Clearing storm, spring, Yosemite, 7:27 a.m. Friday. Five auto-bracketed frames, two stops apart, blended with Lightroom’s HDR Merge.
We’re having some unusual weather for May. Higher elevations of the Sierra Nevada received over a foot of snow on Thursday. A second storm brought more rain and upper-elevation snow last night. A third storm is forecast to arrive on Tuesday, with another storm possibly coming on Friday.
This kind of weather pattern is fairly common during California’s winter rainy season. In May, as the summer dry season approaches, it’s not unusual to see a small system come through and deliver some light rain. But a series of strong, wet, cold storms like this is practically unheard of.
This strange weather means that there are bound to be some interesting, unusual opportunities for photographs. While there’s no snow forecast for Yosemite Valley, rain could bring mist and clouds to accompany the roaring waterfalls, bright green spring vegetation, and flowers.
Of course the downside to photographing May storms is that the sun rises way too early. I kept my eye on Thursday’s storm, and it looked like it might clear Friday morning. I checked the sunrise time for Friday: 5:50 a.m. That meant we’d have to leave our house at 4:30. So I set my alarm for – yikes! – 3:30.
But once you’re up it’s not so bad. When Claudia and I reached Yosemite Valley we found lots of mist underneath overcast skies. The snow line was about 5,000 feet, so just above the valley floor (at 4,000 feet). It didn’t look like the sun would break through anytime soon, so we drove up the Wawona Road a bit, looking for fog. Not finding any, we returned to Tunnel View.
Many spots around the valley could have been interesting with mist draping the cliffs. But I hung around Tunnel View because I knew the sun – if it appeared – would rise right between El Capitan and Cathedral Rocks. (How did I know that? Because I’d seen it before, and I double-checked with The Photographer’s Ephemeris 3D.) That doesn’t happen in winter, but it happens in May.
At Tunnel View on a cloudless May morning the sun would be right in your face, causing lens flare. But on Friday I thought the clouds and mist could block or partially block the sun, allowing me to photograph the sunlight streaming down the valley toward me, backlighting the mist, without flare – another opportunity created by the unusual spring weather.
At first that scenario seemed unlikely, at best. Some forecasts hinted that the skies would clear later in the morning, when the sun would be too high. Other forecasts showed little or no clearing that day. And there was no sign of sunlight or blue sky at 6:30, 40 minutes after sunrise.
But it seemed likely that the sun would break through sometime that morning, so I hung around and photographed misty black-and-white scenes while I waited. Soon a patch of blue sky appeared to the west. Since the clouds were moving from west to east, that meant those clear patches could move over the valley. More blue sky appeared. Then I could see a bright spot in the clouds to the east where the sun would be. A few minutes later the sun started to backlight the mist.
For the next 90 minutes the sun, mist, and clouds put on a spectacular show. I kept thinking that I should try another spot, but then something interesting would happen, compelling me to stay. It’s hard to pick the best moment from so many good ones, so I’ve included a few different versions here.
I’ve watched many sunrises from Tunnel View, and this was one of the most beautiful I’ve seen. Worth getting up at 3:30 for!
— Michael Frye
Misty sunrise from Tunnel View, Yosemite, 6:42 a.m. Friday. Four auto-bracketed frames, two stops apart, blended with Lightroom’s HDR Merge.
Fog and mist, Tunnel View, Yosemite, 7:13 a.m. Friday
Spring mist, Yosemite, 7:29 a.m. Friday
Related Posts: Flowers in the Fog; Misty Yosemite Valley
Michael Frye is a professional photographer specializing in landscapes and nature. He is the author or principal photographer of The Photographer’s Guide to Yosemite, Yosemite Meditations, Yosemite Meditations for Women, Yosemite Meditations for Adventurers, and Digital Landscape Photography: In the Footsteps of Ansel Adams and the Great Masters. He has also written three eBooks: Light & Land: Landscapes in the Digital Darkroom, Exposure for Outdoor Photography, and Landscapes in Lightroom: The Essential Step-by-Step Guide. Michael has written numerous magazine articles on the art and technique of photography, and his images have been published in over thirty countries around the world. Michael has lived either in or near Yosemite National Park since 1983, currently residing just outside the park in Mariposa, California.
Amazing!
Thanks Bob!
Incredible shots Michael … definitely makes the rest of us mere mortals envious!!!! Thanks for sharing them. They are truly beautiful.
Thank you Frank!
Wow!! So breath taking!!!
Thank you!!
Thanks very much Sonia!
Once again… I keep thinking that surely the photographic possibilities in in Yosemite Valley have been mined out. Let alone Tunnel View! And once again you’re showing that there’s always magic.
Thanks Eric! I don’t think any photo subject could ever be mined out. Someone will always come along and find something different.
The mist makes the scene amazingly beautiful!
Thanks Hong!
Few things are more beautiful to me than the clouds hugging all the mountains. Many mornings I would wake and check and enjoy the site. It is so easy to get lost in the quiet time and the sight of the clouds, drops on the plants, the Evening Primrose early in the a.m. There is so much to see within a few feet of many of the campsites and some still never see most of it. Thank you.
Indeed there is something special about low-lying mist. Thanks Dawn.
As always, your work is an inspiration AND an education! I just returned home from three days in Yosemite and was in awe of the scenes that unfolded before me this weekend. Other photographers were sharing about the morning you wrote about — unfortunately I had not yet arrived to the park. Thank you for your contributions to the photography community, Michael!
Thanks Doug! Sorry you didn’t get to see this sunrise, but I’m glad you had a good weekend.
Oh so good, Michael.
Thanks Anton!
Yeah, those 3 am wakeups in the summer kind of stink. Did it two weeks ago, ugh. Having those conditions is a nice motivating factor though.
🙂
WOW!! There are few photographs that literally take my breath away…..These are those few. Really amazing. The second photo (of the blended exposures) is just awesome. Thanks for sharing and your techniques. I’ve run out of adjectives.
Thanks very much John!
Great story and photographs, Michael.
I had a morning somewhat like this last year in early Spring. I was staying at Wawona and was up and on the road in the darkness. As I drove it was obvious that there was a lot of overcast. But as I came down toward Tunnel View there was a promising glow from the east and, indeed, light began to break through under the clouds that were rising and falling, building and dissipating among the cliffs and walls. I thought it would be brief, but it went on for nearly two hours.
Thanks for reminding me.
And, yes, it isn’t that bad once you are awake and out of bed. 😉
Dan
And then there are the stories about how you got up early, skies were overcast, and… they stayed that way. I have lots of those stories, but they aren’t that interesting. 🙂
Worth getting up, indeed! Gorgeous images, thanks, Michael.
Thanks Bob!
Spectacular!
Michael,
Wonderful light, mist, mountains, waterfall, valley forest, and composition. The combination is stunning! This is what “Being Close to Nature” means!
Warmly,
Nice story and images. I appreciate the part in your story about feeling the need to move but then listening to your gut and holding in the same spot to capture these great images. It would’ve been tempting to move to a new location after your first photo, especially with these conditions, but staying in the same spot (hard to do) paid off!
Thanks Jesse. Actually it wasn’t that hard to stay put, because the light stayed interesting, so there was always something to photograph and keep me engaged.