...If you had only ONE day to photograph Yosemite...

[keithwms]

I actually did have one [good] day there and I just enjoyed driving through. I spotted some lichen in a tree and that was my best shot. I'd say, don't chase epic shots or try any grand tours in such a short time; just pick a spot that feels right, enjoy what you see and let your instincts guide you. If there's a good shot to take, take it. If not, just breathe the nice air.

[jgjbowen]

Only one day.....Go see Ansel's work at the AA Gallery. Dawn on the valley floor can be just wonderful (fog if you are very lucky). Have Fun!

[Vaughn]

Only one day.....Go see Ansel's work at the AA Gallery...

And while there you could ask to look at my work -- a few carbons and a few platinum prints.

Vaughn

[billbretz]

The "joke", as you so crassly put it,....

"Crassly"? Oh, ROL, you make me LOL. Steady, my friend, not worth getting bent out of shape about.

[David Brown]

I don't think I could do it. If I had one day and I had never been there (which I haven't) I imagine I'd have to just walk and explore. Of course I'd want to see half dome and and a few other famous sites for my first time, but from a phtographic perspective I doubt I'd by able to do anything more than tourist snapshots. I "grew up" on Ansel's pictures, and it would just be too overwhelming to be there so I'd really need to "settle down" before trying to actually see any new pictures that wouldn't be copies of Ansel, Sexton and others. I'd just enjoy it without a camera and think about what I might want to explore with a camera when I came back one day, maybe some of the less outwardly spectacular parts that yielded some of Adams's quieter images. I really don't know. It's a big park with a lot of photographic history and it would take way more than a day for me to even figure out which parts I might want to explore more deeply, let alone photograph with any kind of personal vision. That's just me though.

It's me, too. Been to Yosemite twice and not exactly added anything significant to my body of work. I've been to San Xavier del Bac several times looking for AA's tripod holes, and finally came to the conclusion that it had "been done", and by better folks than me. Seriously, I've come to a point where I want to see things more than I want to photograph them; especially things that have been photographed to death. I travel a lot lighter these days. Just because I am a photographer, I don't need to take a camera everywhere. I also have a degree in music, but don't feel the need to play every piano I see.

[David Brown]

I don't think I could do it. If I had one day and I had never been there (which I haven't) I imagine I'd have to just walk and explore. Of course I'd want to see half dome and and a few other famous sites for my first time, but from a phtographic perspective I doubt I'd by able to do anything more than tourist snapshots. I "grew up" on Ansel's pictures, and it would just be too overwhelming to be there so I'd really need to "settle down" before trying to actually see any new pictures that wouldn't be copies of Ansel, Sexton and others. I'd just enjoy it without a camera and think about what I might want to explore with a camera when I came back one day, maybe some of the less outwardly spectacular parts that yielded some of Adams's quieter images. I really don't know. It's a big park with a lot of photographic history and it would take way more than a day for me to even figure out which parts I might want to explore more deeply, let alone photograph with any kind of personal vision. That's just me though.

It's me, too. Been to Yosemite twice and not exactly added anything significant to my body of work. I've been to San Xavier del Bac several times looking for AA's tripod holes, and finally came to the conclusion that it had "been done", and by better folks than me.

Seriously, I've come to a point where I want to see things more than I want to photograph them; especially things that have been photographed to death. I travel a lot lighter these days. Just because I am a photographer, I don't need to take a camera everywhere. I also have a degree in music, but don't feel the need to play every piano I see.

To the OP, If I did go to photograph and only had one day, I'd stick to the valley.

[DREW WILEY]

Heck. For decades I had a ranch just down the hwy a ways, but never took more than six shots in Yos Valley in
my entire life. Most were done on a single day during a heavy Jan snowstorm when nobody could get into the
park and I left my truck parked right in the middle of the road (no turnouts were plowed that day). Me and my
nephewe hacked our way up a big ice cone below El Cap Fall and I chiseled the top off with the ice axe for a
tripod platform for my Sinar. Been through the Valley countless times returning from backpack trips on the east side of the Sierras. Plenty of things to photograph there obviously, but I just prefer a lot more solitude - which
is in fact easy to get in Yosemite Park per se, as long as one avoids the Valley and the Tuolumne area, and a
couple of other spots. In summer the Valley can be so filled with smoke that one can barely see the rim. Don't
know why they allow campfires. It's hot and smoggy at that elevation anyway in Summer, and more of a theme
park. Should be nice right now however, with snow forecast.

[ROL]

"Crassly"? Oh, ROL, you make me LOL. Steady, my friend, not worth getting bent out of shape about.

Not bent out of shape at all, another of your inaccurate statements. Simply correcting ignorance using appropriate terminology. Your characterization of an incident for which you have no reference is simply lacking in sensitivity, refinement, or intelligence (i.e., crass) to the memory of a man whose importance to the history and environment of the park in question is bettered only by Muir and, perhaps, Adams. I indicated in my post that I agreed with your advice. And once again, I do agree, someone obviously is "bent out of shape". If you care to avoid bending in the future, use due diligence before before relating matters of fact, and provide source.

[DREW WILEY]

For those of you who think it all been done before by AA, you should dig the archives here at the Oakland
Museum to see the work of photographers doing remarkable work in Yosemite before AA was even born.
Even the same tripod holes won't fetch the same shot - never will. When I was a kid my older brother would
save up his money for those big glossy Eliot Porter coffee table books. I'd flip through the pages with a sheet
of cardboard to visualize my own "crop" of the scene - which was always tighter than Porter's. Then the light
is rarely the same twice. I've had well-known photographers dump their workshops on me so they could wander
off and do their own thing in peace. "Just follow the guy with that big camera". Annoying - but even standing
side by side they'll never get the same shot. Too many nuances.

[chuck94022]

I agree with most of the responses, that there really isn't time in a one day first visit to really appreciate where to point the camera. So point it everywhere and don't worry about getting that perfect landscape shot. Take lots of photos, yes, but don't let that distract you from spending time appreciating the place. Don't sit it one spot, instead, find several, get a feel for the place. Plan to come back with a plan and a week if you wish.

I like the valley floor in the early morning.

Regarding your film, my only comment is that it doesn't feel like a Tri-X location to me, but that's probably just me. At Yosemite I like color and fine grained black and white. I might suggest saving the Tri-X for the San Francisco streets - but be careful waiving that big expensive looking 645 around in the middle of the city, especially in the Mission and Market Street areas (where the Tri-X grain seems most appropriate to me...)

I'm sure others have perfectly good opinions that are opposite of mine... ;-)