julia trotti | youtube photography tutorials
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Dan and I travelled to the US with our friend Cuong and spent just under 2 weeks exploring the national parks and taking a plethora of photos! The only camera gear I brought with me was the Sony A7III, Sony 28mm f2 and the Canon 35mm f1.4 II + Metabones iv adaptor.
After spending a few days exploring autumn & snow covered Colorado, it was time to start heading on our road trip through the US for a new adventure. The first state we had to drive through was Utah, and since it was so closeby, we decided to stop in Arches National Park on our way through. It was such a stark contrast to now be in the desert compared to lush and snowy Colorado but it was a beautiful landscape to experience nonetheless. In some spots of the National Park you could even see snow-capped Colorado in the distance!
We drove through the night into Salt Lake City, woke up in the morning and spent a whole day driving through a barren part of Nevada, making it to the border of California. Next stop is Yosemite National Park! I hope you all like the before & after images I’m including throughout my blog posts now! After getting some feedback on Instagram, it was a general consensus that you guys wanted to see more of that.
And if you haven’t seen it already, below is my photography related vlog of our time in Colorado and at the end, of what we got up to in Utah. Every photo in the vlog includes a before & after & was shot on my Sony A7iii + Sony 28mm f2.
Please subscribe to my YouTube channel, I release new videos every Wednesday and Saturday!
All photos edited with my Florence Lightroom Preset!
This blog was put together with Narrative. I love using Narrative as part of my photoshoot culling process to see which images from a shoot I should edit and I also use it to easily & quickly be able to put together these blog posts with different layouts of images side by side. I’m really excited to say I’ve teamed up with Narrative and have a 15% discount code for you guys using the code julia15 or just clicking this link! You can download a free trial to test it out for 7 days too :)
after - edited with my Florence Lightroom Preset
before
before // after - edited with my Florence Lightroom Preset
before // after - edited with my Florence Lightroom Preset
All photos edited with my Florence Lightroom Preset
In October, I travelled to Colorado with Dan and our friend Cuong to visit Denver and road trip through the snowy and autumn coloured mountains. We visited Aspen, Telluride, Ouray and all the places in between. I took only my Sony A7III to be able to vlog and take photos throughout our trip + 2 lenses: the Sony 28mm f2 and Canon 35mm f1.4 (which I used with a Metabones iv adaptor on the Sony).
The reason I decided to take the Sony over my Canon 5D mkiv is because it is such an optimised camera for travelling. First up, it’s small and light weight which is perfect to vlog on and also doesn’t weigh me down while spending long days exploring, hiking and just walking around. Second, I see it on par with photo quality as my 5D, the images are crisp, RAW files are easy to manage and colour and focusing is actually pretty fine with the 35mm adapted.
Lastly, since I also run a YouTube channel, filming video is just as important for me as taking photos! The Sony system is great for video, it has smaller file sizes than the Canon and again, the small and light weight nature of the camera means that I am able to vlog on it! I think we’ll all get sea sickness if I had to vlog on my 5D haha.
Check out the vlog from our trip below which has behind the scenes of us taking travel photos - portraits and landscapes as well as travel photography tips and SO many before and after photos!
Please subscribe to my YouTube channel, I release new videos every Wednesday and Saturday!
This blog was put together with Narrative. I love using Narrative as part of my photoshoot culling process to see which images from a shoot I should edit and I also use it to easily & quickly be able to put together these blog posts with different layouts of images side by side. I’m really excited to say I’ve teamed up with Narrative and have a 15% discount code for you guys using the code julia15 or just clicking this link! You can download a free trial to test it out for 7 days too :)
All photos are edited with my Lightroom Presets! I used a variety of presets to suite the look of the photo and the style I was going for with each of the shots I took. I used these presets:
San Francisco Lightroom Preset
There are before and after images throughout this blog post so you can see what each of these presets look like! And if you want to see more, I shared a before and after for every single image that I shot in the vlog :)
before // after - edited with my L.A. Lightroom Preset
after - edited with my L.A. Lightroom Preset
before
Location of a portrait we wanted to photograph
Final photos
What taking photos with a crop frame lens on a full frame camera looks like! I kinda like it!
before // after - edited with my Amalfi Lightroom Preset
before // after - edited with my Amalfi Lightroom Preset
before // after - edited with my San Francisco Lightroom Preset
before // after - edited with my Amalfi Lightroom Preset
All photos are edited with my Lightroom Presets! I used a variety of presets to suite the look of the photo and the style I was going for with each of the shots I took. I used these presets:
Our time in Maui was nothing short of blissful. It is the island I was most excited to visit and the perfect way to end our trip. Kristina and I missed our flight from Kauai and ended up landing on Maui late in the afternoon where we met up with Ellen Fisher.
Our first night in Maui was spent picnicking on the beach watching the sun set over the ocean and the stars rise. We stayed up late talking and planning the next day’s adventures. We spent our last day on this beautiful island hiking to waterfalls on the Road to Hana and ending it all with a road trip to the foggy mountains where we danced barefoot under the rain in the middle of a closed road.
Maui you were magical and I can’t wait to come back and explore more soon!
I vlogged every day during my trip to Hawaii with @fullyrawkristina! Be sure to see the videos throughout this blog post or have a look at them on my YouTube channel!
