Back from Yosemite

It took me a week to edit photos from Yosemite, but I'm back and ready to share my laid back vacation. Sunday we made the four hour drive from San Francisco to Yosemite National Park. I followed behind my parents in my own car since I had to leave a day early to go back to work. We hit up Walmart in Livermore to pick up some necessities: flip flops, snack bars, and clear stamps for scrapbooking. ;)

I listened to Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets on audiobook as I drove. I find that listening to audiobooks relaxes me and I don't get so upset when someone cuts me off and almost hits me. Gotta love the drivers in the bay area for that! We stopped at Carl's Jr since my dad hates all other fast food joints. I went through two chocolate shakes-I dropped the first one in the parking lot just for giggles. One might say I can be clumsy. :D

We arrived to the Yosemite Lodge before 5pm and managed to grab one of our favorite rooms on the second floor in the Dogwood building. It always has killer views of the Yosemite Falls. My family loves to sit out on the deck in the nice cool shade too. See further down to learn how to make this cool photo of the signs.
I met our neighbors as I was unpacking. I accidentally walked right into their room since the door was unlocked and it was on the second floor. I keep thinking I'll grow out of these awkward moments and yet they still happen. We played the "who can get a better parking spot?" game later in the afternoon from our deck. I think in the end my dad won. I scrapbooked a little until Jenna & Logan arrived.

While riding on the Valley bus, I requested a bear story from the bus driver. He said that he was doing the last round one night and stopped at the Happy Isle stop. A black bear got on the bus through the front door walked to the back (presumably look for food) and then walked off through the back door while the driver jumped out through the driver's window! How cool and weird is that? I always love those stories.We slept in Monday morning since we were exhausted from the drive and the altitude. They really aren't kidding when they say it takes about 3 days to acclimate. We hung out by the river at our favorite swimming hole near the mist trail at Happy Isles. I found a piece of aqua glass in the Merced river that made both my mom and I very excited. Logan jumped off the rock a few times and I got some cool action photos with the D300 that I borrowed from my co-worker Mat.

We headed back to our room for a nap and some relaxing reading before heading to the Lodge pool. I met a cool kid from Wisconsin named Marcus. We played catch with him in the pool since his parents didn't want to get in the pool. As we were leaving I heard a little kid tell his father that he better get out because he was turning blue. I laughed so hard-kids really say funny things!

I sold a print on etsy on Tuesday morning and it was such a great feeling. I also started working on my Yosemite travel mini for last years visit too. I get most inspired during the time that I am experiencing it. My parents and I tried to go on a bike ride but I had a flat tire. Even with the pump it wouldn't last to ride anywhere. We decided to visit the Ansel Adams gallery instead and then grab a bite at Degnan's Deli. We rested and went swimming at the pool again before heading the Degnan's Loft for Pizza. There aren't a ton of choices of places to dine at in Yosemite Valley. I recognized the cashier at the Pizza place and it turned out he graduated 2 years behind me from TN High School! What a small world! I uploaded photos from the past couple of days to my computer before heading to bed.

Woke early Wednesday morning to take photos in the early morning light around the meadow. I took some panoramic photos and some black and white film while using Dan's incredible tripod. I went on a bike ride with my parents after my photo shoot. We ran into several places where there was construction on the bike paths. On our way back to our room to welcome Dan, we ran into a large group of people watching a black bear climb out of a tree. This made my mom's day!Dan was happily waiting with Jenna & Logan when we returned. We finally got a very entertaining bus driver who asked us questions about trivia and told us cool stories. We love when they engage us and makes us want to stay on the bus for even longer. We got off the to grab some delicious ice cream cones at Curry Village before heading back to the river near some camping grounds.
We met some really cool Irish guys who didn't know how the throw a football, so they got a few lessons from the boys. That evening we played a laugh hearty game of Apples to Apples. We played for so long that Jenna & I had between 14-16 cards each.

Thursday was a laid back morning. Mom, Dad, Dan and I went on a bike ride while Jenna & Logan headed off the Wawona and the Mariposa Grove. We enjoyed more ice cream while chatting with some visitors from southern California before heading back to the room for lunch and shade. I got all the way into the Merced River because of how hot it was. We had pizza at Degnan's Loft for dinner and then I did a blog post for the Everythign Scrapp'n blog hop.

