I hope everyone in the United States had a wonderful and safe 4th of July Holiday weekend.  I took advantage of the holiday time to relax, work on a few projects that have been sitting idle for way to long, and take some photos of the local firework displays.  The above photo was taken from the 17th hole of the local golf course which overlooks the city of San Ramon, CA.  My family (and about 50 other family’s from the neighborhood) were able to catch the local firework display from this wonderful vista.  Click through to see more photos from the 4th of July as well as photos from the Pleasanton, CA firework display on the 3rd of July.

Winter River from Yosemite

Nothing like getting close to the start of Summer to enjoy a crisp, refreshing winter image from Yosemite.  I found this image much more engaging when the color of the tree trunks was left in versus a 100% black and white.  Not what my original hunch was when I started working on this photo — as it was overcast and snowing when I took this image, which I thought would lend itself to a black and white — but I guess that goes to show not to depend on pre-conceived notions.

Speaking of getting close to summer, it’s amazing how quickly the past two month flew by.  I have been kept quite busy with all the other things in life other than photography. (Gasp!  There are such things?)  Actually, that’s not entirely true as I have been doing some behind the scenes print work that I’m hoping to be able to debut here soon…just need to take the time to finish a last few items on the website before I can do that.  Anyway, I’m trying to fit in the time to post more soon…just wanted to let you know what was up.

Here it is almost June and I am processing photos from the last winter snow storm of the season to hit Yosemite, from back in March!  Better turn around time than other images that still languish in the dark rescesses of my hard drives.

While capturing a number of the other high elevation Yosemite valley photos you can see in the Yosemite portfolio, I kept being pestered by this crow who seemed to enjoy sitting in the trees at 1ooo feet above the valley floor…the trees right in front of my tripod!  Eventually he flew off to the left of me and I was able to capture him as he enjoyed the view from the retaining wall of the road descending to Yosemite Valley.  Like a good model, he looked right at the camera and struck a pose…

iPhone View from Las Trampas Ridge

One of the great parts about living in the Bay Area is the East Bay Regional Parks District.  A large collection of open space area in the east bay that creates wonderful buffer between the cities as well as provides a much overlooked set of recreational space.  Because of these open space areas, the East Bay has prevented the type of suburban sprawl that Southern California is known for (not to mention restricting the amount of space available to developers and helping to drive up the Bay Area housing costs).  Most locals to the Bay Area drive right by these parks on their daily commutes and don’t even know that they are there, which is a shame as some of the best views of the San Francisco area are obtained from the ridge trails of these parks.

The above photo was taken from one of the parks about 8 miles from my house.  After a 45 minute climb of about 500 feet up to the ridge trail (which is at about 1500 feet elevation), this was the view that we were greeted with.  I took this with my iPhone as I’m still not recovered enough from the flu to be caring 40 pounds of camera gear on my back and hike that trail.  It’s hard to tell in this photo, but the most distant ridge barely visible above and to the right of the red roofed house is actually Twin Peaks and San Francisco.   And during the course of the hike to the ridge, we climbed in elevation up past that red roofed house, at about half way up the trail we were below that house and couldn’t even see it.  Yes, next time I’ll bring the big camera with…

I’m struggle to catch up on the the things that I have fallen behind on over the past month.  One of those being my photography and postings here.  More to come soon…

Surreal Yosemite Valley

This image has become my favorite image from my recent trip to Yosemite.  This is a perfect example of why photographers need to get out when the weather is bad.  It was windy, cold (one photographer I meet had a portable stove with and was making coffee to keep warm), snowing now and again, and the light was changing by the minute.  It was amazing!

Since I have had a number of requests already:  Yes, art prints of this image are available.  Just click through on the photo and use the buy button.  I’m working on making a limited number of fine art prints available as well…working through some web site issues to enable that, so stay tuned.

Cloud Shrouded Ribbon Falls

While in Yosemite Valley I was surprised to find that I had cell phone coverage.  Just after taking this photo I shot out a quick tweet with a version of this taken on my iPhone camera as I thought this was going to be the best photo of my trip.  While the iPhone version doesn’t even come close to this photo, I still stand by my initial reaction.  I love the effect of this photo and it falls in the top ten from the trip.

Ribbon Fall is just to the east of El Capitan, so the right most stone face in this image is the eastern edge of El Capitan (photo was taken facing north).  The fall comes down that stone face and is a bit hard to see in this image with the cloud (try clicking on the image for a larger view).  The white that you see built up at the base of the fall (just above the tree line) is snow and ice from the water of the fall freezing on the rockface.  As I stood there taking in this scene I would hear a loud cracking noise as a piece of ice broke off the top of the falls somewhere, it would appear as a denser white within he spray of the fall’s water.

Snow Line at Vista Point

As my wife and I headed into Yosemite last weekend for the last snow storm of the season, there was this vista point that we came upon about half way between Groveland and Yosemite entrance.  This vista point looked north into the Stanislaus National Forest.  When we left Groveland we were just above the snowline.  As we pulled off at this vista point, the snowline was very evident.  It was about 500 feet below us and lived like a scar across the hillsides even as the clouds overhead threatened to release more snow.  Later in the evening as we drove back to Groveland, there was no snow visible from this same spot.

As I looked at this particular photo, I was curious what the red pine trees were on the bluff.  Then I remembered making a comment to my wife about all the dead pine trees we would see within the forest, their brown dried hulks would stick out from among their green brethren.  When you added the white of a fresh snow to the scene, they stood out even more.  I assume they were the casualties of the three year drought we have been having here in California.  Unfortunately, indications are that even with this last storm front, the state is still at less than 100% precipitaion for the year which still puts us well behind over the entire period of the drought. Most reservoirs we passed on the way to Yosemite looked like they were at half capacity or less.

