Yosemite

At the end of the USA trip a few days in Yosemite. Its late summer so forget any of the classic Ansel Adams images. The light is just wrong and the sky is clear. Early winter light, swirling clouds, mist and atmosphere is what you need to make the dramatic landscapes. Having said that you just have to try regardless. At this time of year detail and back lighting maybe the way to go.

Even so you have to have a go at the classic views. Below is the old standard of Yosemite from the Tunnel View on the road to Glacier Point. El Capitan is on the left and Half Dome in the far centre. Red filter to darken the sky and bit of holding back on the trees. Not a classic but nice just the same.

Adams classic monochrome images of Yosemite have become somewhat unfashionable. Perhaps this is due to overfamiliarity of his work, too many books, postcards, calendars and so on. Maybe these days people just want colour images. Certainly at the Ansel Adams Gallery in Yosemite the most striking images were colour pictures by other photographers (my favourite by Michael Frye). I was surprised by this, but I also prefered the colour photographs. However I still wanted to photograph in black and white - go figure?

New York Times article on Adams and Yosemite