Yosemite

Yosemite trip – Day 1

So this trip is about going it alone…. I didn’t really realise how alone….

I left Boston at 9am this morning on a Virgin America flight bound for San Francisco… I chatted on skype to Carla most of the way as the plane had wifi. My mood was odd… this is the first time in a long time that I have done something on my own and I although I was really looking forward to getting to being in Yosemite I wasn’t too sure about going it alone... but anyway – deep breath and off I go!

I arrived in San Fran and it was a stunningly beautiful day – I started my drive East towards Yosemite. It was going to take 4 hours. It was an amazing start to the drive going across the San Francisco Bay... wow! It was easy going for about 2 ½ hours I even chatted to Keith and stopped to buy some fruit (thank goodness – you will see why later!!) About 80 miles to go I entered Yosemite – my phone reception promptly died…. Ok… slightly worrying but ok….. The drive got really quite stunning and it felt really great to be back amongst mountains, I had forgotten how much I love driving up windy roads... so cool!!

Then it got dark… which made the drive a bit more interesting! Then it got snowy and then foggy… not so much fun anymore – why was I doing this??? At one point the GPS said its lost reception…. Not a good moment…. I didn’t have a clue where I was and I didn’t even have a map… I had Google Maps directions which are pretty damn useless when you get lost and a GPS not working… luckily it sprang back into life… but then died again and then came back - about 5 times each time my heart sank a bit further... but eventually I got to where I was meant to be…

Yosemite Lodge needs to be done for trade descriptions as far as I can make out so far… the office is meant to be open til 8pm – I arrived at 6.30 and it was shut and a note was on the door telling me where my motel room was….. So I find my room… I am meant to be meeting my fellow photographers at the food court at 6pm…. No idea where that is and there is no one to ask… place is deserted!!

So at this point I am trying to stay calm – I am in my room – my cell phones don’t work, there is no internet and there I cannot call any number I know from my room as it doesn’t call long distance… even calling the office is useless as they are shut even though they aren’t meant to be!!

So… I cry…. (I was tired and emotional what can I say...) Then I pull myself together and wander round a bit and meet a bloke… I ask if he knows where the food court is – he says you mean the vending machine… uh no the food court… apparently there isn’t one here all they have are vending machines…. And the nearest place to get food is 45 mins drive away one way… (see above points about being glad I have fruit and trade descriptions!!!!)

So I leave a note on the office door for my photo course leader and head to my room to watch TV…. Only it only has one channel and its mainly showing adverts…. So I am writing this and then I will sleep… I hope…. Have just realised no one knows where I am other than in Yosemite – hopefully that won’t freak people out as much as its freaking me out right now!!!

So…. This going it alone thing…… really not sure about it…. Am really not going to think about how I feel right now because those tears that have been looming all day and if honest for the last few weeks might just start to slow and they might not stop……

So my friend Carls – what am I grateful for…. Simple things… like my wonderful friends and family… I wish I could get in touch and say I am ok! The fact that I have 2 books with me and my mac so at least I have music…. And the fact that I stopped at a road side and got some fruit!

Yosemite Day 2

Ok so now reading back last night's posting I feel that I was a bit melodramatic but hey its how I felt... About 9pm last night Phil (photography course leader) called – phew someone knew I was here! He laid out the plan for today , he said we would be meeting at 7.30 and would drive to the village and have breakfast…. Such lovely lovely words!!! Then we are going to spend the day hiking and ‘shooting’! I am a tad concerned that I am not going to have all the right equipment but I am here to see Yosemite and improve my photography skills so I will simply make the most of it.

I slept well last night 9 hours… but with very very odd dreams… I was somewhere and there were high chances of being killed and no one knew where I was – I was freaking out – but then my boss and colleague Dirk were there and something happened and we weren’t executed…. What that was all about I don’t know!! Although I can see some links to my day yesterday!

Anyway time to go shooting!!

After a VERY large breakfast we went out to Yosemite Falls.... and the camera went from automatic to manual... the tripod came out and this is how we shot all weekend...

Half Dome


Swirling leaves - shutter speed really slow... F22, ISO 100, shutter speed 4" can also be used when doing sports shots!

Reflections


Yosemite on a cloudy sunset
Day 3 started with a hike up to Vernal Falls


Sunset day 2 - somehow these photos don't have the same orange brightness on here that they do on my screen or that they did in person.


After sunset we went for a delicious meal and then we came out and went night shooting... this was AMAZING.... who knew that pointing your camera at the sky and having ISO 1600, using manual focus and having the aperture as low as it can go and the shutter speed at 4 minutes... yes minutes.. you would get shots like these!! I was jumping around I was sooooo excited!!!

This is the milky way.... how cool!!!!



Yosemite day 3 Sunday I was very lucky and because my flight wasn't until the evening I got to go shooting in the morning (photos to come I need to down load them still and I don't have the software to download RAW files!) anyway after we'd been shooting Phil the teacher showed me how to use photoshop... here are a couple of my photos - tweaked or enhanced to what the eye really sees as Phil said!




and now here's the shot of all shots that our teacher took....


How cool is this last one - yes its a real picture.... its taken with a fish eye lense... that bright star in the middle is the north star and the red cross is where a satelite and a plane went across the sky.... soooo cool and inspring!

And here I am... the photographer... a bit more talented in the world of photography and a bit more comfortable with going exploring on my own!


Thank you everyone for your love and support..... Going it alone was hard but I enjoyed mysefl and I am so glad that I went - one day I will go back again... its a very special place. I'm so so grateful to have you in my life thank you for being there!!
xxx