PHIL HAWKINS PHOTOGRAPHY

Landscape: Yosemite National Park, etc.

Most of these are of Yosemite National Park, where I spend about 120 days a year. The majority of the rest are from the Sierra Nevada area south of Yosemite in the Sierra National Forest.

This view is only available for two weeks in February
   
  
Automobile headlights create this colorful mosaic in the mist hugging the valley floor
     
  
Yosemite Valley in winter; Sunset around New Year's. It had been snowing all day and just before sunset the skies began to clear and I got a great
  
  
     
  
One of my more popular shots, I took this in a driving snowstorm with some difficulty. Had to keep wiping snow off the lens before I got one with a clean lens.
   
  
This is one of the first shots I ever took with the camera my dad gave me when I was 13 in Chapel Hill, NC. He gave it to me on a Sunday afternoon, and I stepped outside and started shooting. This was one I shot standing in the middle of the highway waiting for that truck to get close enough to add to the shot. Mom was not happy.This is looking west on Highway 86 just west of Carrboro. That road is now lined with shopping centers and fast-food joints.
     
  
   
  
From Sentinel Dome
     
  
   
  
There was a half-moon above just after sunset and it illuminated the valley.
     
  
   
  
The glow in the lower left is from the Yosemite Lodge.
     
  
Looking across Cook's Meadow.
   
The oil drilling platforms off the coast of southern California near Huntington Beach.
   
This is a composite of three photos, each element taken in June 2008.
     
  
Hiking in the hills above Millerton Lake gave me this vista.
   
This is exactly as it appeared; I adjusted the contrast and added saturation.
   
This is exactly as it appeared; I adjusted the contrast and added saturation.
     
  
Along Glacier Point Road.
   
  
In the Inyo National Forest of Califormia near Yosemite
     
  
Shot from Glacier Point, this was a ten-minute exposure of Yosemite Valley partially illuminated by moonlight.From left-to-right, Yosemite Village, Housekeeping Camp, The Ahwahnee Hotel (top), Curry Village and Upper, Lower and North Pines campgrounds.
   
  
     
  
   
  
     
  
   
  
The morning after a major winter storm cleared out.
     
  
In the Inyo National Forest
   
Shot on the banks of the Merced River
   
Thunderstorms in the central Sierra Nevada brought out a great display of rainbows along the Kaiser Pass Road.
     
  
   
  
     
  
As an autumn storm broke up about two hours after sunset, I caught the full moon light breaking through over the Merced River. Bridalveil Fall is in the background.
   
Sunset around New Year's. It had been snowing all day and just before sunset the skies began to clear and I got a great "snowy valley" shot from Tunnel View.
   
     
  
As a storm dissipated over Yosemite Valley
   
A patchwork of light was drifting over the valley through the clouds and I waited until one hit just the right spot; on the waterfall.
   
I waited four hours for the skies to clear and was rewarded with this shot just before sunset.
     
  
The mist swirls around the valley floor in this 7-minute exposure.
   
  
As my plane descended into Raleigh-Durham airport, I shot the great sunset out my window.
     
  
   
Moonbow over Upper Yosemite Fall
   
In the Yosemite High Country at 9,000 feet.
     
  
A cloudy day in spring from Valley View w/ the 11mm lens capturing the great clouds that rolled through in late afternoon.
   
Shot with a super-wide 11mm f/4.5.
   
South end of Deadman Canyon in Kings Canyon National Park.
     
  
A lone fly fisherman has the lake to himself in the Inyo National Forest of California
   
In the Inyo National Forest
   
     
  
   
Yosemite Valley during a rain storm.
   
A lone fisherman heads for home after a tranquil day on Millerton Lake.
     
  
   
The clouds broke just enough to allow a shaft of light to illuminate El Cap.
   
Nevada Fall in full force
     
  
Yosemite Valley soon after sunset after a rain storm cleared and the moon illuminated the mist.
   
At dusk from Tunnel View
   
A storm had just cleared out that day and the air was very clear, and driving home from Visalia I saw this scene and stopped to take the winter wheat against the brilliant view of the Sierra National Forest. Usually the air is too polluted to see this.
     
  
From Glacier Point.
   
Rural road in Madera County of California
   
Sunset clouds over Millerton Lake
     
  
At Olmstead Point, along the Tioga Road. This Bristle Cone Pine is estimated to be over 3,000 years old.
   
An early fall storm without much punch came through the first weekend of Oct. 2006, but left a great sunset! This is Huntington Lake in the Sierra National Forest just south of Yosemite.
   
Mist covering the valley floor of Yosemite National Park.
     
  
The moon appears to be rising in this composite image. The moon is never in this position, which makes this image impossible in the real world, but it's nice to fantasize about what it would look like.
   
Clouds over Half Dome from the summer of 2006. From Glacier Point.
   
Bridalveil Fall on a windy day.
     
  
The foothills of the Sierra National Forest.
   
Extended exposure on highway 145 near four-corners at highway 41 in Madera County, California
   
Taken at 3am on a very cold, clear night with a full moon. I couldn't resist losing a little sleep to snag this shot...About a 4 minute exposure at 400 ISO f/5.6 24mm on my 20D.
     
  
It had been stormy all day, and as is often the case, the storm cleared just before sunset and the lighting was great! The orange glow you see on El Capitan was caused by the sun filtered through clouds above my head and out of the shot. The sunlight on Half Dome and Cloud's Rest in the background was direct and did not have any cloud obscurity.
   
There are some spectacular views from the road leading into Kings Canyon NP and I set up and waited through the sunset for this shot... my favorite of the bunch.