Raymond Marlow Photography -- Yosemite

Raymond Marlow Photography

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Upper reflections

Upper Yosemite Falls reflects in
the Merced River

This is essentially a stopping spot for most people in Yosemite. Shooting off of this bridge at the waterfalls is in many ways like shooting at Inspiration Point or Valley View. It is beautiful all the same and on this particular day I Found myself wanting to grab an image with the colors in the water jumping out a bit more.

"The supreme reality of our time is the vulnerability of our planet."

-John F. Kennedy

CAT CLOUD DANCE

Cathedral Peak and clouds.
(Operation Oma, July 2008)

The time had come for us to leave Yosemite and make our hasty departure. For some reason Yosemite was beckoning for us to stay. Atleast for an hour or two while she put on the cloud dance show. Setting up on this scene was to good to be true. The elements were in place for a serious image and we banged out a quick roll of film to show our thanks to Lady Yosem. This location was in front of Lower Cathedral Lake. It was early enough in the summer that the meadow bogs and water were peaking for the image.

"The earth is a garden and each of us only need care for our own part for life to be breathed back into the planet, into the soil, into ourselves."

-John Jeavons

SILK DREAMS

Backside of Cathedral Lake
(Operation OMA, July 2008).

Seth’s squawking over the radio awakened me to the reality that I needed to hurry up if I wanted in on the cloud action. Not only that, our time was almost up. The end of the excursion was nearing. I was envious of his position but there was nothing I could do. I stood by what I was doing and worked it hard. But he just wouldn’t go away! He kept nagging about the clouds being at a prime that very moment, stretching across the sky like shredded rubber bands. I was already set up, Hass aiming upwards, setting my image on lower Cathedral lake and the peak.

"The beauty within each of us can be displayed in natures scenes. While we all hold to different values and climates the natural world remains in constant view. Finding that place which represents each of us is a challenge which may remain unfounded, for in finding this moment we may truly understand our own meaning in the world."

Raymond Marlow

TIMELESS

The walk was brisk as I worked my way up the switchbacks to get a glimpse of Upper Yosemite Falls. Eventually the trail gave in and I found myself in a familiar area awaiting my move down the wall and towards a settling area to hit the image. My intention was to capitalize on a spot I had found the winter before where I had encompassed both Halfdome and the Upper falls in the image. Try as I might I couldn't find the spot so had to go up higher and try to shoot both from a different vantage point. To make a long story short no matter what location I found I wasn't getting both icons in the image so settled on just shooting the Upper falls. The lighting added up to some nice shadows on the wall and a glancing spray water rainbow on the ground.

"Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old."

-Franz Kafka

DISPLACED INVERSIONS

(Late evening mist shifts around El Capitan in Yosemite National Park)

Waiting for the snow plows to clear the road wasn't working for me but having no choice in the matter I hunkered down and waited things out with the others. Eventually I got into the park and high tailed it down to the this Bridal Veil field area. It was about 4:30 or so and time was running thin as I set up and landed a few shots of El Capitan with the clouds moving in and out of the mist. Getting back to the car I realized I was atleast 1 1/2 stops under exposed on the image and maybe more from the prism finder reading. After calling myself a few expletives I settled on just getting the film home and push processing it to make up the difference. The film came back exposed properly but blue, I shifted some of the color, and converted over to black and white to create this image.

The tall Oak, towering to the skies,
The fury of the wind defies,
From age to age, in virtue strong.
Inured to stand, and suffer wrong.

-James Montgomery, “The Oak”

Elcap Island

El Capitan reflection in a swollen
section of the Merced River

Elcapitan stands as a prolific mountain in a distant island reflection. Coming across this scene for only our second time in about 10 years or so I found myself with a different lense in the bag and used the 50mm this time around. The resultant reflection came off much different then my first go around where I used a standard lense.

"The modern spectacle of vanished forests and eroded lands, wasted petroleum and ruthless mining…is evidence of what an age without veneration does to itself and its successors."

-Russell Kirk

Lake Louise Morning

MERCED REFLECT

Half Dome's reflection in the Merced river
(Operation Option 3, Jan. 2004)

Welcome to the excursion gallery. Most of these images cover moments from our 4 days excursions over the past 15 years in Yosemite. Myself and Seth met in the Marine Corps in 1983 and began shooting Yosemite as a dive into photography. It grew over the years and we still regularly photograph the park about once every other year or so.

