Yosemite Nocturnes

A collection of Yosemite images which were all created after sunset.

"Lightning Over Yosemite Valley." ©2005, James McGrew. I shot this during an intense thunderstorm that dropped marble sized hailstones and frequent lightning strikes. About a second after this bolt lit up the sky over the Three Brothers, powerful thunder rattled my camera and the windows of the nearby Ranger Club.

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"Lightning Over Yosemite Valley." ©2005, James McGrew. I shot this during an intense thunderstorm that dropped marble sized hailstones and frequent lightning strikes. About a second after this bolt lit up the sky over the Three Brothers, powerful thunder rattled my camera and the windows of the nearby Ranger Club.

Lightning Yosemite

$Alpenglow on Fletcher Peak from Vogelsang High Sierra Camp. This is not a sunset. True alpenglow occurs about 30-45 min after the sun has dropped below the horizon, and the sun's rays are scattered and refracted along the earth's atmosphere by high ice crystals or water vapor. This event happens more often in winter and only rarely occurs during the summer. When it does, the mountains or sky can begin to glow with a soft salmon pink, almost glowing from within just at the time the stars begin to appear in the sky.$