New Year's Eve - Going Out in Supermoon Style at Yosemite National Park

The last Supermoon of 2017 fell on the last day of the year.  I'm not much of a party person anyway, so when I heard that the moon was set to rise approximately 1 hour before sunset and directly between El Capitan and Half Dome in Yosemite, I knew I had to be there.  

I made the roughly 3.5 hour drive to the park (luckily I have a National Park pass so didn't have to pay the entrance fee) and made it up to Tunnel View just in time to take the last parking space in the first lot!

There were so many photographers lined up, but most of them were hoping for a gorgeous Yosemite sunset.  I got a primo place in line and sat on the cold, stone wall to wait.  Of course I had to take some photos!  The view is amazing!

This photo shows Tunnel View in all it's glory.  You have El Capitan on the left, Half Dome in the middle and Bridalveil Falls near the right.

There was a really nice photographer who had an amazing camera that he purchased in Europe.  He was using Polaroid type film and hoping to capture the tableau in a similar fashion to Ansel Adams.  

He mentioned to me that when Ansel Adams was trekking all over Yosemite before it was a national park, there were no trails and no digital cameras!  He carried a 100 lb pack, 50 lbs of which was camera equipment. 

As I mentioned, there were photographers lined up on either side of me, including a dumb dude with a drone that he flew down the valley messing up some other photographers shots.  There were a lot of complaints around me (and I called him dumb because it's illegal to fly drones over National Parks and he could have been arrested). 

He was somewhere far down the line to my left.

And cool camera guy and more were to my right.

Here's a closer look at Bridalveil Falls. 

And the only little bit of snow I saw was up much higher, behind the vista. 

There were so many planes flying over!  I'm assuming it's a favorite thing for pilots to point out to their passengers and all of the contrails really added to the clouds!

More Tunnel View!  The moon was actually starting to rise at this point, but we couldn't see it.  

I decided to try a capture of Half Dome Ansel Adams (black and white) style. 

I loved the clouds!

And then, FINALLY, it happened!

The Man in the Moon!

I'll probably create some composite shots later, but I was really happy to get quite a bit of detail in both the landscape and the moon itself. 

And here she is in all her glory.  Beautiful.

I love the next couple because you can see the stars and still see some detail in the landscape.  

Okay, and this one is a semi-silly one.  But let me tell you a little story about it's weirdness.  

I have long had the idea to do a "cape series" because I like mystical looks and thought it would be fun to incorporate a model in a cape at some of my night shoots and maybe even some day ones!  

But I didn't have a model to go with me, so I decided to throw on the old cape (which was in my trunk from another shoot) and set my timer and take a running jump onto the stone wall to get a shot for my cape series.

Well, first two attempts I didn't get far enough into the picture.  And on the third attempt, I guess this old, fat chick was tired!  I made it up onto the wall, but almost pitched forward into the great abyss!  lol  Luckily I was able to catch myself and not fall and righted myself just as I heard the shutter click.  haha!  Good times.  Also luckily, there were only a few people left who laughed at the crazy old lady in the cape, jumping up on the wall. 

By this time, I was freezing (all that exercise not withstanding!) and decided to hit the road.  However, on my way out, I was amazed at how beautiful Yosemite Falls looked in the glorious, bright moonlight, so I pulled over again and risked getting eaten by a bear to try to get some shots.

I like this second one with the traffic.  lol  

Okay, now I was REALLY frozen!  My feet especially so I decided to head out for real this time.  My only stop was when a beautiful eight-point buck decided to leisurely cross Highway 120 in front of my car.  What an altogether magical night!  BranDee and Jill, you really should have joined me ladies!!  I wouldn't have almost killed myself jumping on that wall!  

xoxo

Nikon D3300

Merry Christmas!! Lights, Camera, Action!

First?  Let's set the theme...

Next, wander along with me to visit one of Sacramento's longest-running places of Christmas joy and peace. 

Sacramento's Elmhurst Neighborhood.  

In a small pocket just off Highway 50 and 59th Street, there is a group of streets where most of the houses have some kind of decoration for the season.  

And in between most of them, the sidewalks themselves are decorated into a fun, colorful walk into Christmas.

You have everything you could possibly want in Christmas decorations...from traditional (ish):

To Disney:

To Alice In Wonderland!

It's really just a joy to walk along under the colorful lights, humming Christmas carols as you stroll through the crisp, cold air. 

Merry Christmas to all!  

xoxo and a Ho Ho Ho!

Nikon D3300

Autumn - Where Every Leaf is a Flower - Apple Hill 2017

I just love Autumn!  While it's not true that the seasons never change in California, and also not true that we don't get a lot of Fall color, it can be a blink and you miss it moment some years.  

This year we had an Indian Summer that was hotter than most of the regular Summer.  So Autumn came and went pretty fast at the higher elevations.  There is still some gorgeous foliage here in Sacramento, but who wants photos of gorgeous trees with urban sprawl?  Not me!

So last weekend I headed up Highway 50 to Apple Hill.  I went on the spur of the moment, just before sunset and basically just drove around until I spotted red or yellow.  I got really lucky because it was mostly brown and green!  

It was kind of chilly and a lot of folks had burn piles going.  Which made for some beautiful sun rays peaking through the evergreens.

But luckily, I found a few spots where color was lingering.  Including one farm that had this cool, old truck! 

This place was really beautiful.  There were several bright spots of color along with some very cool stuff to take pictures of.  

Obviously I just loved this huge waterwheel!  

I found some more color at a farm down the road.  

I'm not really sure what these reddish bushes were, but it was obviously a crop of some kind as it was planted in rows and covered a huge field. 

This is a close up of the leaves with the sun just about setting in the background. 

Across from the field was a lovely picnic area shared by some couples and a few kids running around.  

And beside the field, there were trees with apples!  

This is a shot of the neighboring farm which had one absolutely brilliant red tree.

The sun went behind the pines, so I got back in my car and headed down the road.  

I actually turned the wrong way and was just about thinking that I wouldn't see any more color when I rounded a corner and, voila!  The sun was perfectly highlighting a red tree through the dark forest!

Luckily there was a perfect spot on the shoulder to pull safely off the road to get this picture. 

And then I hit the jackpot!!

There was a lovely road with white fences and fir trees, when suddenly I came upon a beautiful field with lavender bushes, red trees, and a cool red barn! It was surrounded on three sides with bursts of bright color - all highlighted by the sunset!

And it had a big gravel area in front where I could pull of the road and walk around, so it was just perfect. 

I couldn't have been there at a better time if I had actually planned it!  The sun was casting an orange glow and perfectly highlighting the foliage. 

The lavender smelled scrumptious with nary a bee so close to sunset!

It was the perfect ending to my drive!

I worked my way back to Highway 50, past the hordes leaving the most popular farms.  And just as I made it through the heavy Placerville traffic, the sun set into total darkness.

I need to go back to pick some chestnuts for my Thanksgiving dressing and get some photos of some adorable sheep and burros I saw!  Hmmm...guess I'm heading back this weekend!  lol

xoxo

Nikon D3300