Most of our fun, bantor, images, and occasionally a serious side come out in a book which will be entitled "Yosemite Our Way". Its full of everything from the technical aspects of photography to silliness and the occasional realization that we are all just chasing that mystical money shot Yosemite so often seems to wave just out of our reach.

I ran off about 10 or 12 images of this area hoping to capture a moment where the reflection was strongest in the current. The light in the sky mixed with the Fuji Velvia film worked for some nice colors for a winter scene. In Yosemite regardless of the time of year you often just have to wander around and look for an image in this case a reflection of Half Dome appearing in the Merced river.

" Let me enjoy the earth no less because the all-enacting light that fashioned forth its loveliness had other aims than my delight. "

Thomas Hardy

THE CAPTAINS FIRE

(Sunset adds fire and color to Elcapitan at Valley view)

What fire in creation brings life to our souls; would not depart of water this birth, and every breath of life with both.

Raymond D Marlow

NEVADA RUN

Water works its way downstream from Nevada Falls

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."

Henry David Thoreau

Trout Haven

Budd lake in early July
(Operation BTS, July 2005)

As I set up for the image, I sorely wanted to edge closer to the precipice of the ice thaw where the fish were more visible and I felt I could better my foreground. I quickly nixed the notion however as I could easily see myself and my gear doing the insta-hypothermia Budd Lake bath upon crashing through the ice. Deciding on a location that seemed somewhat safe I bracketed off images while using a ND filter to cut down on the brightness from top to bottom. The waiting took on a rhythm of its own while watching for the right amount of baby trout to swim in to the image.

"Man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much... the wheel, New York , wars, and so on, whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely the dolphins believed themselves to be more intelligent than man for precisely the same reasons."

-Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

El CAPITAN -THE FROZEN PONDER

Elcapitan reflection in the Merced river
(Operation Deep Freeze, Jan. 2001)

This image was taken at a spot we call ponder and can on occasion hold the right amount of water for a reflection. Twice in our past 15 years or so it has had the right water levels. In this case the ice was a bit strong for the image so earlier in the day we broke it back opening up the reflection a bit. Coming back in the evening we had to re-stir the water and break up what new ice had formed over the reflection. The resulting sunset occurred and we grabbed off 6 or 7 images of El Capitan's reflection trying to get one that would work and really display the warmth over the rock face.

Stats: I moved a Neutral Density filter up and down slightly as I bracketed the image. Exposing only for the immediate foreground. I found the top of the image only about a stop and a half brighter then the surface water. A 1 stop ND filter compensated for the differences in light levels.

There are some who can live without wild things and some who cannot. Like winds and sunsets, wild things were taken for granted until progress began to do away with them. Now we face the question of whether a still higher 'standard of living' is worth its cost in things natural, wild and free."

-Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac, 1949

PERPETUAL COLOR

(A rainbow appears at the base of Vernal Falls)

Light forms a rainbow over our own souls, if we follow a path through the center of this light we find not only the truth in individual quest but in natures uplifting force.

Raymond Marlow

BLACK CAT HILL

(Not knowing of its true name I dubbed it as such off the side of Cathedral Lake)

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul.
And sings the tune
Without the words,
and never stops at all.

Emily Dickinson

CONNESS BLUES

(Blue waters highlight the scenery around lower Conness Lake).

Landscape photography is the supreme test of the photographer - and often the supreme disappointment.

Ansel Adams

Winters Light

Blankets of snow cover a field in front of El Capitan

I thought it best to try and shoot this before the sun made its mark on the trees and melted the snow. The thickness on the trees and the snow mixed with the early light seemed a pleasant thing for the setup.

“The snow itself is lonely or, if you prefer, self-sufficient. There is no other time when the whole world seems composed of one thing and one thing only.”

Joseph Wood Krutch

Daybreak

Vernal Falls from Photo Rock

Vernal Falls basks in the sunlight. The mist trail off the right of the falls takes on swarms of people as they walk to the top of the falls. Our first trek to Vernal Falls took on some of the beauty and scope that Yosemite has to offer.

