Yosemite

Last week Dave Cecaci and I made a 3 day trip to Yosemite for some photography. We arrived shortly after a snow storm but had some beautiful weather but not the kind of good light we were hoping for.

 

Yep, that’s Dave doing what we love to do.

 

This is what we were taking pictures of. Yosemite Falls in the morning sun.

 

This is the view of Cathedral Spires from the meadow in front of El Capitan.

 

The view of Yosemite Falls looking down the path that leads to it.

 

Here is the view form the bottom of lower Yosemite Falls. Remember you can click on any photo to see it larger then click on the back button to return.

 

This is Lower Brother from the Merced River.  We were trying to kill some time while waiting to get a shot of the sunset on Horse Tail Fall. We had 3 hours to wait but you have to arrive that early if you want a parking spot.

 

After all that waiting this is all we got.  It’s quite a big deal because it only happens during the last 2 weeks in February but the conditions have to be just right.

 

This is a shot that I took 2 years ago.  This is what we were hoping for again.

 

This is my favorite photo from the trip. I actually stitched 6 pictures together to create the shot With Cathedral Spires on the left and El Capitan on the right.

 

This is sort of the iconic view of Yosemite from Valley View on the Merced River with El Capitan. You know it’s about 3500’ from the valley floor to the top of that little rock!

 

Just a pretty setting on the Merced river.

 

This spot is named Gun Sight Gully for obvious reasons.

 

The Merced river in the foreground with Bridalveil  Fall on the right.

 

This was just a little bonus I grabbed on the way home. It’s about 30 miles from the park.

Oregon

Sorry there haven’t been any posts for a while. I just didn’t have much in the way of events or photos to add. And what I do have I’m a little behind on posting.

Connie and I went to Beaverton, Oregon in January to visit the Hensleys. On day while we were there Steve and I took a drive out to Multnomah falls. On the way we stopped at several other falls. This on is Latourell Falls.

 

This is also Latourell Falls. Oregon had just had some big storms and heavy rain and all of the falls were gushing.

 

I think this is Bridal Veil  Falls, not to be confused with Bridal Veil Falls from Yosemite in my next post.

 

Of course this is Multnomah Falls. It’s fairly recognizable. It was a very overcast day but a pretty setting none the less.

 

On the way home we spent a night in Weed, CA.  In the morning there was some very interesting cloud cover on Black Butte. Black Butte is the smaller mountain next to Mt Shasta that sits beside the freeway.

Pieces of Italy

I’m a little late with my last post from our trip to Italy.  I think I provided a good representation of the cities we visited but I have a lot of close up photos of items and colors that don’t fit into the landscape category . I call these Pieces of Italy because that’s what they are and here are just a few.

A street light in Sienna.

I suppose this was for tying up horses. They are numerous on the walls of the old cities and come in many different forms.

There are many shop windows that are literally a work of art as is this one in Venice.

Also, many of the shop windows are a clever display of well lit color like these glass beads in Venice.

A silk tie anyone? I’m sure we can find your color.

Even the food at the market in Venice was a thing of beauty.

A typical paved street, this one is in Florence. Who figured out how to lay that pattern?

An ornament on a gondola.

You have to wonder how old these are and how much longer they will last. Our hotel in Venice was 1000 years old and it looked much better than this.

Some of the brick work is mesmerizing.

Does the wife need a pocket book to match your tie?

 

And some of the pieces are just that, pieces.

Venice Overload

Sometimes when we’re traveling I have a hard time coming up with 4 good pictures to put on the blog each day. We have been in Venice for less than 24 hours and I can only get this post down to 21 photos. This first one was taken by Connie from the boat on the way to our hotel.

I don’t have time to comment on every photo and besides there’s not much to say.

Everywhere you turn there is a picture in front of you.

You walk a little and there’s another one.

This large canal is called the Grand Canal.

I got up at 6:00 this morning so I could get night shots, sunrise shots and shots without people.

That worked quite well. All of the gondolas were tied up too.

The light was good in the early hours.

The Rialto Bridge is packed with people during the day.

The reflection on the water is always nice.

A very few things are open at that time.

I see so many interesting doors, windows and walls.

This is right outside of our hotel.

Peppers anyone?

 

When you come to a picture……

…take it.

….take it.

…take it.

…take it.

You get the idea

Etc.

More of Florence

 

Today was spent just wandering the streets of Florence. Not a bad pass time if you can swing it!

Our big excursion was a hike to the top of the Duomo. On the way up all of the tiny stairways you pass through the dome on the inside and from that vantage point I took this shot. Yes, those little specks in the pews on the left are people.

There are 436 steps to the top but it is worth the climb for the view.

And this view and the pictures don’t do justice the the panorama you can see.

On the way down you take another catwalk and from this point you can see people on the other side on their way up. All those specks on the floor are also people. This is a big dome , especially when you consider it was finished in 1436.

This is not a statue. This is some guy trying to make a living.

Him too.

We love going down all of the little back streets where there are less people and cool little shops.

A tiny little store with a colorful display.

 

Don’t forget to look up sometimes. It can be interesting.

Some of the shops are very colorful on the inside as well.