SFO, Yosemite, etc.

Just turned in a pile of points for a trip to CA via San Francisco this
summer (2 weeks, Last half of July). Nature destinations are Yosemite,
Sequoia, Death Valley.

Not sure if we'll spend much time in San Francisco.

Any and all ideas, pointers gratefully received.

Gear:
Digital: 6 Mpix DSLR
Film: 35mm and 120 (slide film [V50/100; E100G...]).

Lenses: 35mm: 20mm, 50mm, 100mm, 135mm, 28-70, 80-200 (all f/2.8 or faster)
120: 80, 120 and 150mm (may rent a 40mm too).

Tripod/geared head.

Cheers,
Alan

--
-- r.p.e.35mm user resource: http://www.aliasimages.com/rpe35mmur.htm
-- r.p.d.slr-systems: http://www.aliasimages.com/rpdslrsysur.htm
-- [SI] gallery & rulz: http://www.pbase.com/shootin
-- e-meil: Remove FreeLunch.

Just turned in a pile of points for a trip to CA via San Francisco this
summer (2 weeks, Last half of July). Nature destinations are Yosemite,
Sequoia, Death Valley.

Not sure if we'll spend much time in San Francisco.

Any and all ideas, pointers gratefully received.

Death Valley will definitely not be fun at the end of July. Average high
temperature in July is115F. 120F is common.

Yosemite and Sequoia are big, beautiful and unique. You can use wide angle,
telephoto and everything in between. Temperature should be good. Warmer at
low elevations and cooler at higher elevations. Air is clear in the summer
unless there are fires nearby. Yosemite can be a little crowded, but a
short hike will get you away from everybody.

Yosemite is about a 3.5 hour drive from SF.

"The Augur" wrote in
t:

Just turned in a pile of points for a trip to CA via San Francisco
this summer (2 weeks, Last half of July). Nature destinations are
Yosemite, Sequoia, Death Valley.

Not sure if we'll spend much time in San Francisco.

Any and all ideas, pointers gratefully received.

Death Valley will definitely not be fun at the end of July. Average
high temperature in July is115F. 120F is common.

Yosemite and Sequoia are big, beautiful and unique. You can use wide
angle, telephoto and everything in between. Temperature should be
good. Warmer at low elevations and cooler at higher elevations. Air
is clear in the summer unless there are fires nearby. Yosemite can be
a little crowded, but a short hike will get you away from everybody.

Yosemite is about a 3.5 hour drive from SF.




Another destination worth the excursion is the Muir Woods just north of SF.
Try for very early morning. Normal to ultra-wide angle, or even fisheye,
will give you the most dramatic views. Enjoy the trip!

http://www.nps.gov/muwo/planyourvisit/index.htm

We drove through Death Valley in August a few years ago. Didn't seem so bad.
The hotels there claim that summer is the favorite time for Europeans to
visit Death Valley. It definitely is hot, but a lot to see.

Yosemite is our favorite park (we live about two hours from there). It will
be crowded and unless you already have a reservation you will probably not
be able to stay inside the park. You will likely wear out your camera taking
pictures in Yosemite. As the previous poster said, you will be able to use
all of your equipment. Sometimes the falls (except for Bridal Veil) are dry
by the end of July, so you may have some disappointments there. May/June
would be better for the waterfalls and Merced River pictures.

Sequoia is nice, but Yosemite is the best of them all.

Tom
"Alan Browne" wrote in message
...


Just turned in a pile of points for a trip to CA via San Francisco this
summer (2 weeks, Last half of July). Nature destinations are Yosemite,
Sequoia, Death Valley.

Not sure if we'll spend much time in San Francisco.

Any and all ideas, pointers gratefully received.

Gear:
Digital: 6 Mpix DSLR
Film: 35mm and 120 (slide film [V50/100; E100G...]).

Lenses: 35mm: 20mm, 50mm, 100mm, 135mm, 28-70, 80-200 (all f/2.8 or
faster)
120: 80, 120 and 150mm (may rent a 40mm too).

Tripod/geared head.

Cheers,
Alan

--
-- r.p.e.35mm user resource: http://www.aliasimages.com/rpe35mmur.htm
-- r.p.d.slr-systems: http://www.aliasimages.com/rpdslrsysur.htm
-- [SI] gallery & rulz: http://www.pbase.com/shootin
-- e-meil: Remove FreeLunch.

Alan Browne wrote:
Just turned in a pile of points for a trip to CA via San Francisco this
summer (2 weeks, Last half of July). Nature destinations are Yosemite,
Sequoia, Death Valley.

Nice, but a lot of driving. It's also prime season for Yosemite and
Sequoia (but off season for Death Valley) so expect crowds.

Not sure if we'll spend much time in San Francisco.

Any and all ideas, pointers gratefully received.

Just got back from a trip to Sequoia. Much less crowded in the winter
but snowshoes or cross-country skis are a must for the trails. We saw
a foot of snow overnight.

Gear:
Digital: 6 Mpix DSLR
Film: 35mm and 120 (slide film [V50/100; E100G...]).