We celebrated my Mom's birthday on Friday. We went for a bike ride and took our annual photo in the meadow of my mom tickling me with a weed.
And here is a photo of the river that we rode by:
The Yosemite waterfalls were fairly dry but had more water than the previous two years.
Instead of our normal hike up to the Mist trail, we opted to spend time taking photos along the Yosemite Falls trail instead. It was just too hot for anything else. I remembered the multiple exposure feature that the D300 has, so I decided to play around with that. Here is an example of my favorite photo that I took:
This is done in camera and can be done with film. To get this look with film,
1. photograph your subject 2/3rds of 1 stop under exposed
2. do not advance the film
3. Then repeat step 1 and adavance the film.

This can be accomplished in two ways with digital photos. The easier way is to take to separate photos and create two layers in photoshop. Then play with the opacity in both, as well as contrast, to get the desired effect.

The second way (the way I did this) is to set up your camera for multiple exposure. For the Nikon (D200, D300, D700) go the the shooting menu (camera icon), select multiple exposure and press the right arrow to the right. Select the number of shots (I selected 2), and then move down to auto gain and select the ON feature. This adjusts exposures depending on how many photos you are taking for the multiple exposure. Then hit OK. Hit OK again and an icon with multiple exposures will appear. Then take the number of photos you set your camera for. And there you have it!

To my knowledge, no Canon cameras can do this at this time.

Road trip

Its the annual Yosemite trip and I am thrilled to have a whole week off for it! I meant to have a nice long blog catching up with plenty of fun photos but I opted to pack more instead. I see lots of reading, bike riding, swimming, and eating ice cream in my future. I stocked up on audio books of Harry Potter and The Host from the library. Hope you have a great week!

from Yosemite

Happy Birthday Mom! Today we are celebrating my mom's birthday in Yosemite. I love coming up here every year. Its so interesting to see how things vary. Here is my Mom and Dad on their way up the Mist Trail to Vernal Falls.

Dan & I left Monday morning for Yosemite. I drove all the way to Oakdale and then had Dan take over so I could take a nap. My parents & Jenna were waiting for us at the cabin when we arrived. After the long drive and altitude, we were exhausted. We had dinner at the Yosemite Lodge. Everything tastes absolutely wonderful up here.

Tuesday we went for a 5 mile bike ride around Yosemite Valley. We stopped at Curry Village for an ice cream break before lunch. That's how we roll. ;) Jenna, Mom & I went swimming at the Lodge pool. It felt great since the weather has been pushing triple digits.
Had pizza at Degnan's loft for dinner and then rode around on the free shuttle for a while. Why the heck do we do that? The drivers are such great entertainment, when you get that fun story-telling personality. Our driver was telling us to look to the right to see some bucks and to the right to see a bear.

It was standing up on its rear legs when we saw it! Of course we jumped off the bus to run get a closer look of the bear. Park Rangers were on either side of the meadow to make sure people didn't get too close. The ranger told us that there was a mother and her two cubs at an apple tree. We saw a male bear coming over to get apples from the tree. The mother bear got really protective and started rushing the male bear while the cubs ran up the apple tree. It was such an exciting night! I had my camera, but even at 1600ISO, the photos were so incredibly blurry that the bear looked more like a furry blurry bunny. Maybe better luck next time.

Wednesday was hike day, so we all woke up extra early and headed to Happy Isles on the shuttle. We took the Mist Trail up to Vernal Falls bridge and then continued on to the top of Vernal Falls. There was very little water this year in comparison to years past.
The last 1/3 of the mile up to the top of the falls are incredibly steep stairs.
It's called the mist trail because you walk right into the mist from the falling water. This is one spot that you'll be guaranteed to see a rainbow or even a double rainbow as long as there is water!
Looking down at the path that we just came up to reach the top. 3 miles round trip. I've never drank so much water in my life! Jenna & Dan had already reached the top and were waiting for us. Poor Jenna pulled some muscle and she had to use a walking stick (found in nature) on the way back down.
The oasis at the end of the hike is Emerald Pool. It is snow melt run off that feels great. 50 degree water in 100 degree weather.
The water runs down granite rock that is super slippery. A lot of people like to go down the waterslide part of it. My mom went down the smaller one on the left side of the rock. Not many go down the bigger one because its too powerful and there are lots of jagged rocks at the end of it.
Even though I went swimming in the cold water, I was completely dry by the time I finished the hike. I went with my Dad to the Lodge pool to cool off, again. On the bus ride back, we saw the same male bear out in the meadow. My mom got off to try getting better photos while it was still light. By the time she got there, the rangers had scared him back into the apple tree.