Snow Capped Half Dome and Cathedral Spire

It’s hard to believe that only 7 days ago I was experiencing the last winter storm (most likely) of the season in Yosemite.  Last Sunday morning my wife and I awoke to a few inches of slushy snow at 3000 feet in the Sierra Nevedas.  We were staying at the Groveland Hotel (gorgeous historic hotel, highly recommended — and pet friendly) in Groveland California, on the Highway 120 entrance to Yosemite.  As we drove into Yosemite the the clouds started to build and the snow started to gently  fall in intermittent waves, starting with small round ice crystal flakes and eventually settling into a torrent of huge fluffy flakes.

I only hope that everyone gets the chance to expierence a winter snow fall like that in Yosemite at least once in their life.  It is quite magical.

The next day, it was all over.  The storm had passed, the sun was shinning and the snow encrusting the trees and cliffs was starting to melt.  During the morning, there was still enough snow left to make for gorgeous photo taking opportunities, though it was melting fast.  As the sun melted the snow, localized clouds started to form on the cliffs and hillsides.  As the day wore on, the valley floor was stripped of most of the snow from the previous day and all the moisture in the air had created it’s own weather system, shrouding all of Yosemite in clouds once again.  It is truly a bizarre experience to be driving out of Yosemite under the cover of clouds and then reach Big Oak Flats and have all the clouds disappear.  As my wife and I headed back to the Bay Area and descended the Sierra Nevada Foothills there was one hill crest where we could see all the way across a clear central valley, even making out the Diablo Range of hills on the other side of the valley, and yet see the cloudy Yosemite area in our rear view mirror.

Over the next week you will see more photos trickle into the Yosemite portfolio and appear here on the blog.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I did making them.  And don’t forget, you art prints are available for purchase by clicking through on the photo or visiting the portiflio — just look for the buy button. 

After requesting feedback, some provided on the original posting comments while others were emailed to me directly, here is how the voting broke down (click through on each photo to view a larger version):

	9 Votes
	3 Votes
	8 Votes

I find it interesting, and a bit confusing, that multiple people felt the lack of depth of field for both #2 and #3 was distracting.  Traditionally, the shallow depth of field usually focuses the viewer’s attention, but it seems that it worked just the opposite for some people.  It also seems that the way I framed #1, with the fence drawing the viewer’s eye form the lower right corner into the photo and the path falling on the right third of the photo, was favored by a number of people.

Initially, I prefered #2.  It was something about the whole feel of the image, the way the photo broke up nicely into thirds (mustard in the bottom third, the vines in the middle third, and the barn in the top third).  So that was the first photo that I printed at 18×12.  As it hung in my office for a few days, the yellow of the mustard started to overpower the photo and resulted in my attention always being drawn to it.  This was also the aspect of the photo that bother my wife.

I really liked #1 but found it difficult to adjust the color and luminosity masks to give the photo the pop but also keep the light brown of the posts in the field, they ended up darker than I wanted and I ran out of time to play with the image.  I also thought that a person or some other item in the photo would help add more feeling to the photo.

In the end I decided to submit #3 to the competition. The balance of the yellow of the mustard and red of the barn played nice together.  Also the fact the photo contains mustard, vines, and a well known Napa building (Frog’s Leap Winery’s red barn) encompasses the photo contest’s subject well.

So this morning, my wife and I drove up to Napa to submit a framed & matted 18” x 12” print.  Today was the last day of submission and my entry was number 196; I’m expecting there to be close to 250 entrants for the contest!  Categories are Film, Digital, and Artistic (heavy editing).  Luckily, the photos submitted to date were all lined up along the walls of the gallery so you could view the competition.  With your total frame size limited to 24” x 24”, I was shocked that most photos were 8×10 size or smaller.  The result was that most of the landscapes that were printed small really didn’t jump out at you, so in this case bigger was definitely better.

However, there is always an exception.  The one photo that absolutely  jumped out at both my wife and myself was a small photo of a weathered hand holding a shear about to prune a grape vine.  The image was taken from above with yellow mustard filling the blurred background.  Even small, that photo just leaped out at you.  The reason being that the photographer did a wonderful job adjusting the tones within the hand.  The weather hand just leaped out of that page at you due to it’s texture and tonal range.  Perhaps the photo could have been improved by pulling back a bit and showing more of the mustard in the background and not filling the frame with the hand and shears.  Regardless, my wife and I both left thinking that particular image was the winner in the digital category.

If you happen to be in the Napa area between now and May 1st, make an effort to stop by the Mumm Winery’s Photography Gallery to view the contest. Most of the entries are for sale, so if you see one you like do yourself and the photographer a favor and purchase the print.  Half of the proceeds go to support next year’s photo contest.

I’ve decided to make a Limited Edition Fine Art Print of my submission available for purchase.  The print run will be limited to 10.  Watch for more details within the week.  The framed and matted version of my submission is available for purchase from the Mumm Winery’s Photography Gallery for $200, in person visit needed for purchasing.

So, it’s time for some crowdsourcing feedback.

Which of the following three photos (all from my wine country portfolio) speaks to you most?  Why?

Please leave a comment with your explanation.  I need some feedback in the next couple of days.  Afterwards, I’ll post a comment with which was my favorite and what points that my wife raised that made me second guess it.