In nature, the emphasis is in what is rather than what ought to be."

-Huston Smith

Greenstone Lake

Greenstone lake as part of the Twenty Lakes Basin

September was here and 20 lakes basin seemed like a nice challenge. The water levels had dropped significantly from normal summer months levels. Greenstone lake was a stop on the way to different bodies of water and I paused to capture some of the rocks and mountainous ranges in the background.

"It is the abiding concern of thinking people to preserve what keeps men human-to save our contact with nature of which we are a part."

-Wallace Stegner

GOLDEN LEAFS

Upper Yosemite Falls in late Fall
(Operation White Weather, Nov. 1994)

Having just bogarted an image to myself only minutes before I noticed Seth over scrambling around looking at this image. Walking over to this spot myself I noticed it had some potential with the fall and the surrounding golden color in the fall leafs. After some setting up I ran off an image or two with the fall in the background and the leaves as the primary subject.

"The love of wilderness is more than a hunger for what is always beyond our reach; it is also an expression of loyalty to the earth, the only home we shall ever know; the only paradise we ever need-if we only had the eyes to see."

-Edward Abbey

PAUSING TO REFLECT

El Capitan reflection from Valley View
(Operation Deep Freeze Jan. 2001)

Making a stop at Valley view I noticed there was a reflection of sorts of El Capitan in the water. I set up the tripod and gear and played around with a ND filter getting things to fall into place. This resulting image worked pretty well although I still have some difficulties playing with the sky as the filer itself left me with some residual magenta/purple fallout affects.

"If we are saying that the loss of species is inherently bad--I don't think we know enough about how the world works to say that."

-Craig Manson, Assistant Secretary at the Interior Department who oversees the Fish and Wildlife Service, the agency responsible for enforcing the Endangered Species Act. (in Sierra, March-April 2004)

Galleries

Glimpsing Yosemite : Images and inspirations from various trips into Yosemite National Park.

Glimpsing Yosemite

Images and inspirations from various trips into Yosemite National Park ...

Updated: Mar 16, 2013 11:03pm PST

Our Yosemite Excursions : Images from our 4 day excursions into Yosemite along with insights and inspiration.

Our Yosemite Excursions

Images from our 4 day excursions into Yosemite along with insights and ...

Updated: Mar 16, 2013 10:59pm PST

Scenic Landscapes, and the National Parks : Scenic Landscape images from the United States and other locations around the globe.

Scenic Landscapes, and the National Parks

Scenic Landscape images from the United States and other locations aro ...

Updated: Jun 07, 2010 9:33pm PST

Mono Lake : Images from various times of year at Mono Lake

Images from various times of year at Mono Lake

Updated: Sep 04, 2011 4:48pm PST

Coastal Settings : Coastal Images from The United States as well as a few other locations around the globe.

Coastal Settings

Coastal Images from The United States as well as a few other locations ...

Updated: Mar 16, 2013 10:04pm PST

Yellowstone : Images from Yellowstone National Park

Images from Yellowstone National Park

Updated: Apr 10, 2010 4:53pm PST

Southern Utah Parks : Images from Southern Utah State, National Parks and other areas.

Southern Utah Parks

Images from Southern Utah State, National Parks and other areas.

Updated: Apr 11, 2010 9:14pm PST

Brazil : Images from areas around Brazil

Images from areas around Brazil

Updated: Apr 11, 2010 9:04pm PST

Lake Tahoe and the Sierras :

Lake Tahoe and the Sierras

Updated: Mar 16, 2013 10:13pm PST

Teton National Park : Images from the Tetons

Teton National Park

Images from the Tetons

Updated: Jun 07, 2010 9:20pm PST

Bamph and Waterton/Glacier National Parks : Images from Canada's National Parks

Bamph and Waterton/Glacier National Parks

Images from Canada's National Parks

Updated: Jun 07, 2010 9:31pm PST

Utah high country lakes : Uintah High country images and Lakes in Utah

Utah high country lakes

Uintah High country images and Lakes in Utah

Updated: Aug 04, 2010 8:19pm PST

Our new book "Yosemite Our Way" :

Our new book "Yosemite Our Way"

Updated: Dec 12, 2010 6:53pm PST

Touching The Light

Updated: Mar 10, 2011 9:17pm PST

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