Bouldering Shoot

This past week I was reminded of the photographers saying "f/8 and be there".  I was teaching in Yosemite and having a wonderful time, except for the clear blue skies all day and clouded over sunsets.  Every night we would sit and wait at a different sunset location hoping things would "go off" but each night it clouded over just for the sunset and then cleared once all the light was gone.  Trying to remain positive we took advantage of the nearly full moon to shoot Yosemite Falls and El Capitan.  In the end capturing some unique images,  with star fields and climbers headlamps giving the images a very different feel than the standard daylight versions.

Part of my reason for being frustrated about the clear blue skies and lack of sunset images was that when I had originally planned my trip to Yosemite I had arranged to shoot some climbing photos but was rained out.  So when it started clouding up again my last afternoon (the night we had rescheduled our climbing photos for) I was bummed.  Plus when I called my friends to confirm, I found out they were stuck behind a slow party on the "Nut Cracker" and might not even make it down in time.  Knowing I had a five hour drive home and had something scheduled the next morning I started packing my truck for home, but on the way out of the park I decided to stop by the tunnel view and check the weather to the west.  As usual there was a huge crowd of tripods waiting for the sunset, but it still didn't look too promising.

So I followed the best logic of all and got out a cold beer and decided to make the call after the beer was gone.  After chatting with several photographers and taking the obligatory family snapshot or two I got a call from my friends saying they were down and on the way.  So I decided there was nothing to do except wait and at least get to visit with them in a beautiful spot.  After chatting for a few minutes we decided that even if the photos didn't work out we might as well enjoy some great bouldering.

With only about 40 minutes to spare we reached my chosen boulder right as the clouds began to break and Half Dome became visible.  With Robin and Roger taking laps on the rock I shot as many compositions as possible the light continued to get warmer and warmer.

As we sat on the tailgate of my truck enjoying the spoils of our victory we mused about how light is like life, and that if you wait for it to happen it will pass you by.  Good light only happens for those who are in the right place at the right time.  Most times you get rain, but once in a while you get rainbows, and it is those rainbows that make life worth living!  Even when I arrived home at 2am exhausted I still had to pull out my camera and look at my "rainbows" one more time before I could sleep.