introduction

Lupine and Blue Oak Savanna Sunrise

After a busy workweek, and needing to get away for a one night camping trip close to home, my husband and I set the alarm in our camper to get up early for sunrise, and explore this lupine covered blue oak savanna in the Sierra foothills. We blissfully had this location to ourselves, an invigorating morning spent in nature smelling the lupine, listening to the birds, and witnessing a bald eagle hunting for breakfast, as the light changed over the landscape. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com

California Poppy in Blue

Poppy therapy, one of the few times it’s best to shoot in mid-day light while the poppies are open and resemble little cups of sunshine. My favorite is to photograph them backlit by the sun with the widest aperture possible. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com

Cathedral Peaks Winter Monochrome

Getting older means an increasing frequency of insomnia, and this morning, wide awake at 3am, I found myself looking through the Ansel Adams Gallery website on my phone admiring the drama and grandeur he conveyed in his images with atmospheric conditions and nearly black skies. I processed this one later the same day after work, completely forgetting my earlier maniacal insomnia episode, but I must’ve been subliminally inspired as I rarely ever process images in monochrome. I may keep working this one but I quite like it, especially as it’s a fond memory of the one wintery day I experienced in Yosemite Valley this year. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com

Sun Breaking Through Fog, Glacier NP

One of my favorite types of light to capture with my camera is the ethereal quality found at the very edges of clearing fog. I was drawn to the sunlight illuminated on the needles of these coniferous trees as the sun was breaking through the morning mist rising on Wilbur Creek in Glacier NP. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com

Afternoon Sunlight in the Aspen Forest

During an overlanding camping trip between Southwest Colorado and Moab, Utah, I found it interesting that many parts of Colorado resembled the Utah desert, and this beautiful aspen forest in Utah reminded of Colorado. We camped in the middle of this aspen grove on our last day, and when I saw this gorgeous quality of golden light, I had to grab my camera to capture some high key forest images. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com

Milky Way Over Bonsai Rock

The first successful Milky Way capture of the season during the new moon. It never ceases to amaze me the light and colors the camera picks up that the human eye cannot see, such as the light on the horizon, which was probably a combination of South Lake Tahoe light pollution as well as the sun below the horizon. I used the Photopills app to determine when the Milky Way would be vertical and in a location that rises from the best angle of Bonsai Rock, off Lake Tahoe's eastern shore. www.optimalfocusphotography.com

Tiny Leaning Tree, Damnation Creek Trail

It was a magical morning spent in the forest. I arrived at Damnation Creek trail just after sunrise with little expectation for fog, but as the sun got higher in the sky during the course of the morning, the fog ebbed and flowed through the trees, constantly changing the quality of the light. On my journey along the trail, this tiny moss-covered sapling spotlit by the sun caught my eye, which I thought was a nice juxtaposition of delicacy against the bark of the ancient redwood trees. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com

Bridalveil Falls and Cathedral Rocks Spotlit, Tunnel View

When the weather forecast looked promising for some snow flurries and clearing storm light, I convinced my husband to do a quick one night trip to the Valley, where we even scored a coveted camping spot right in the park. It’s been a mostly dry winter in California, with the exception of an atmospheric river event in December that dumped all our winter snow at once. My schedule didn’t allow me to get out and photograph that, though, and as the dry months dragged on, I didn’t think I’d get the opportunity for any photography of wintery scenes. Even though the snow on the Valley floor was mostly gone when we arrived, Tunnel View put on quite a show of swirling clouds that occasionally allowed the setting sun to peek through and spotlight the Valley’s iconic peaks. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com

Manzanita Lake Clearing Storm

After my cold wintery visit to Manzanita Lake this past weekend, I thought I would revisit a shot I took in 2015, and edit a raw file to see how I would do it differently now. Another nearly identical photo I took at the same time, in nearly the same spot, and edited right after I took it, was much more saturated and also my most stolen photo from the internet (thanks to Pixsy for revealing this!). This remains one of the most photogenic scenes I've ever witnessed on Manzanita Lake. www.optimalfocusphotography.com

Merced River Dogwoods, Blue and Gold 3

Recently, I had the pleasure of a quiet, contemplative morning spent exploring the Merced River in Yosemite Valley for dogwood compositions in varying light conditions, from pre-sunrise, full shade to mid-morning on a bright sunny day. These gorgeous gold and blue tones reflected in the river just before direct sunlight hit the blooms were by far my favorite of the entire day: the blue is reflected off the shaded granite cliffs on the south side of the valley, while the gold is a reflection of the cliffs on the opposite north side in bright, direct sunlight. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com

Trees and Clouds, YNP

These snow covered pine trees appeared to be rising out of the clouds so I used the telephoto to capture a minimalist wintery image. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com

