Hitting quarter life at Yosemite
- Saptarishi Pandey
- Mar 23
- 6 min read
When I was 15-years-old, I was once sitting browsing the internet and I stumbled upon a video by Project Yose, a collective of photographers and videographers who captured the Sierra Nevada that forms Yosemite. I had never been to the US before, let alone heard of Yosemite. I would probably pronounce it Yose-mite (like Vegemite). Watching that video, I knew that visiting, and perhaps photographing Yosemite would be on my bucket list.
So when the opportunity revealed itself, I decided to capitalize on it. I did a bit of research, and my girlfriend and I drove 4 hours east from Mountain View. This was very much a photography trip, but then again, they all are. I had with me my Canon 70D and my Nikon F3, and a selection of lenses from wide-angle to telephoto. We'd booked an oddly charming, Squirrel-themed Airbnb in Oakhurst; about an hour away from the park . Before heading to the BnB on the evening we arrived, we decided to make a quick run to get essential grocery from a nearby store near the park.
By now, the sun had set, and I drove to the Airbnb in the dark through thin, winding, cliffside roads. By the time we reached the Airbnb, we were spent. Entering the property in the dark was not a good idea, and everything felt sketch. We'd only find out the next morning how nice our Airbnb location was.
Day One
The next morning, we had the breakfast of champions: 2 peanut butter sandwiches, and decided to go see Yosemite in all its glory. We'd drive up Wawona road into tunnel view, and then head away from the valley and towards Sentinel Dome.
If there is anything that is quinessentially Yosemite, it would be Tunnel View. Equipped with its own parking lot, the Tunnel View welcomes visitors to the park. In classic avoidance of cliche, I was not feeling "inspired" but decided to enjoy the beauty of the granite cliffs and the falls I could see from here.
I decided to shoot with a roll of Kodak Ektar 100 this trip. This is not a film stock I use often, but it is regarded as a fine grain, high contrast, and saturated film stock, perfect for landscapes. Looking back, I don't think this was the best film choce to go with. More on that later.
In the back of the parking lot, I found a nice view of El Capitan between two pine trees, which I felt framed the rock face very well
I also went with a lot of black and white, as I felt heavily inspired by Ansel Adams in this area. I can only dream to shoot even half as good as him some day.
After spending some time at Tunnel View, we turned back around, and went up on Glacier Point Road.
As our first trek, we planned Taft Point, only to challenge that idea the moment we reached and do something more challenging instead, Sentinel Dome. We had already decided that we aren't ready for Half Dome this trip, but we wouldn't go down without a challenge. We made a pretty big mistake of only carrying one, half-filled water bottle between the two of us, so we were pretty dehydrated quickly. The view on top of Sentinel Dome, however, was breathtaking and taking it in momentarily quenched our thirst.
The Jeffrey Pine, which is endemic to this region, grows all bent because of exposure to high winds. There were many such trees on top of Sentinel Dome. Even on a warm summer day with high warning of wildfires, the top of Sentinel Dome (8,127 ft/2477 m) had a nice chill.
By the time we reached Glacier Point, I was already dehydrated and hungry. Maybe 2 peanut butter sandwiches aren't the best breakfast before 2 hikes. To add to that, my camera bag was starting to feel extra heavy. We decided to grab a bite at the visitor center and then head back towards the car.
We wrapped up that night, tired and exhausted but with stomachs full of North Indian food from an Indian restaurant in Oakhurst.
Day Two
My birthday started off with grabbing a healthy, more filling breakfast comprising of burger and fries from a local cafe and checking out some thrift shops in the area. At the park, we spent most of the day roaming around the valley, seeing the different museums and the Ansel Adams Gallery. Here I'd see some of the man's work, some other silver gellatin prints from other artists, and grab some postcards: Moon and Half Dome; Moonrise, Hernandez; The Tetons and Snake River; and Winter Sunrise.
We spent the rest of the evening after lunchtime at the Sentinel Bridge: I photographed Half Dome over the Merced River while Neeraja got bored. Should've brought my Nintendo Switch.
I don't think I like my photos from this day as much as the rest.
Day Three
Finally revitalized for another hike after a relaxed day, we decided to hike around the valley region and parts of the Yosemite Meadows and areas near El Cap. Since the sunlight was mostly direct, shooting black-and-white was an obvious choice to get some drama in the scene.
I saw this nice view of El Cap on the hike and decided to take a high-resolution collage/panorama photo. Here it is cropped.
I might print it just to enjoy the resolution a little.
One the other hand, the film photos from this day turned out to be really really saturated.
In the middle of the park, near a bunch of campsites, sits perhaps the most unique pizzeria I've tried: Curry Village Pizza. After a long day of hikes, we were really craving some soul food, and Curry Village Pizza looked like heaven to us. We tried their Thai curry pizza, and I'd say that pizza alone could make someone want to go to Yosemite a second time.
We spent that evening at Tunnel view till some time after sunset.
I like this photo in theory: I like start trails, the framing is nice with the Half Dome just on the bottom right; but I think the execution could be a bit better. Maybe next time.
Day Four
This was our last day at the park. We packed our stuff, had breakfast, and bid farewell to our squirrel-themed Airbnb. By now, we had the map to the park etched in our brains, and just decided to do whatever feels right in the park. We decided on doing a late afternoon Vernal Fall. Here is where people who are on serious hikes to Half Dome would start early in the morning. We had no such intentions. Not this time around, at least.
We started off from the Happy Isles trail and walked up 1.2 miles (1.9 kilometers) up. The hike was a popular one, and there were many tourists on this trail with us. The late afternoon light hit the waterfall just right, and unlike the other hikes so far, we were still full of energy when we got up top.
Before the trip to Yosemite, I watched some Michael Shainblum's YouTube videos to get inspired. Those inspirations finally came to me here at this trail as I saw the rainbow come out of waterfall. This is so out of my comfort zone, but I enjoyed taking this photo.
But then, I got an idea. I wasn't done with my time at the park just yet. I wanted to take something more in before I left. I decided to go back to Glacier Point and enjoy it with a full stomach this time. This was a long drive, as the valley and the Glacier point road are on significantly different altitudes. We kept a close eye on the sun as it was now starting to set. Luckily, we made it to Glacier Point in time before blue hour.
This is my favorite photo from this trip, I like the colors and the framing of Half Dome in between the trees. Now I was satisfied.
It was another 4 hours back to Mountain View that night and I drove in the dark. This trip was fantastic and it only made me want more. Each hike was different than the other and the park is a photography paradise. The Sierra Nevada region is so beautiful, and I barely scratched its surface in this trip. I can't wait to go back, successfully complete Half Dome, and check out some neighboring natural beauties.
Post-post-post: I hope you've all had a nice 2024 and are having a good 2025 so far. This post was long overdue. If you made it this far, thanks for reading! I have a few more posts lined up about film photography and my recent trips!
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