Yosemite Day Three: Yosemite Valley and Ansel Adams Photography Workshop

The big event for day three was the Walking in the Footsteps of Ansel Adams photography workshop. It was a half day workshop that began at 1 PM. We decided to make this a full Yosemite Valley day, other than heading over to Tunnel View at dusk. We started out about 9 AM by driving over to the Yosemite Village area. We parked the car for the day and headed out on foot to do some exploring. First we headed toward Yosemite Village where we picked up the trail to Lower Yosemite Falls. As you can see from the first photo below, the upper falls sure didn't have much water in them, but we still wanted to check it out.

This is the path leading into Yosemite Village where you can find the general store, Degnan's Deli, the Ansel Adams Gallery and a few other places. I shot most of the photos along the trail with the "shade" white balance setting on my camera...just to experiment. I figured I could always change it later if I wanted, but I kind of liked it, especially with the fall colors.

A buck on the pathway.

Start of trail leading to Lower Yosemite Falls.

A few fence and fall foliage shots along the trail.

Lower Yosemite Falls Bridge.

A John Muir sign along the trail.

Okay, back to "cloudy" white balance. And, there was Lower Yosemite Falls...beautiful, but sparse. I can only imagine what it would be like in the Spring. I guess that means I will need to come back very soon.

I liked the little rainbow toward the base of the falls.

After wandering a few trails around the falls for a little while, we headed over to Cook's Meadow. So beautiful! I suspected we may be back this way with the workshop later.

Looking Up

The other side of Cook's Meadow...facing away from Half Dome.

  My travel buddy pondering life and how beautiful Yosemite is....or possibly thinking, "hurry up and take the photo!"

Things are looking up again!

 After wandering around Cook's Meadow for quite some time, we headed over to Yosemite Village for lunch. We ate at Degnan's Deli and had the BEST sandwiches! We each got one and split them...we shared a Chicken Waldorf Croissant Sandwich and a Caprese Sandwich...both were delicious!!! By far the best food we ate in Yosemite.

 After lunch, we walked over to the Ansel Adams Gallery. We were a bit early, so I went in and shopped around some, while my friend took a little nap outside.

 Napping!

 Finally, our instructor came outside and introduced herself and took roll call...there were about 10 or 12 of us. She has been teaching workshops at the Ansel Adams gallery (and living in Yosemite!) since the early 80's...WOW...how incredible is that? She told us a bit about herself and then we started our walking tour...first stop...Cook's Meadow :)! We started off in the little corner of the meadow closest to Yosemite Village. We passed by a row of charming little cottages. She explained that some of the long-time custodians of Yosemite live here. I didn't even know these places existed. I want to live here, please...pretty please.

The Fall colors on this Sugar Maple were spectacular!

 A couple of the other cottages.

I'll take any one of them!

 We only skirted Cook's Meadow at this time. Our instructor explained that we would be back later in the afternoon on our way back to the Gallery....better light in the late afternoon!

Sooooooo...we headed over to another of Ansel Adam's favorite photography spots. This place is very near to the Visitor Center parking area, but you would never know it unless you knew it...haha. We stayed here for quite sometime experimenting with different techniques. Our instructor had a graduated ND filter that we were all playing with (I actually brought one of these filters with me, but left it in the hotel room where it would be so very useful!) to try to get that sandbar on the right of the photo under control. It sort of worked, but it was pretty sunny out. I still liked the results though! Here are a couple with the whole reflection of Half Dome. The first one is with the ND filter and the second without. Can you see the difference? Definitely!

 Here is one more Ansel Adam's style. According to our instructor, reflections were not a huge deal for him.

 Okay, so as I was standing there photographing the above scene, a duck started to swim out into the river. I noticed it was going right for the reflection of Half Dome. I waited and snapped this photo below. This is another of my favorite photos from this trip! I also love the tree reflections...very Monet-esque!

 Finally, here is one in monochrome. This really started me thinking about owning a film camera too...so I can do some real black and white photography. Monochrome is not quite the same.

After this stop...I wish I knew if this place had an actual name...we headed back to Cook's Meadow. Here is one of my favorite shots...Half Dome framed by beautiful Fall colors.

Here is a shot of Half Dome from Sentinel Bridge...another place made famous by Ansel Adams' work. As you can see from the photo below, the Merced River was quite low....still lovely though, especially with the Fall colors reflected in the river.

Here is the famous "Ansel Adams" tree in Cook's Meadow (two photos below). Part of it is falling over now and it is quite difficult to get a good photograph of it from the trails. The first one shows Lower Yosemite Falls in the background to the left of the tree.

This one shows the tree a bit better and from a different angle.

That brought our Ansel Adams workshop to an end. By this time, it was a little after 5 PM and we all headed back to the Gallery and said our good-byes. We were all anxious to get going to our "dusk" locations. One of the things that I loved about the workshop was that while I learned a lot from the instructor, I also learned a lot from the other participants...and I even helped out a couple of people with camera settings and what-not! I will definitely take more workshops in the future.

Our last stop of the day was at Tunnel View. I had heard that it could be wonderful at dusk...so we headed up there. When we arrived, the place was already packed with photographers...and they had all staked out their spots...the best spots, of course :)...and who can blame them. I squeezed in, but the sunset never really turned into anything spectacular. I think everyone was rather disappointed. Myself, well, I found this place rather difficult to photograph with the shadows so heavy in the foreground. Even with a ND Grad filter, I could just not get it right. Oh well, there is always next time...

After this, we headed back to our room. It was a long day on our feet..and we needed lots of rest because we were tackling the Mist Trail tomorrow morning up to the top of Vernal Falls. Goodnight.