The Heads on Indian Rock. Photo by Randomcuriosity.

I bet you didn’t know there’s a gorilla in Yosemite and it’s right next to the Arch (bet you didn’t know that either).

David (aka RandomCuriosity on Flickr) took this awesome picture of the Indian Rock Arch, the gorilla (first to the left) and another head I hadn’t seen before. He also pointed out something interesting, both heads appear to be facing the same direction.

Great shot, David.

Photographers join together to tough out the cold while waiting to recreate Ansel Adams’ iconic Moon and Half Dome. Photo by Edie Howe-Byrne.

Last Saturday a rare event happened, one that had photographers lining up in one of Yosemite’s meadows, it was the chance to recreate one of Ansel Adams iconic photographs, Moon and Half Dome.

Don Olson of the Physics Department at Texas State University predicted that the moon and sun would be in the almost identical positions as they had been when Adams captured his shot in 1960.

Michael Frye did a great write up of the event on his blog.

Michael Frye: “In the meadow Saturday were two of Ansel Adams’ former assistants, Alan Ross and Ted Orland. A large group of park rangers took a group portrait, and Delaware North, the park concessioner, even set up a little stand at the edge of the meadow serving free hot chocolate.

There was just one small problem: no moon! The sky was mostly clear, but a persistent band of clouds behind Half Dome hid the moon.

Afterward the Gallery hosted a reception for Alan Ross and his beautiful new exhibit, Visions of Yosemite and the West. I talked with Alan about the contact sheet of images Ansel made that evening in 1960; it’s an unusual glimpse into the thought process of a master photographer. Although this JPEG is small, you can see that Ansel actually bracketed exposures! By four stops! Yes, Mr. Zone System hedged his bets. Wouldn’t you in this situation? Also, he apparently didn’t wrap the roll of film tightly (he made this image with a Hasselblad and 120 film), and there was a light leak. Luckily only the edges were damaged, otherwise the world would never have seen this fantastic photograph.

I was also struck by the different compositions he framed. We tend to think that a master like Ansel would have such a clear concept in his mind that he would only need one composition. And in fact the first frame here is, I believe, the one that became famous (I could easily be wrong about that). But he also pointed the camera at Mt. Starr King, then put on a shorter lens and photographed the top of the Royal Arches cliff and the moon above Half Dome again. If you look closely you’ll also notice that Ansel shifted the camera slightly to the left and right for the first four frames, where he bracketed exposures. Was he unsure about the precise framing? This seems odd since he wrote in Examples that he visualized the cropping from the start. The contact sheet shows that after bracketing those first four exposures Ansel composed an image of Mt. Starr King, then came back to the moon rising above Half Dome, but this time with slightly different framing, pointing the camera more to the left than previously, then more to the right. It seems that he was bracketing compositions as well as exposures.”

So how was your day at work? If you’re one of the brave men and women of YOSAR (Yosemite Search and Rescue) there’s no easy way to answer that question. Don’t believe me? Take a look at some of these awesome pictures David Pope has been taking of SARs (Search and Rescues).

Wow! Kind of makes that stack of papers on your desk look a little insignificant.

It sure looks like it’s raining. I don’t see anything on doppler but I hope it is.

So the sun is setting and the clouds are overhead. The air still smells of smoke and haze lingers. But even with all the destruction the fire brings, there is beauty in shots like this. With so many homes threatened you don’t want it to be pretty but, you can’t help it. It’s almost pretty.

This is serioulsy THE most evil looking Yosemite photo I think I’ve ever seen. Nice job.

Photo by Torens.

Star trails over Half Dome make for a beautiful and rarely captured scene. Photo by Sathish J..

So starting tomorrow night and continuing for the next few night the moon will be new, meaning you won’t be able to see it. This also means its light won’t interfere if you want to take long exposures at night in Yosemite and catch star trails. With the forecast for the next few days being for clear, warm days and a nice breeze blowing the smoke away, it should make for some great night shooting conditions. I think I know what I’m doing Friday night.

I wonder if there’ll be a crowd at Glacier Point?