And our last stop on our California roadtrip... Yosemite National Park. This is one of those places where photographs simple can't begin to do it justice. There are hundreds of famous photographers who have dedicated their lives to shooting Yosemite (Ansel Adams for example), and even they can't begin to impart the majesty and grandeur that this park possesses. So if you have never been to Yosemite, I highly recommend it to be added to your bucket list (though I'd wait until the recent hantavirus outbreak is cleared up). As I said, I don't expect my photographs to truly impart the true feeling of wonder one gets from being in this park... so if any other photographs in the next few days worth of posts impress you, multiply that feeling by a couple thousand times to get an idea of what it is like to be there in person.

We'll start with one of my favorite shots (that I've processed so far - I still have about 100 more to go)... Yosemite Valley from the Merced River.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM AF at 10mm, 1/100 sec respectively at f/8. ISO 100. Raw conversion and cropped in Adobe Camera Raw.

I took this shot basically laying on my belly overhanging the bank of the Merced River. I used the live-view on the back of the camera to be able to line up my shot (though I did still have to crop and rotate slightly to get the horizon level). I had the camera just inches above the water to get this perspective, and I really love the detail of the rocks under the water in the foreground juxtaposed with the massive peaks in the background.

Welcome to Yosemite.

- Bill