link is to Kirchert Images Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/jack.kirchert#!/media/set/?set=a.242426465812251.70934.106904336031132&type=3
Hey Jack – glad you got to be in the Valley on such a beautiful day, and thanks for the link. I think you did pretty well!
Michael – which app are you using to check the weather on your iPhone? I know my way around on the web, but have yet to find a good one for an iPhone.
Also, which function are you using for night time?
Ivan, check my reply above to Tony Siciliano.
I was there that same weekend, it was really great to be there, great light and scenery. I finally edited some of the images. Here are some of mine:
http://www.aps-photo.com/2011/11/yosemite-fall-and-winter-combined/
and some of my wife Barbara’s:
http://www.aps-photo.com/2011/11/yosemite-a-different-viewpoint/
Alan
Alan, I’m glad you got to be in Yosemite that weekend, and thanks for sharing your photos – and Barbara’s too! Nice work by both of you.