The weather lately in the Eastern Sierra has mostly been clear blue skies like most of Southern California. But I diligently watch the weather, and saw that in the upper Eastern Sierra by Mammoth on Tuesday had gone from 20% afternoon thunderstorms up to 40% and then decreasing on towards sunset and into the night. So I tossed my backpack into my jeep and drove up Tuesday morning. I was fortunate with it being the day after Labor Day as when I got up to the Tuolumne Meadow Wilderness station, they still had a back country camping opening for that same day up at Cathedral Lakes which is pretty rare.
The lows were to be in the low 40's so I did bring my sleeping bag, but I didn't bother with a tent as I planned to shoot the Milky Way until the moon rose about 1am and then I could sleep for a bit on the rocks, the tent would be overkill.
So all went as planned, except that at about mile 2 of the hike it started to hail. Not sure if this hail had followed me from Colorado, but it was more intense and for the next 2 miles it continued to hail, laying down a blanket of hail on the ground. I think Jim asked last time if I had stopped to shoot it, so despite my backpack, I did stop and take a few shots in the pouring hail.
Upon reaching Upper Cathedral Lakes in Yosemite, the hail had stopped, but the clouds were still thick. I started out shooting with the idea of B&W, but about an hour before sunset, the clouds starting opening up a bit and by sunset there was just that perfect combination of clouds and open skies for sunset. The sun was burning golden through the clouds on the left. The clouds on the right were golden and then within a few minutes started to progress to a more magenta tone. I found it cool on these wider shots to see both gold and the red/magenta colors in one image.
The gold from the sun was hitting the peak so much, it turned the peak so yellow I had to desaturate it by 40%. It was like there was this golden spotlight to the west.
All comments are welcome,
Jim
+ Edit with more contrast
The lows were to be in the low 40's so I did bring my sleeping bag, but I didn't bother with a tent as I planned to shoot the Milky Way until the moon rose about 1am and then I could sleep for a bit on the rocks, the tent would be overkill.
So all went as planned, except that at about mile 2 of the hike it started to hail. Not sure if this hail had followed me from Colorado, but it was more intense and for the next 2 miles it continued to hail, laying down a blanket of hail on the ground. I think Jim asked last time if I had stopped to shoot it, so despite my backpack, I did stop and take a few shots in the pouring hail.
Upon reaching Upper Cathedral Lakes in Yosemite, the hail had stopped, but the clouds were still thick. I started out shooting with the idea of B&W, but about an hour before sunset, the clouds starting opening up a bit and by sunset there was just that perfect combination of clouds and open skies for sunset. The sun was burning golden through the clouds on the left. The clouds on the right were golden and then within a few minutes started to progress to a more magenta tone. I found it cool on these wider shots to see both gold and the red/magenta colors in one image.
The gold from the sun was hitting the peak so much, it turned the peak so yellow I had to desaturate it by 40%. It was like there was this golden spotlight to the west.
All comments are welcome,
Jim
+ Edit with more contrast
