The Sierra Nevada And Yosemite Park Archives - Page 6 of 7

Desert, rocky landscapes, before Sierra Nevada

View with alternate video source

Scene notes:

Panning right, the shrublands in the foreground comprises the bottom quarter of the frame. Above, blue-sky with stray lower clouds casting shadow on the ground below, rapidly shifting. The wide mountain range, snowy and peaked with sharp jagged cliffs, are partly under a blanket, which transform slowly. ‘Caught’ on the land, they exist only here for any length of time before evaporating elsewhere.
Time-lapse length (30 fps):
12 seconds and 24 frames.

At fall, distant aspen grove with yellow leaves…

View with alternate video source

Scene notes:

… under clouds and shadows beyond a small lake. Past a lake, in the distance on some rugged and steep hills leading to higher peaks, a large grove of Aspen trees is under frequent shadowing from heavier low clouds, which are moving away from the point of view. Snow can be seen on the higher altitudes in different places.
Time-lapse length (30 fps):
5 seconds and 17 frames.

Hetch Hetchy reservoir in half-fog, with a waterfall

View with alternate video source

Scene notes:

… in the distance and opposite side of water. The lake is shown from the viewpoint on the hydroelectric dam (out of view) itself. The wind gusts blow on the lake in randomized patterns from the landscape. Comprising four-tenths of the frame, the reservoir holds much of the state’s fresh-water supply and generates significant energy. There are multiple waterfalls visible on the left half of the frame, and fog moves in complex transformations on the erratic direction of wind.
Time-lapse length (30 fps):
12 seconds and 15 frames.

Sierra Nevada Mountain range and late-day clouds side-lit and flowing off

View with alternate video source

Scene notes:

Approximately half the frame is shadowed in a mountain’s shade, with desert plants in the foreground meadow. The clouds flow off the ridge, and every air current can be seen on the outer edges of these clouds, which run aground on the top-left of the frame, billowing, and crawling.
Time-lapse length (30 fps):
11 seconds and 22 frames.

2 of 10 | Sierra Nevada Mountain range and midday clouds

View with alternate video source

Scene notes:

Towering Congestus Clouds, benefiting slightly from orographic lift, float from the peaks of the southern Sierra Nevada range. As tall as the mountains they seem to stand on, they transform as they grow and lose energy away from the peaks, evaporating. On these snowy mountains, their shadows travel. Under the blue sky, which is four-fifths of the frame, high Cirrus clouds move the opposing direction.
Time-lapse length (30 fps):
12 seconds and 29 frames.

1 of 10 | Sierra Nevada Mountain range and midday clouds

View with alternate video source

Scene notes:

Stratiform clouds at mid-level pass far overhead as the camera pans leftward. A yellow foreground of flowers and plants goes in and out of the shade along with the background mountains. A stratus layer on the peaks tumbles and struggles its way over the Sierra Nevada, and a few small Clouds Of short-lived density play around the altitude of snow and just below the peaks. The view becomes full of more ridge lines of various mountains to the south at the end of the clip. A limited depth of field adds to the clip.
Time-lapse length (30 fps):
13 seconds and 6 frames.

1 of 2 | Late day Yosemite winter transforming into sunset

View with alternate video source

Scene notes:

A winter view of Yosemite valley: a very small stratus of fog on El Capitan’s ridge plays slowly as the shadows rise at an also slow pace. The water of Bridalveil Falls still pours near the right of the frame, mostly shadowed by the land at clip’s end. Evergreen trees reside on every surface that is not too steep to grow on, and the valley becomes Tenaya Canyon further out, snow becoming more fulsome.
Time-lapse length (30 fps):
11 seconds and 2 frames.

Under Mount Whitney and others, clouds pass by in the sky, transforming and casting shadows on peaks

View with alternate video source

Scene notes:

Sharp peaks up close: young granite spires and glacial erosive features are featured in the lower ragged third of the frame, while low clouds transform just overhead left-right. On the sheer stone cliff faces, shadows are clearly moving past. Drops of solid rocks give way to trees where the less steep terrain allows any growth.
Time-lapse length (30 fps):
12 seconds and 21 frames.