Dressed in White
I've visited Yosemite National Park every year since moving to California in 2006 but most of my trips were summer trips. We'd arrive to all the waterfalls, hike beautiful trails, take lots of pictures, and head home. In the winter we typically stayed away. My first winter visit was in 2014 just as a snow storm cleared out of the park and it was amazing to see how it transforms and changes when bathed in white.
Willie and I returned in 2017 when a storm dumped a foot of snow in Yosemite Valley. It was still snowing when we arrived and we made sure to capture a number of scenes as the snow continued to fall. Looking at the satellites we knew, however, that the storm was going to break up soon, and we wanted to be at Valley View to witness the storm break from the iconic spot. Unfortunately there was still so much snow in the park that the road to Tunnel View was still closed. No problem, we had a backup plan.
We parked at Bridalveil Falls and decided to walk the ~mile to Valley View instead. I hoped we'd be the only ones there, we arrived to find another photographer already there. So the 3 of us enjoyed the views as the storm started to break up and bath the valley in light.
As light started to filter into the valley I loved how it started hitting the peaks above Bridalveil falls while the peaks behind it were still shadowed in cloud and mist. I zoomed into the falls to capture the combination of snow, shadow, and light.
Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8:
62mm, f/11, 1/250 sec, ISO 100