How glorious a greeting the sun gives the mountains!
– John Muir
El Capitan Winter View, Yosemite National Park
El Capitan, 3000 feet of vertical rock, is a sight to see. Even more amazing is that if you look closer while visiting the park you will often see rock climbers scaling the face or sleeping the night before resuming their climb on El Capitan, as was the case on my last visit this past weekend (full image for scale – see the bottom left of the rock face). From a photographic stand point the light and weather are never the same from one visit to another, so its rare to catch a view of El Capitan exactly the same way. This of course can be said for the other formations in the park too. Yosemite is an extremely dynamic place and it’s for this reason it attracts so many photographers.
My recent trip here this past weekend highlighted this very fact. Stormy one minute and sunny the next. El Capitan never lit up under equivalent light as it had last February, when this photo was taken, but it still looked amazing under wind swept clouds. The ever changing conditions always make photographing the park a challenge and its for this reason it keeps so many photographers coming back again and again. Something tells me I’ll be back before my Yosemite Moonbow photo tour.
[tags]Photography, Yosemite, Stock Photo, El Capitan, National Park[/tags]
I never tire of Yosemite photos. Last July was my first visit. I had only three days in the park – certainly not nearly enough time – but even during those three days I was drawn back to the same locations for “new” views of the classic vistas due to the changing conditions.
This shot, by the way, is very beautiful. Some day I hope to return during the winter.