Photography: My Shot — Pine Cones in the Mist

When we plan our hiking and photography trips, we understand that we are most likely going to have some days when the weather is not ideal. Even if it rains, as long as it isn’t a deluge, we carry out our plans to hike. We may elect to alter the selection of trails, but hike we will.

During our adventures in Sequoia National Park, California, we wanted to see a stand of the giant sequoias that were located in the Muir Grove near the end of the Muir Grove Trail. The day was a dreary, drizzly one. To add a bit of drama, we had a map that accessed the trailhead through one of the campgrounds that was unfortunately closed for renovations. Cars were not allowed, but we were told we could walk in.

The construction turned the campground into ghost town and the cloudy, misty, rainy day created an eerie spectacle. Undeterred however, and with most of the landmarks altered or removed, we finally located the trailhead.

As we made our way along the designated path, we came across the beautiful branch pictured below. The two elongated pine cones were dangling in the air. They were posed in such near perfect juxtaposition against the misty background, that I was inspired to take this photograph and I am glad that I did.



**********

Metadata

File Name: 000031_sequoia_1619.NEF
Capture time: 12:10 PM
Capture date: June 10, 2018
Exposure: 1/60 sec @ f/16
Focal Length: 35mm
ISO: 1250
Camera: Nikon D3300
Lens: 18.0 – 55.0mm f/3.5-5.6
Edited in Lightroom

**********

BTW – Here is a picture of me by the unbelievably huge sequoia’s near the end of the trail. To give some perspective to the scene, I am nearly six feet tall and I am standing at the base of a single tree.

Click HERE for more information about the Grove Muir Trail.



See more photography posts HERE and visit Jeff’s Instagram site HERE


**********

 

All original content on this blog is copyrighted by Jeffrey B. Ross with ALL Rights Reserved. While reference links back to JBRish.com are appreciated and encouraged, please acquire approval for any reproduction of original content from this website.

©Jeffrey B. Ross 2014 – 2018 – JBRish.com



Year of Yosemite (YOY) – Day 97 (Now That’s A Pine Cone!)

foot long pine cone 

Large pine cone found along the Valley Loop Trail

We live in the desert of Arizona and while we have some drought-tolerant pine trees with pine cones, they are nowhere near the size pictured above. Even when we lived on the east coast, we couldn’t find cones this large.

My shoe size is ten-and-a-half, triple E so that may provide a mode of comparison. We were in Bishop, CA several days before reaching Yosemite and they did have pine cones equal to or larger than this as well.

NOTE – While taking a shuttle bus to Glacier Point, the driver explained that it was a violation of federal law to remove anything natural, including pine cones, from the park. National Parks are home to many life forms including insects, rodents, mammals, etc. and they use the resources of the park to create a living environment for themselves. Pine cones, for example provide food for a variety of wildlife.

 
Do you have a question about our visit to Yosemite? Ask it in the comment section.

 

JBRish.com originally published this post
*All photographs Copyright by Jeffrey B. Ross with all rights reserved.

 
See previous Year of Yosemite (YOY) posts HERE. If you want to read the introduction to the YOY series, CLICK HERE.

***********************************

Meta Data – Day 97 YOY – Year of Yosemite

File Name: 3547.JPG
Capture time: 9:17:02 AM
Capture date: June 8, 2016
Exposure: 1/60 sec @ f/2.8
Focal Length: 6.6mm
ISO 80
Canon PowerShot A590 IS