Bridalveil After an Autumn Storm

The morning after a robust and desperately needed rainstorm quenched California, Yosemite Valley transformed into a wonderland of low-lying, swirling mist with replenished waterfalls. The swirling fog at the base of Bridalveil Fall created an ethereal, and constantly changing composition I’ve long wanted to get, I had just never been here when the conditions were just right. The best Thanksgiving treat I could’ve gotten! www.optimalfocusphotography.com

Merced River Dogwoods, Blue and Gold 2

Recently, I had the pleasure of a quiet, contemplative morning spent exploring the Merced River in Yosemite Valley for dogwood compositions in varying light conditions, from pre-sunrise, full shade to mid-morning on a bright sunny day. These gorgeous gold and blue tones reflected in the river just before direct sunlight hit the blooms were by far my favorite of the entire day: the blue is reflected off the shaded granite cliffs on the south side of the valley, while the gold is a reflection of the cliffs on the opposite north side in bright, direct sunlight. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com

Half Dome Sunrise and Pink Dogwood

Not the most personally expressive photograph in the world; in fact, I call this a “postcard shot” as it resembles an image you’d find in the Yosemite gift shop printed on a plastic shopping bag, but that’s OK! Sometimes getting those wide angle, “captain obvious” shots are just fun, and quite honestly, this is a composition I’ve been wanting to get for some time now. I just haven’t timed my May trips to the park in years past to capture it. Visiting the dogwoods in the park is always such a treat, and despite clear, dry, sunny weather, there was never a shortage of unique, intimate landscapes to capture that I’m excited to process! https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com

Neowise Comet Over South Tufa, Mono Lake

The Neowise comet over the tufa formations of Mono Lake was visible only for a brief few moments before disappearing in the brightening light of dawn. Up at 3am for this scene, we photographed late into the night on 4 hours sleep but all in all a great trip spent with photographer friends. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com

Wild Goose Overlook Monochrome

Late afternoon sunbeams breaking through the clouds at the iconic view of Wild Goose Overlook above Saint Mary Lake in Glacier NP processed in monochrome to accentuate the play of light, water and rock. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com

Jökulsárlón Aurora and Distant Clouds

In October, it was a freezing night watching the northern lights dance across the sky over Jökulsárlón glacial lagoon, a large lake in southeastern Iceland. Every day, the lagoon feeds a fresh crop of ice chunks, some as large as an SUV, others as small as a watermelon, into the adjacent black sand beach, ready for a photographer’s compositions the next morning. www.optimalfocusphotography.com

Coyote Hunting in the Snow

While we were photographing in Cook's Meadow in Yosemite National Park during a very wet and heavy snowfall, a coyote wandered into my scene; I had my 24-105mm wide angle zoom lens on with a rain cover to protect my camera. Although the coyote came very close to me in his hunt for food and did not appear to be bothered at all by my presence, I was hesitant to change to my telephoto lens in such heavy and wet snowfall, so I opted to zoom with the lens I had on instead and capture him in his element. He did not bother to face me at all, he was so intent on finding some breakfast. This photo won an award of merit at the California State Fair's Fine Art Competition for Color Photography. www.optimalfocusphotography.com

Boiling Springs Lake Morning, Lassen Volcanic National Park

This morning’s sunrise over Boiling Springs Lake in Lassen Volcanic National Park was nothing short of therapeutic after not photographing a proper wild angle landscape in over 2 months! This being our first trip to our second favorite national park this year, we decided to concentrate on this geologically active, yet not very photographed or visited southeast area of the park fed by volcanic steam vents for blissful solitude and beautiful early morning light illuminating the steam of this 125 degree lake surrounded by firs and pines. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com

Black Oak Burning Mist 1

Mist rising off the grasses of Cook’s Meadow in Yosemite National Park after an autumn storm provided much needed precipitation to California after the worst wildfire season in the state’s history. www.optimalfocusphotography.com

North Lake, Classic View

Due to wildfires and forest service closures, I had been prepared to forgo many of my favorite California autumn color locations this year until Inyo National Forest unexpectedly announced a partial reopening. I was excited to be at North Lake for sunrise, where I had long hoped to capture this line of aspen that grow above the shoreline in prime autumn color. Distant wildfire smoke blanketed the Sierra crest and gave the peaks a soft, pastel glow, as the full moon was setting. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com

Hickman Bridge, Capitol Reef NP

One of my favorite stops along my pandemic camping road trip was Capitol Reef, one of the lesser visited national parks in Utah. I set out with my headlamp at dark for the 2-mile hike just so I could capture the morning light illuminating Hickman Natural Bridge at sunrise. I don’t think that an arbitrary calendar date is going to abscond the hot mess that was 2020, but for me, this image is an apt one for the new year, into the bright promise of 2021. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com

Shasta Cascade Morning Light

Clearing mist at the top of Mount Shasta, and warm, golden light kissing the foliage surrounding Trout Lake on a peaceful Easter morning. Black Butte can be seen in the distance, further evidence of past volcanic activity along the Cascade Range. www.optimalfocusphotography.com

Cascade Creek

Waterfalls along Cascade Creek off of Highway 120 in Yosemite National Park