This summer I went to Yosemite and San Francisco with my family for a couple of weeks. I’d never been to either places, and it turned out to be a great adventure. I’ve FINALLY finished processing the photos, so here they are. I’m going to split this into two posts.

First up: Yosemite.

Our time in Yosemite got cut short by a day due to airline mishaps and delays, but we still got to see plenty of the park. I’d love to return in the fall or winter and get a new perspective, but I think the summer made for a good first visit.

A few highlights:
•  Running into a bear on a trail and mistakenly wandering through mountain lion territory at dusk.
•  Running into another bear at 1 a.m. after photographing the lunar rainbow at Yosemite Falls. It wandered right where our tripods had been less than 5 minutes before.
•  Seeing the Ansel Adams gallery and finally seeing Half Dome in real life.

We weren’t there long, but we got a good taste of everything — mountains, waterfalls, wildlife, hiking, landscapes, etc. Oh, and lots and lots of tourists.

Of course, I wish I had been able to be there with fewer people for a longer time for the express purpose of photography. I only got to visit each site once, and therefore was limited to the light available at that moment. The best photos you see from places like this are usually by people who live there, work there, or are otherwise there for a long time and can revisit places time and again until the conditions are what they’re looking for. I didn’t have that luxury…but I hope I did all right. :)

The technical highlight of the trip was when we went to photograph a lunar rainbow at Yosemite Falls. This only happens a few times per year. Moonbows happen the same way that rainbows do, but of course they happen at night. Due to the long exposure times, I only came away with about 15 shots. My favorite is already in the portfolio (and is the sixth hit when you google “lunar rainbow yosemite”!).
(Thanks again to my family for being willing to sleep in the car while I did this for 1.5 hours at midnight.)

Anyway, Yosemite is beautiful. The national parks really were “America’s Best Idea.” Their preservation for future generations is extremely important, and I believe that sharing images from these sacred places will help plant the seeds of conservation in the minds of those who view them. It’s simply not something worth destroying, for any reason. That’s pretty much what the International League of Conservation Photographers is all about. Maybe I’ll be a part of that someday!

Below are a few photos from the trip. You can see the rest in this set on Flickr!