Yosemite - Ostrander Lake

A few weeks ago, some friends and I got together for a backpacking trip to Ostrander Lake in Yosemite.  Such good times!!! My family and I have backpacked in Yosemite for many years, and this is one of our favorite places to go when we just want to relax and have fun.  So I figured it would be the perfect place to take friends!  I know there are way too many photos here, but hey, I got tired of trying to decide...  :)

 

Rachel stalking a chipmunk

 

Chris brought TWO boxes of mangos!! And pineapples!

 

We ate well.  Really well.  Really, really well!  This is Jay's amazing mango salsa...it went on some fabulous fish tacos.

 

Of course.  ;)

 

This trip was heavy on photographers...hehe... ;)

 

Our amazing camp chef!

 

Rob's "Steri-Pen" -- which I may be investing in soon -- way faster than iodine.

I love seeing the Milky Way up here.

 

 

 

Sunrise

 

Chris says "every rock has a center".  He found the center of quite a few of them. ;)

 

Some very happy feet by the lake...but you can see the storm clouds rolling in...

 

...and yes, it rained, and I dug a whole lot of little trenches around the girls' tent.  It worked.

 

Drying out by a massive campfire the guys built.

 

God is so good...the rain cleared up and we had a beautiful sunset!

 

And the good food continues...we had caramelized apples on oatmeal the next morning.

 

And the rain came back.  This is our "pathetic" face.  (We weren't really all that wet.)

 

But then it cleared up for the hike back out...

...and we found a field of beautiful wildflowers...

 

 

 

Took a visit to Washburn Point.  I never get tired of this view!  Here are Vernal and Nevada Falls in all their late-afternoon glory.

 

Chris, being Chris...

 

Last light on Clouds Rest (beyond Half Dome)

God's beautiful creation always leaves me awed, with a renewed sense of my own smallness.  And grateful that the one who made all this -- just by saying "Let there be..." -- wants to be with me and have adventures together every day.  Simply mind-blowing!

If you want to see more photos, you can check Facebook...I have more to post there.  :)

- Kelsey

Discovering beauty... 

Kelsey Schweickert  |  San Francisco Bay Area wedding photographer

Visit my website  |  Email me  |  Follow me on Twitter  |  Like my photography on Facebook

Slightly random post!

This morning I was doing some digital housecleaning, and found that I never posted the last few photos from the Yosemite Landscape Workshop last March.  I got sick in April and a whole lot of things went by the wayside...as you can see, only one blog post made it out that month!

So in an effort to mend my ways, here are those last few Landscape Workshop photos. :)  Enjoy!

Erin, on the snowy meadow boardwalk leading across the valley to Yosemite Falls

 

Sentinel Bridge

 

Erin again...because she's cute :)

 

Amanda, across the river at Happy Isles, hard at work with a rock-o-pod ;)

 

I love the bright green moss and the soft green-brown tones in the water and rocks.

 

  

Moss macro...there's such beauty in the tiny details.

 

Sometimes getting The Perfect Photo means getting into some interesting shooting positions... 

Pretty wildflowers along the road, on the way back to the Bay Area

 

Playing paparazzi in the grass...Bethany probably has a very similar shot of me... ;)

 

We finished our trip in San Francisco at the Bay Bridge, the Presidio, and of course Ghirardelli.  Here's a fun sight at the Presidio:

 

Yay for some really awesome photographers!  :)

 

Parting "Blue Hour" shot...I just love the light at this time of day...so much gorgeousness.

That's all for now, folks!  This weekend I'm excited to be photographing Byron and Rebecca's wedding in Canada, so stay tuned for highlights from that.  There's also a slide show in the works from another recent wedding and some new website developments that I'm *very* excited about...more on that soon!  :D

- Kelsey

Discovering beauty...

Kelsey Schweickert  |  San Francisco Bay Area wedding photographer
Visit my website  |  Email me  |  Follow me on Twitter  |  Like my photography on Facebook

Tuolumne Meadows/Yosemite Creek backpacking trip

Summertime with the Schweickerts means backpacking in Yosemite...and we just went on a thoroughly fabulous trip!  I went up last week with my parents, my brother Chris and sister Heidi, and our friend Betsy.  We spent a night in Tuolumne Meadows, and then headed down the trail towards the top of Yosemite Falls.

We had grand times, and I have way too many photos to share here...heh heh...I'll post more in a Facebook album and link it here soon.  The weather couldn't have been better (no rain, hail, and lightning like the rather memorable trip two summers ago!) and although the mosquitos were rather nasty (I still have a few dozen large red dots all over me) the company was superb, the views sublime, and the photos...well, I will leave you to judge.  ;)

My "happy place" canteens.  :)

Had fun shooting some rather abstract water photos...I love all the brown-green tones.

The Tuolumne River is flowing profusely right now, with all the snowmelt!

I don't know this fly fisherman.  But he was awfully photogenic.  ;)

The Keens Club.  ;)  (Betsy, Heidi, and my mom...I'm not a member...yet!)

Betsy fording a creek.  We decided the most fun way to get across was to just lose the boots.  Ahh cold water on tired hiker-feet...rapturous...

 

Hehe.  ;)

Chris loves his Five-Fingers.

OK, so I really like to stay [relatively] clean on backpacking trips, but this water was just tooo cold.

My parents are tougher than I am!

Ant real estate.  For big (but apparently harmless) black ants.  They were all over our campsite by the creek.

 

For the coffee connoisseurs on the trip, Betsy brought a French press -- from they were all raving about it, the coffee must have been pretty good!

OK, so this one probably needs some explanation.  ;) Ever smelled a Jeffrey Pine?  Their resin has a wonderful fragrance -- it's like the best butterscotch you've ever had!  Mom vowed she'd go to See's and buy butterscotch candy as soon as she got home.

At the top of Upper Yosemite Falls, 3,000' above the Valley Floor...right behind us.  (I set the self-timer on the camera and verrrry sloooowly walked over to join the rest of the group. Haha.)

Went down to the viewing area just above the top of the falls, where the water crashes over the edge. I was very careful. So was my camera.  We are both still alive.

A beautiful cascade by our campsite

There are a bunch more photos going up in the Facebook album.  :)  I'll post a link to it in this post soon!


- Kelsey

Discovering beauty...

Kelsey Schweickert  |  San Francisco Bay Area wedding photographer
Visit my website  |  Email me  |  Follow me on Twitter  |  Like my photography on Facebook