David's Images of the Day Photoblog
Morning walkabout near the cruise port area of San Diego. A Seagull (unidentified) posed in front of the MV World Odyssey. We would embark on the vessel the next day in Mexico for the Spring 2016 Semester at Sea voyage. I also saw a Brown Pelican and a different Seagull (unidentified) posing on the head of a statue.
Rock Slide at Curry Village. Hard to believe it has been ten years since I experienced a rock slide at Curry Village. Since then, many of the cabins and cabin tents in Curry Village were relocated further away from the valley walls. This year Curry Village got its name back after a trademark dispute between the National Park Service and the previous concessions service company. All of the hotels, lodges, campsites, and restaurants within Yosemite National Park had to change their names for a couple of years. Since the rock slide, I stayed in Curry Village two more times.
After our morning session, we ate lunch at Curry Village. Michael Mariant was going to do an IR photography workshop in the afternoon. On the way to the workshop, we stopped by our cabins. As we were leaving the cabins there was this loud noise. At first it sounded like thunder — but the sky was blue with no clouds. The noise got louder, and Michael yelled “run for your lives — rock slide” We all ran from our cabins to the parking lot. Since I drove, I was one of the few that had cameras and lenses available. Most of the folks left their gear in the cabin for the IR workshop. I took the following images during and just after the rock slide. Luckily, there were no injuries since most everyone was out of Curry Village visiting other parts of Yosemite when the rock slide occurred. Later in the afternoon, a Park Service helicopter with a USGS geologist surveyed the rock slide site and declared things safe. Only then were we permitted to return to our cabins. A school group was also staying at Curry village. That evening the Elementary school age children moved to a different campsite. The Middle and High school students remained at Curry Village. The crisis counselors told the students that a large rock falls in Yosemite Valley on average every 9-10 days, so they would be safe for the rest of the trip. Little did they know that Murphy was listening!!!!
The first stop of the morning was to Mono Lake to view the Tufa towers at dawn and in the early morning sunlight. We had to leave Bishop well before sunrise to get there, even then we were a bit late.
Images taken on my second visit to Bodie State Park. California maintains the park in a state of arrested decay. The park is a National Historic District, and is known as a wild-west gold mining ghost town. All of the images were converted to monochrome/sepia to fit with the historic nature of the ghost town. The Schoolroom Marm’s hat is a repeat of an image I took in 2008.
Nikon D3s camera with 50 mm f/1.4 lens. Click on the above image to access the individual images in the slideshow.
Nikon D3s camera with 200 mm f/2 lens. Click on the above image to access the individual images in the slideshow.
Nikon D3x camera with 24 mm f/1.4 lens. Click on the above image to access the individual images in the slideshow.
I was the last person to occupy this cabin in Curry Village while attending the Nikonians ANPAT 8 (Annual Nikonians Photo Adventure Trip) in October of 2008 — Led by Michael Mariant. On that day, just after lunch we heard a loud noise. It first sounded like thunder or a very loud freight train, but the noise continued and kept getting louder. The sky was clear when we were at lunch so I knew it couldn’t be a freak winter thunderstorm. Michael in the cabin next to me yelled “rock slide, run”. The next thing we knew, Yosemite Valley was enveloped in a cloud of rock dust. Eighteen months later, the cabin still exists but stands empty in a closed area of Curry Village.
