Day 4: Hiking in the Park

Today started at 4:30 AM so we could beat the crowds into the park and ensure we had a parking space. We passed through the gate around 6:30 AM (it is an hour drive from the hotel), and took the road into Yosemite Valley. We stopped a few times along the road to take a few pictures of El Capitan and Bridalveil Falls in the early morning light, but our goal was the parking lot. We arrived early enough we had our choice of spots, since the lot was empty, so got one close to the exit and main paths.

We started our walking adventure by following signs for the visitor center and Yosemite Falls. The visitor center did not open till, 9 AM so we continued on to the falls. We brought MRE (Meals Ready to Eat) with us for breakfast, good thing because several of the restaurants didn’t open till 7:00 AM. The walk to the falls was fairly short, and the lower viewing area had very few people at it, which was good for pictures. From there were continued around the waterfall path up to the Mirror Lake path. The trail was supposed to be about 4 miles but seemed longer, because we took the trail which went up and down instead of the flat road out to it. I was actually disappointed by Mirror Lake, because I was expecting more water. But due to the extended drought, there was very little water and the lake is slowly turning into marsh and meadow. From there we hiked back to the visitor center area. On the hike back we stopped at the deli to grab lunch. After eating and checking out the visitor center, we took the valley bus over to the Curry Village area to hike part of the John Muir trail to Vernal Falls.

Yosemite Falls (Cell Phone)

The trail to the base of Vernal Falls is very deceiving, it starts out level and transitions to a gradual incline; then right when you think this isn’t bad it starts a steep uphill. We only hiked the trail to the viewing area, which was .8 miles uphill and decided not to hike the remaining .6 miles up to very top of the falls. After then we decided to call it a day, so hiked down the hill to the valley bus station to take the bus back to the parking area. We didn’t feel like hike the two mile to the parking lot. From there we headed out of the park making a few picture stops along the way.

Vernal Falls (Cell Phone)

Today was a good day (even if I forgot my Fit Bit to track my steps), it was sunny and comfortable temperature after the morning chill wore off. Tomorrow we will not be getting up as early and rain is expected, which makes me sad.

Comments

Cobwebs Everywhere

On October 7 th , I did a studio spooky session with Coralinx Cosplay . The central theme of this shoot was a pretty goth girl who had a fondness for spiders and decorating with cobwebs, making it a perfect Halloween session. Note: Cobwebs are defined as abandoned or old spiderwebs that have collected dust. Many cobwebs are the result of comb-footed spider (i.e., black widows) that make irregularly shaped webs. Spiderwebs are active structures built to catch prey. (Source: Western Exterminator Company) For these sessions, I used: Photography Equipment Other Equipment Cannon R6 24-105 mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 2 Westcott FJ400 2 Phottix Strobes 2 strip boxes 2 rectangular soft boxes 2 c-stands 3 light stands Backdrop stand Black seamless 2 Westcott silicon gels Tether cable Laptop Laptop holder Sandbags A-clamps Spyder Color checker Fake cobwebs Table ...

Katsucon 2025 Wrap - Up

Katsucon 2025 didn’t seem as crowded as 2024, but I still wasn’t feeling it. Katsucon will always have a special place in my heart, but I think I’m just bored with it, from a creative perspective. While I still love working with cosplayers the location itself no longer excites me and I’m tired of fighting the crowds. If I return to Katsucon 2026 I think I’ll just set up a studio in my room and do studio sessions. I can be a lot more creative with a studio session, and I get to use all my lights. So now let's talk about photography. For Katsucon I was shooting with my Canon R6 with an 24-105 Canon RF lens, and I had a fisheye lens on me as well, but we will discuss that later. I had two speedlights, one on camera which acted as a trigger 90-percent of the time and one on a light stand which my husband would hold during shoots. This year I booked 11 cosplay sessions and shot 869 frames. I shot a range of ISOs from ISO 100 to ISO 800...

Spooky in the Morning

On October 5 th , I did an on-location spooky session with Rebecca at Claude Moore Park. The theme was Victorian ghost; however, it is hard to be a ghost at 9:30 in the morning on a bright sunny day. I did my best to get a spooky look. For these sessions, I used: Photography Equipment Other Equipment Cannon R6 24-105 mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 2 Cannon Speed lights 1 30-inch umbrella Light stand Assistant Smoke Genie The setup The set up was relatively easy. I mounted a Canon speed light on a light stand with an umbrella. My assistant then held the light in the appropriate spots as we made our way around the park to different locations. Camera Settings This session was held outdoors in bright morning sun and was intended to look spooky, so I tried to keep the images dark. Thus, I used ISO 100, which is great for sunny conditions. I wanted to maintain a soft background as much a...

The Munchkin's Notebook

Search This Blog