Time Off

This past weekend was nice and relaxing in Yosemite with family. We spent some time hiking and hanging out by the river. We also saw an evening program given by the photoartist Art Wolfe. He was presenting a recent production called Travel to the Edge with Art Wolfe, that is going to air on PBS. I thoroughly enjoyed his presentation as he took the audience all over the world: India, Andes, Patagonia, Somalia, Madagascar, and finishing off with South Georgia Island. All the travelling, sceneries, people, cultures, and nature are truly amazing. The beauty of God's creation, and the wisdom behind all the beauty makes my heart pound with excitement as I sat at the edge of my seat during the entire presentation. Let me tell you, he's got my second most favorite job in the world, traveling the world meeting cultures and taking photos! Be completely immersed in the cultures and getting to know the people, animals, and nature... it is awesome! (I am doing my most favorite job in the world, studying to be a physician.)

As I get back, now I am on the road again. This time, to Ventura to visit dear friends. I have decided that I wasn't going to pay the money to drive to Ventura, enduring the traffic and subpar drivers... so the next best option is to take the train! It was actually a pretty beautiful and relaxing ride and only cost 25 bucks round trip!

Ok, I know you are just itching to see some pictures of Yosemite, here they are. One note, I got to go on a photo workshop given by Art Wolfe, and sponsored by Canon, so I took some of these pictures with a very nice Canon SLR digital. Art Wolfe gave the group some really good advice on how to start taking a good picture.... alright, I'm gonna give them to you:

1. Artists like to take pictures at the margins of the day, 2 hours after sunrise and 2 hours before sunset... it is because the mild light give everything color. They also say that if it is overcasted you can shoot all day. They think the middle of the day and sunny days are the worst time for photo composition, because the light bleaches out all the colors and everything turns grey. It's true.
2. When taking pictures, think composition. Think that you are telling a story or convey a feeling by your picture. Don't just point and shoot. Include objects in your pictures that point and direct the viewer to the message. Play with putting things into and out of focus. Use a line of direction, such as a dead tree... put the camera on the tree and point it to a waterfall or something to guide your viewer to the fall, instead of putting the fall in the middle of the picture.
3. Always use a polarizer filter, it can take out glare and enrich color in your photos.
4. Always think LIGHT first. When you see a subject to be photographed, think where is the light source. You can convey different emotions and feelings by photographing a subject from different angles with various lines of shades.
5. Always think the big picture, don't just think about the subject... think about what you are including in the background of your subject... should it be in focus or out of focus... Art gave an example, that many people in Yosemite goes right to snapping the picture of a grazing deer without realizing that there is a huge tour bus in the background.
6. If you want to make the waterfall appeared 'silky,' you have to prolong the exposure time of the picture. One way to do that is to increase the aperature setting, the F-stop, try F22. Another way is to lengthen exposure speed, try setting a lower ISO like 1/30. (normal film speed is around 1/200 to 1/400)
7. "When I can make the photo appear to be a painting, magic happens." - Art Wolfe

I think these starting tips would make us better photographers...

Art Wolfe giving the tips; my application of increasing exposure to create silky flowing water of the Merced River

Pictures of the meadow

Dead tree; Vernal Falls, did you notice that there are 2 rainbows? It may be hard to see, but, there is one 'positive' rainbow (the brighter one on bottom) where the colors appear red to violet from top to bottom, then there is the 'negative' rainbow (the faint one on top of the brighter one) where the colors appear violet to red from top to bottom. I didn't knew that until my dad showed it to me! Go dad.

The Mammoth Sequoia tree, this one on left is call the Grizzly Pine, it is said to be around 2,700 years old! This tree has been here before the time of Christ and through many world disasters and wild fires. It is said that the Giant Sequoia Trees are immune to bugs, other life forms, and fire. The way they die is usually by falling over. The picture on the right is of the 'faithful couple,' that is literally 2 trees growing into one.

I've enjoyed the natural wonders, I hope I've inspired some naturalist photographer in you :)

Peace out!