PHIL HAWKINS PHOTOGRAPHY

Landscape: Yosemite National Park, etc.

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

Shot with a super-wide 11mm f/4.5.
   
  
     
  
After several days of wet weather.
   
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.
   
About an hour after sunset, when the moon was rising over the east end of the park. At the same time, a mist hovered over the valley floor that captured the headlights from autos on the roads leading into and out of the valley. The "spray" of light is a result of auto headlights shining on the puddles of water and reflecting upward through the mist. Surreal.This was about a 7 minute exposure, with a Canon 5D at f/2.8 w/ a 24-70 Canon "L" Zoom lens at 24mm, 200 ISO.
     
  
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.
   
  
     
  
   
  
Moonbow over Upper Yosemite Fall
     
  
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.
   
The sunshine streaked through the trees as the mist accentuated the sun's rays.
   
The mist swirls around the valley floor in this 17-minute exposure.
     
  
Taken from Golden Gate National Recreation Area
   
Hiking in the hills above Millerton Lake gave me this vista.
   
At dusk from Tunnel View
     
  
   
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.
   
  
There was a half-moon above just after sunset and it illuminated the valley.
     
  
   
This is a composite of three photos, each element taken in June 2008.
   
     
  
   
At Olmstead Point, along the Tioga Road
   
     
  
   
  
El Capitan shrouded in clouds after a winter storm.
     
  
North Tower of the Golden Gate Bridge shrouhded in fog. The fog moves so fast it's almost like shooting football; you must be ready to shoot before the action starts.
   
I was driving back from Vegas and the sunset was shaping up rather nicely, so about 10 miles east of Mojave, I pulled off on an overpass and setup over the freeway and had an excellent 90 minutes relaxing and watching the lightshow.
   
Just after a storm cleared
     
  
Normally mid-day is not the best time to be doing landscape shots, but the cloud patterns changed things.
   
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.
   
Just as the sky brightened at dawn, a mist hugged the valley floor; this was shot from Tunnel view.
     
  
Mist covering the valley floor of Yosemite National Park.
   
Sunset at Lembert Dome at Tuolumne Meadow in 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.
     
  
Obviously looking west from highway 58 just east of Mojave, CA. What a beautiful sunset!
   
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.
   
The oil drilling platforms off the coast of southern California near Huntington Beach.
     
  
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.
     
  
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.
   
Fall colors surround El Capitan in Yosemite Valley.
   
Half Dome at sunset just as the sun was about to slip away.
     
  
Reflection of Half Dome in the still Merced River in October.
   
At days end in June.
   
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. (The rest were rather non-descript)
     
  
This is an area near Yosemite's east boundary outside the park called Saddlebag Lake. There's a 5-mile hike that features some of the most awesome high-country peaks in the region.Notice the man standing in the lower left corner, but also notice the two climbers on the glacier at the upper right corner. I did not see these people until I had printed this shot at 13x19.