I had one goal for this trip: manufacture one good shot of the Perseids Meteor shower. Anything else I got beyond that was gravy. It turns out the gravy wasn't bad.

I photographed the Perseids for the first time last year and since then, I had been counting the days to this trip. Meteor showers occur throughout the year but there are only a couple that truly stand out and the Perseids is one of them. I set out to shoot in Yosemite, which is my favorite National Park, so I figured I could fill in my downtime with some scouting and shooting. The best part about the Perseids being in the summer is that temperatures are quite delightful at night and there is typically no clouds to contend with.

My plan was to drive in Wednesday evening and use that night as my practice night. It's sort of silly that I give myself a practice night since I've been doing the night photography pretty regularly for about 2 years and have my process down. Of course, there was that time in Carrizo Plains that I forgot to set my camera to continuous so I shot nothing for over an hour. I guess I'll stick with my practice nights.

I decided to shoot at Tunnel View because it is easy to get to, it feels safe, and I figured I wouldn't get harassed by a park ranger for sleeping in my car. Right on all accounts. I started shooting after the moon had set. In hindsight, that was dumb. I should have taken a few shots before the moon set to get light on the cliffs. Lesson learned for next year. I usually just place the meteors in the frame as they occur but for this one, I decided to place them radiating from the center of the sky. It was just more fun that way.

This was shot between 2:30 and 4:45 am

Before I started up the hill to Tunnel View, I grabbed a couple shots at Valley View. This was early so the moon was still out and there were few meteors, but you can see part of the Milky Way.

I spent the following morning trying to get a few sunrise shots in the valley before it got insanely busy with visitors. There were no clouds so it wasn't great but there were some flowers blooming and a cooperative ladybug so this was the focal point of my morning. I'll take this any Thursday morning.

I spent much of the remainder of the day scouting. In the late afternoon, I happened to see this tree from the road and had to come back to check it out. This wasn't the view I initially saw but I liked this the best. I'll definitely be back to shoot this at night. This was shot with a 8-15 mm Fisheye lens which gives that curved appearance. I love this lens - it's so much fun.

I had time after sunset so I revisited a favorite spot: Olmsted Point. During the day, you will see hoards of people crowded around this tree posing for pictures. At night, it was all mine. I shot a series of 30 second exposures for about 12 minutes then stacked them in post process. I played with the second image a bit to give it a "shooting star" effect. A bit of a tribute to the Perseids.

One last shot using stacked images. After this, I grabbed a 4 hour nap to rest up for Perseids.

This was the shot I was preparing for. I had actually debated shooting this last year but opted for a different shot. I'm glad I came back for this. I think it's cool that the meteor shower is the result of asteroids (aka: rocks) flying through the sky and that I was able to incorporate a big one into the shot. I also like how it is balanced on the sloping granite face.

This photo contains 48 meteors captured over 2.5 hours. I shot 221 photos and used 51 layers to incorporate all the meteors and foreground shots. These meteors are as they appeared in the sky in terms of location, size, color, and brightness. The Milky Way is just barely visible at the top of the frame.
 

I stacked some of the images to show the start trails and grabbed one pre-dawn shot before I headed off for sunrise.

Taking sunrise or sunset shots in the summer can be futile because there generally aren't any clouds but I can't help myself. I'm programmed to shoot at sunrise and sunset. I got to play with my fisheye lens so that was cool. This is Tenaya Lake which is easily accessible via Tioga Pass. It is very popular with visitors during the day. It was pure silence at this early hour.

So what does a photographer do to pass time during the day? We shoot stuff.

Reflections on the Tuolumne River

Cascades on the Tuolumne River

A cooperative Western Fence Lizard

A chipmunk, who was not bribed by trail mix of any sort

Corn Lilly blossom on a short hike to Lukens Lake

An unnamed pond with Mount Gibbs reflected

Unnamed pond

Tree reflections in unnamed pond

Mule deer in Tuolumne Meadows

After this, I headed out to get some shots for a future blog post. I had scouted this tree earlier in the day and wondered if I could get a shot at night.

The tree was cooperative. Thank you tree.

A night shot with a few meteors. Not the best spot for meteors but I really wanted to get a shot with the tall trees and the road.

Same shot with some star trails.

After this, it was close to sunrise so I thought I'd take a quick hike down to the Tuolumne Sequoia grove. There was not a single person there yet so it was a quiet morning hike.

The grove wasn't that exciting but I saw this Woodpecker. It was amazing how much sound this little guy created.

Walk through tree in Tuolumne Grove

Sequoia trees in Tuolumne Grove

After this, I headed up towards Glacier Point to scout for night photos there. Before it got too hot, I took a quick hike to McGurk meadows. The prime time for wildflowers was July but I figured it was a small investment so I gave it a shot.

Blue Daisy

Evening Primrose

Yarrow

When I finished with this hike, I was 1) starving and 2) desperate to shut my eyes. Little did I know that while I was frolicking the meadows, Glacier Point was getting more and more packed with people. So much so - that they enforced a shuttle service to go the remainder of the drive so I turned around and headed to the valley to kill time while I waited for the crowds to clear out.

I ended up scouting a meadow for some early night shots so that wasn't bad. I headed back to Glacier Point around 6:45 and was able to drive right in but I opted not to shoot there. It's a fantastic spot for grand views but I couldn't find a focal point I loved so I decided to shoot in the valley.

On the way back down, I stopped on Wawona Road to shoot these dead trees at sunset. Every time I have driven buy these trees I have thought I'd love to shoot them but wasn't sure how I wanted to go about it. Once I saw the sky starting to turn orange, I said silhouette!!! I love graphic shots like this. As I was shooting, cars started pulling over and taking pictures. Everyone was very nice and appreciative of Yosemite's awesome beauty which was delightful considering people can get a little cranky with the Yosemite crowds.

This is Bridalveil Meadow at night. These flowers grow over 3 feet tall and I thought they would make a nice foreground for a night shot. In my last few minutes of shooting, a park ranger drove by, stopped, and shined a spot light on me and the meadow, and I thought, "thanks a lot for ruining that frame." It turned out that his light was perfect for lighting up the meadow. So - thank you park ranger.

After all my scouting this day, I was at a loss for a great night spot in the valley so I headed back up to Tunnel View to see how the valley would look with the moon shining on it.

While heading back up there, I stopped to see if I could get a ring of trees with the night sky. If the moon had not been shining, the Milky Way would probably been more visible but I was okay with this. It is essentially what you would see standing almost anywhere in the valley at night while looking up.

My final picture sure is similar to my first picture! This time with moonshine on it.

All in all, not a bad trip. In fact, a nice trip doing something I absolutely love. Now I'm counting the days to the Geminids meteor shower in December!