There really isn't a better time to visit Yosemite National Park then during the spring.  This special time of year brings together all things that make the park great, flowing waterfalls, blooming dogwoods, roaring rivers and so much more.

I was visiting Yosemite Valley for a private workshop I was leading; the day had been a very long one as I started my journey to the park at 2:30am to meet my clients for a sunrise shoot.  I was accompanied by heavy rain as I made the drive to the park and as I entered the valley the rain turned to snow, I could tell the day may be an adventure.

While I have my fair share of big, grand landscapes with dramatic sunset light, the majority of my work features the smaller detail of nature that are all around us.  For this type of work the more even light of an overcast day is perfect and that's exactly what we had to work with.

I have a favorite stretch of river in Yosemite that I like to walk and look for compositions across the water.  Spring is the best time to do this as the water in the Merced River is high and the beautiful dogwoods that line the banks are in bloom making for a lovely subject.  I had noticed a fallen tree leaning against another while scouting the week before and took a few images that I was happy with however the dogwoods weren't in full bloom just yet.  When I returned this time however, BOOM, the banks of the river was covered with them and added that extra element to the image that was missing the week before.

I setup my tripod and camera on the only foundation I could find a very unsteady fallen tree and started to compose the image.  I placed the shoreline of the river in the bottom of the frame and used the moving water of the river as a foreground subject.  The use of threes in an image is always a good thing so I framed the image left to right keeping the three redwoods in the image and placing one in each third of the image using their vertical lines to carry the viewer's eye through the image.  I made a number of exposures as the patterns in the water changed with each.

I found quite the sense of peace while making this image, the cool temperatures, sound of the rushing river and beautiful forest in front of my lens brought a feeling of tranquility to myself that I hope translates in the image.