Yosemite – Tunnel View and Vernal Fall

A New Chapter

For only the second time in 27 years, I am out of school. I just completed my Ph.D and finally have some time to pursue my hobbies: baking and photography. I bought myself an Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II mirrorless camera with two lenses: a 14-42mm II R f/3.5-5.6 lens and a 40-150mm f/4.0-5.6 R telephoto lens. With barely a couple of days to practice shooting, we were off to Yosemite National Park for a quick getaway.

Tunnel View

Since this was the first time we’ve visited Yosemite, we decided to hit most of the popular sites. The first stop was Tunnel View, which has a panoramic view of El Capitan, Half Dome, and Bridalveil Fall. This is the view that made Ansel Adams famous, and it did not disappoint. I composed the shot by placing the trees in the foreground on the left to add depth. I also wanted the mountains in the back to fade into the sky. To do this, I slowed down my shutter speed to blow out the mountains a little. When post-processing in Photoshop, I wanted to bring out Bridalveil and really give it nice contrast against the background.

Vernal Fall

We hiked to the top of Vernal Fall, which is a 317ft waterfall. Originally called Yanopah by Native Americans, the name changed to Vernal Fall by American troops in 1851. Getting to the top via the Mist Trail, we were treated to this gorgeous view of the fall. Timing was on our side, as a discontinuous rainbow appeared for a few minutes as we were approaching the fall. I tried slower shutter speeds here first to get that silky waterfall effect, but I found that the rainbow was sharpest with a slightly faster shutter speed.

Quick Pitstop

On our way out, we drove by this turnaround with a spectacular view of El Capitan, Half Dome, and Bridalveil Fall. This was a different perspective from Tunnel View, and really captures the majesty of the park. The sun was setting and lit up El Capitan really nicely for this shot. I was a little bummed that we couldn’t make it to Mirror Lake on this day-trip, but I was happy to get the reflection shot on our way out. Like in the first shot at Tunnel View, I did a little post-processing to make Bridalveil pop a bit in this shot.

A Bit of History of Yosemite

To enrich these posts a bit, I’ve decided to add a section at the end of each post about some history. Yosemite Valley was originally called “Ahwahnee”, meaning “big mouth”, after the most powerful Native American village in the valley, home to the Ahwahneechees. The discovery of gold in California in 1849 brought various groups of people to the state, increasing competition for resources. The name “Yosemite” actually translates to “those who kill”, in honor of the tribe the Mariposa Battalion were about to capture and drive out of their home in 1851. Yosemite was first protected in 1864 when Abraham Lincoln signed the Yosemite Grant, and the area protected expanded to almost 1,200 square miles after John Muir spearheaded a push for Congress to pass a bill in 1890. In 2016, 5 million people visited the park!

Comments, conversations, feedback, and messages are always welcome!

References

“History & Culture”. United States National Park Service: Yosemite National Park. Retrieved February 10, 2018.
“Scenic USA – California”. Benjamin Prepelka. Retrieved February 10, 2018.
“On June 30, 1864…”. United States National Park Service: Yosemite National Park. Retrieved February 10, 2018.<
“Documentary Chronology of Selected Events in the Development of the American Conservation Movement, 1847-1920”. Library of Congress. Retrieved on February 10, 2018.
“Origin of the Word Yosemite — What does Yosemite mean? Naming Yosemite Etymology: where did the place name Yosemite come from?”. Beeler, Dan Anderson, Madison S. Retrieved February 10, 2018.
“Annual Park Recreation Visitation (1904 – Last Calendar Year)”. United States National Park Service. Retrieved February 10, 2018.