When you first enter Yosemite National Park it is impossible to miss El Capitan. Towering some 3,000 feet above the valley floor with a peak elevation of 7,573 feet its a feast for the eyes and an attractive challenge for several hardy rock climbers. The more I visit Yosemite the more I see visitors accept the walls of the valley as an unmoving constant, but if you stop to really watch the valley walls you’ll n

Photography is about a lot of things and other than “light” I’d say the “journey” is the most important. The fantastic thing about photography is that one’s mastery of the medium & artistic vision is a journey as much as the quest for each photo. Just as you never know what is over the next hill to photograph you never know how your view of the world might evolve. In both regar

One of the more intriguing visual phenomenon is seeing a giant moon on the horizon. One might think that there is some physical explanation as to why the moon is larger when low on the horizon, but its actually a visual illusion where your brain is playing a trick on you. This illusion is aptly called the “Moon Illusion“. This illusion is incredibly well explained in the following video: So how do people

Saturdays full moon was a sight to see, but then again it always is. I never tire of seeing the moon as it is a constant curiosity, inspiration, and friend. When ever I gaze upon the full moon my first thought is that we’re not alone in this big universe and second countless generations before me gazed upon this same celestial body pondering its origin, its meaning, and our relationship to it and other celestia

To gaze upon a sunrise is a treasured moment, you only get so many opportunities to see them. Keeping that in mind it always pays to get up early. John Muir also had an eloquent quote, “God never made an ugly landscape. All that the sun shines on is beautiful, so long as it is wild.”  I couldn’t agree more, but it’s easy to see how he came to that conclusion witnessing so many sunrises in Yose

To see the world in a new way sometimes all you need is some different lighting. While out photographing moonbows last month, at Glacier Point lookout, I enjoyed watching Yosemite valley transform as the full moon rose above the horizon.  To my amazement the moon low on the horizon painted the valley a subtle orange hue as you might expect to see during a sunrise.  I shouldn’t have been too surprised as the moo

Photographing Yosemite in the Spring is an amazing sight, particularly this year, with waterfalls flowing in full force. This year I’ve seen more waterfalls in Yosemite than ever before. Seasonal waterfalls were visible no matter where you looked. Even more amazing in these conditions is photographing what you cannot see namely a moonbow or lunar rainbow. Anatomically our eyes cannot see color at night, but our

Last week while in Yosemite I have to admit beyond obsessing on Moonbows I was amazed how high the Merced River water level had risen. I found myself returning to the same spots over and over to see how high the water was going. Almost every trip I make to Yosemite I can’t help but visit Swinging Bridge. Normally the bridge is well above the river and in past summers I’ve rafted under it and even seen som