By Nathan

Since I have never been to Yosemite, I didn’t know what to expect and especially what it would look like in the winter.  Since we were car camping I didn’t need to pack light so I basically brought every piece of camera equipment I owned.  It was a great chance to test out the new equipment that I got for Christmas: the GorrillaPod SLR and the Cotton Carrier .

The first day was right after a storm so the skies were clear which made it easy to photograph the amazing rock formations that lined the valley.

1/200 sec, f/11.0, 135 mm

My preference is taking photos of animals but in the winter it was hard to find any without hiking off the beaten path.  All we saw were coyotes and deer although we heard reports of a bobcat and mountain lion sightings.  Even though I wasn’t stalking animals and hiding in the brush the landscapes were breathtaking enough to keep my attention.

1/125 sec, f/11.0, 33 mm

The Cotton Carrier harness worked great for hiking on the icy paths allowing me to have two hands to catch myself if I slipped or fell.  Some of the paths were being flooded by the melted snow creating free formed rivers under the snow.  It was nice not having a 5 pound camera swinging from my next as I jumped from snow pile to snow pile trying not to sink my foot in the freezing water.  I was also able to take some macro shots of the winter taking hold on the last green vegetation.

1/60 sec, f/5.6, 115 mm

On our next visit, I would like to spend more time setting up some of the landscape shots and now I know where all the view points are I won’t feel as rushed.  When we first arrived we were so excited we kept just pointing and driving from one view point to another “look at that”, “look over there” because everywhere you looked it was an amazing sight. And it was easy to think we could just get some of the shots the next day. But in the winter you can’t take the clear skies for granted.