Lenses: 35mm: 20mm, 50mm, 100mm, 135mm, 28-70, 80-200 (all f/2.8 or faster)
120: 80, 120 and 150mm (may rent a 40mm too).

Tripod/geared head.

Yosemite is tough to photograph. It's easy to get lost in the majesty
and not be able to find the good shot. Plan ahead and have some idea
of what you want to shoot - even the valley has a lot to see. But it
also has lots of visitors, so make you travel plans early. As in: now.
No, I'm not kidding.

Sequoia is tough. You want to shoot the trees but it's so hard to
capture just how massive they are. Put people in front of one and
they turn into specks in the photo. Again, plan ahead. You can hit
the Congress trail for the trees in a day, catch a sunset at Beetle rock,
and not drive more than 20 miles. Or you can spend months in the park
and go as far as the peak of Mt. Whitney while shooting the high
Sierras.

Death Valley is great - I was there this past July. Awesome views from
almost anywhere, but daytime temperatures are 105 to 120 in July. Wear
a hat, take lots of water, and don't try any long hikes. The heat
_will_ kill you if you're not careful. Digital cameras get noticably
nosier in the heat so nighttime shots will need a little more work,
but the skies are the clearest in the country. No pollution, little
humidity, and no cities for a hundred miles.

--
Ray Fischer

Cross the golden gate bridge to the Marin County side and visit the Marin
Headlands. The turn off is just after the bridge. Besides some great or
World War II structures and gun mounts there is a fort, nice beach and a
lighthouse. Well, worth a visit, not to mention some great shots of the
bridge and city.

wrote in message
...
Cross the golden gate bridge to the Marin County side and visit the Marin
Headlands. The turn off is just after the bridge. Besides some great or
World War II structures and gun mounts there is a fort, nice beach and a
lighthouse. Well, worth a visit, not to mention some great shots of the
bridge and city.

My kids and I went up there to screw around and let me take some shots of
the bridge but when it got dark we were totally lost and it took a while to
find our way out. Had a great time and the kids always tell me they want to
go back and play around the old gun sites again.

just bob wrote:
wrote in message
...
Cross the golden gate bridge to the Marin County side and visit the Marin
Headlands. The turn off is just after the bridge. Besides some great or
World War II structures and gun mounts there is a fort, nice beach and a
lighthouse. Well, worth a visit, not to mention some great shots of the
bridge and city.

My kids and I went up there to screw around and let me take some shots of
the bridge but when it got dark we were totally lost and it took a while to
find our way out. Had a great time and the kids always tell me they want to
go back and play around the old gun sites again.

I was up there last night:
http://edgehill.net/California/Bay-A...-bridge/pg1pc2
and a couple weeks ago:
http://edgehill.net/California/Bay-A...-diablo/pg1pc1
They close part of it at night & you might have to go around & through a
one-way tunnel to get back but it's not far.

Cool tight shots!

"Paul Furman" wrote in message
t...
just bob wrote:
wrote in message
...
Cross the golden gate bridge to the Marin County side and visit the
Marin Headlands. The turn off is just after the bridge. Besides some
great or World War II structures and gun mounts there is a fort, nice
beach and a lighthouse. Well, worth a visit, not to mention some great
shots of the bridge and city.

My kids and I went up there to screw around and let me take some shots of
the bridge but when it got dark we were totally lost and it took a while
to find our way out. Had a great time and the kids always tell me they
want to go back and play around the old gun sites again.

I was up there last night:
http://edgehill.net/California/Bay-A...-bridge/pg1pc2
and a couple weeks ago:
http://edgehill.net/California/Bay-A...-diablo/pg1pc1
They close part of it at night & you might have to go around & through a
one-way tunnel to get back but it's not far.

Alan Browne wrote:


Just turned in a pile of points for a trip to CA via San Francisco this
summer (2 weeks, Last half of July). Nature destinations are Yosemite,
Sequoia, Death Valley.

Not sure if we'll spend much time in San Francisco.

Any and all ideas, pointers gratefully received.

From San Francisco to Tracy to Yosemite go via Jamestown, Sonora and
Columbia then to Yosemite via route 120. These are interesting gold
rush era towns with historic old buildings. Along country roads outside
of Jamestown you can find some old non-creosoted fence posts that
woodpeckers have used for acorn storage -- some still with acorns, some
looking like wood lace with the holes where acorns were.

If you have time in Sequoia consider a drive down into Kings Canyon.
The Kings River and surrounds can be quite senic, even in July if we've
had a good wet spring season; and there are lots of side canyon falls
not far off the main road.

To get to the eastern side of the Sierras and Death Valley you'll
likelyt traverse Yosemite's Tioga Pass. Not far from Lee Vining the end
of route 120 at 395 is Mono Lake -- scenic, particularly early or late
in the day. From Lee Vining to Death Valley take a side trip to the
ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest in the White Mountains. These are among
the world's oldest living trees -- very photogenic.

Bob Shomler
www.shomler.com