All images and material © 2016 by Mike Clasen Photography • All Rights Reserved • Use By Permission Only
Tunnel View has been photographed a billion plus times, and who can resist getting a shot (or hundreds) for themselves? We just rolled into Yosemite and this was the first stop before heading into Yosemite Valley. I got out of the car to go take it all in, and just grabbed my camera with no tripod. Right when I got about half way across the parking lot, the rainbows popped out so I quickly made my way to the rock wall and propped down my camera to stabilize it, and captured around ten photographs before the rainbows disappeared. They were only visible for around 4 minutes, and the upper rainbow was beaming when I was across the parking lot, but by the time I got to the rock wall with the other 50 buzzing photogs, the upper rainbow had pretty much fizzled out. I searched for this particular Tunnel View double rainbow via specific capture date around 2013-ish, and I only saw one other image, but I KNOW others are out there of this very same atmospheric scene. Out of the 50 or so photogs that were witness to this that day, I wonder how many actually “got the shot”? The interesting thing about this Tunnel View double rainbow, is that Bridal Veil is directly in-between them, perfectly, and its centered in the frame. Most double rainbow Tunnel View scenes I have seen, the rainbows are stemming from high up on El Cap down into the valley or over Bridal Veil, which makes for a dynamic scene, but a very common atmospheric Yosemite scene also. Who knows, after ten years, maybe this atmospheric Tunnel View scene is common too ;-)… I reprocessed this image back in 2015 and tried to get the best detail and quality out of it as possible considering it was shot with a Canon Rebel T1i and its accompanying 18-55mm EF lens back in May of 2010.
This scene is comprised of three blended long exposures, captured late November 2015. This is not for sale in any medium, it is for display purposes only. © MIKE CLASEN PHOTOGRAPHY www.mikeclasenphotography.com
The wind was ripping across Washoe County in Nevada at 60 to 80+ mph on Feb 6th, 2015, and this was the reason I was, where I was, when I captured this scene. The dust storms throughout the ancient Lake Lahontan Basin in NV were insane on this day and made for perfect conditions for long exposures, and to capture something unique. The price was dirt in the ears, eyes, nose, mouth, clothing, and equipment being used, but it was well worth the whole experience and the end results. Being the only person physically out there in these crazy weather conditions and experiencing it all was beyond awesome! Watching the rapidly changing skies and lighting conditions, watching the sand storms rip through the area and getting caught in them, getting caught in rain that moved sideways, all created somewhat of a challenge when shooting in these conditions. A rain cover can be used on the camera with the bottom sealed on the tripod to keep dust off of it – sort of… This image consists of two photographs that were blended together. The sky and the mountains in the background was a long exposure of 90 seconds (gives an idea of how fast the clouds were moving), where the foreground landscape was a fast exposure to freeze movement of tumbleweeds and sagebrush. I chose to freeze the landscape due to it just being a yellow blur in the long exposure, lacking any foreground/middle-ground detail really. The monolithic presence of the tufa megaform on the desert lake bottom stands around sixty feet tall and was formed thousands and thousands of years ago under the surface of the great Lake Lahontan when it was an inland sea. This image won second place at the 2015 Annual Student Art and Design Exhibition in Photography, at Truckee Meadows Community College, NV. It was printed as a 24"x36" print for this exhibition. © MIKE CLASEN PHOTOGRAPHY www.mikeclasenphotography.com