This morning I got up early and went on a photo walk. It was so serene and peaceful. I've taken this shot several times but never in the early morning. I was surprised that I didn't see any wildlife. I ended my photo shoot a little early because a photo tour of people came through.


Animals I've seen on this trip as of Thursday morning:

1. Bears
2. Deer (dawn, doe, and buck)
3. Mole
4. Squirrels
5. Stellars Jay
6. Robin
7. Butterflies

I'm back from Yosemite!

I won a copy of Artful Blogging from Joni of Yummers! I look forward to getting it in the mail. Thanks for picking me! Thanks to all of you for the warm wishes. I had a great vacation!

It was 101 degrees in Yosemite the first few days of my stay. I did a lot of hiking, biking, swimming, napping, and eating ice cream.

Yosemite has great free transportation set up for the valley. They have hybrid shuttle buses that run until 10pm at night. I rode them so frequently that I could easily create a series with all my photos.


The family waiting for the bus from left to right: Dan, Jenna, Dad, and Mom.


My main photographic goal I made for myself this trip was to avoid cliche travel photos. I have gone to Yosemite so frequently that I did not feel the need to capture the regular postcard photos.

We celebrated my mom's birthday by going to the Ahwahnee Hotel for dinner and relaxing by the Merced river and the Yosemite Lodge pool. My mom loves to garden and hates snails, so I bought her these from etsy. I love supporting other artists!

During one of our visits to the Merced River, my beautiful camera backpack slid down a rock (maybe a foot) and I found a filter of mine broken later that day. Filters are placed on the lens to protect it from dust, scratches, and UV rays. It also saves your lens from breaking. Luckily it will only cost $50 to replace instead of purchasing a replacement lens at $300.


Dan and I made a pilgrimage that every photographer dreams of making. We drove a little over two hours to see Tenaya Lake, Tioga Lake, Mono Lake, and Bodie. The two latter are quite a bit outside of Yosemite National Park. Tenaya Lake is famous because Ansel Adams photographed it in 1947. You can see his photo here. I first saw this photo in my grandfather's "office" while looking at some of the amazing photographs my grandparents have created over the years. They have such inspiring photos in that room. I took several photos with intentions of creating a panoramic later on. Can you see the changes that the rock face has made over the 50 years?


I find it really important to have a foreground, a middle ground, and a back ground in my photos. It really adds depth to the photo and enhances it greatly. Both photos, above and below, have these qualities. When taking photos, notice things that might make a photo better if included (like rocks or trees if creating landscapes).


I have a lot of other lake photos that I plan to upload to flickr in the next few days. If there is one thing I've learned with taking so many photos, it is to choose a few favorites so others won't be inundated with a ton of digital photos. I brought my 4GB memory card and managed to take over 950 digital photos. That's not counting my 4 rolls of film!

Mono lake was completely overcast so we enjoyed the visitors center. I saw some amazing photos that I have seen in textbooks. It was so inspiring to be view such stunning art.

Bodie was about 30 minutes from Mono lake . It was a gold mining town that has become a ghost town. I had no idea it was a State park or that it was as large as it was. Bodie has so much personality!



I have wanted to photograph this building for well over two years. On the drive home I was able to capture it in a drive by shooting. ;) The best way to do this is to have a fast shutter speed (1/1000th of second or greater and lots of light.


The drive home was great since Dan drove the whole way! When we reached Manteca I got a phone call from Jenna with bad news that my father had a bicycle accident. He will be alright, but he's chipped a tooth and bruised pretty badly. I'm so thankful that nothing was broken and that he will heal in time. It was a bit of a scare for all of us. Jenna, Mom, and Dad stayed an extra night at Curry village to let my Dad heal. He is in great spirits and should be home later tomorrow.