And if you missed the other two parts from Oahu and Kauai, be sure to see them here:
Sun Kissed | Set Sail | Island Life
All photos edited with my Wedding Collection Lightroom Presets
After spending our first week in Hawaii on Oahu taking photos for @fullyrawkristina, it was time to start our island hopping adventures. Landing in Kauai after such a short flight - the airplane spent more time taking off and landing than it did in the air - I immediately felt inspired by this island.
I was only in Hawaii a few months ago with Dan where we visited the Big Island and Kauai reminded me so much of there. It was vastly untouched and so lush with forests, trees and green mountains. On just our drive from the airport to the resort, I was in love with the island already.
Kristina and I spent our days road tripping to different locations around Kauai, chasing sunsets and jumping into the ocean with our clothes on under the stars on our last day here. We visited Waimea Canyon (which all the locals say is better than the Grand Canyon on the mainland!), did some hikes down mountains to Secret Beaches and visited SO so many beaches on every corner of the island.
I spent every day vlogging my time in Hawaii! You can see them on my YouTube channel or I’ve also inserted them throughout this blog post!
I have one more post coming from Hawaii - so stay tuned for next Tuesday!
Sun Kissed | Set Sail | Island Life
All photos edited with my The Wedding Collection Lightroom Presets and Light Leaks Lightroom Collection
After my first trip to Bali, I head off to Hawaii for @fullyrawkristina where our adventures start in the beautiful island of Oahu. I've been to Hawaii once before with Dan and I am SO happy to be here again! There is nothing quite like a vibrant and warm Hawaiian sunrise or sunset.
We stayed at the magical Turtle Bay Resort where the views out of your room window of the endless ocean are like nothing I've ever seen before - it feels like you're surrounded. Our week was spent roadtripping to different beaches, chasing sunsets and awing at the mountains around us.
I vlogged every day while in Hawaii and you can see all my videos on my YouTube channel! And stay tuned for 2 more blog posts from different islands coming next Tuesday!
All photos edited with my Wedding Collection Lightroom Presets
Our last day in Washington started in Forks. We had made our way from the gloomy town to the top of Olympic National Park, back down to a drive-through farm and soon enough we were making our way to Seattle. Seattle is our last stop of the trip and after spending a whole week in Washington, we calculated we had driven more than 20 hours in just 6 days!
Eventually we made it to the city at the very last light of the day - which in the middle of summer was a wonderful 10pm. We checked in to a cute cabin we rented from Airbnb right near the heart of the city in a suburb full of flowers. I remember seeing the city for the first time lit up by the setting sun, a marvel of beautiful purple, orange and warm colours reflecting over all the buildings - it was amazing.
We had just one day to see Seattle and waking up on our last morning, we headed off to the main destination we wanted to see: Public Market. It was here that we saw hundreds of flower vendors, ate delicious food and taste tested some amazing ice cream flavours. It was coming to the end of a very long and very exhausting trip, so halfway through the extremely hot day, my sister started feeling unwell. We decided to go on the Seattle Eye (the ferris wheel) to see some sights of the city and Mt Rainier in the distance and then head home.
My sister napped with the fan on high trying to cool down in the room on this heat wave day. I ended up taking the time to talk to Dan on the phone, go through our photo and vlog footage and start packing.
The next morning we woke up super early and dragged all our suitcases to the car. We were driving towards the airport and stopped at a pancake breakfast house for an amazing and much needed breakfast after a night of organic popcorn for dinner. Before we knew it, we were at the airport boarding our flight back to Los Angeles. From Los Angeles we dreadedly got on our 15 hour flight back to Sydney, Australia.
I had the most amazing time on this trip with my sister and I'm already dreaming of the day we decide to do it all over again with a new destination. We managed to do SO many things, from terrifying rollercoasters in Los Angeles, to massive roadtrips and beautiful hikes. We vlogged our entire trip which you can now see on my YouTube channel, so we have the memories of all the little things that happened in between forever. For now, we will continue going on mini adventures around home like we always have until we plan our next big adventure.
all photos edited with my NEW Washington Lightroom Preset
My sister and I’s trip was too quickly coming to an end when we woke up in Forks one morning ready to make the long drive back to Seattle. Before we made our way back to the city, we had a few stops along the road trip back first!
We made it to Olympic National Park and queued up in the long line of cars waiting to drive to the top. Once we made it to the ticket booth, the road ahead was miraculously empty and we started making our way up. At first the road was gloomy - we were driving through thick fog which looked beautiful surrounding the trees at all the viewpoints we jumped out at.
Suddenly as we were driving, we break through the thickest part of the fog and find ourselves on the other side of the clouds where it was a beautifully sunny and warm day. We made it to Hurricane Ridge Visitor Centre where there were yellow wildflowers growing in the fields and a pair of deer grazing in the grass - mamma and baby.
We spent a couple of hours here looking out to the landscape of snowcapped mountains and doing a little souvenir shopping at our last National Park stop of the trip. Soon it was time to make our way back down through the clouds and into town.
Our next stop was the Olympic Game Farm where you can drive around and the gorgeous animals poke their heads into your car window asking for food. Here are the famous bears who wave back at you when you wave your hand! I think the day was too hot for them, so they were all lazily lounging around instead.
After being in the car for so many hours, my sister and I made one last stop for dinner on the highway before heading into Seattle where I will have one last blog post from our entire trip coming next week!
all photos edited with my NEW Washington Lightroom Preset
There are so many things I want to say about Mt Rainier National Park that I don’t even know where to start. While I was doing my research on Washington while still back at home, I noticed that this was the most recommended National Park of all and it would pop up on absolutely every list that I clicked on. I’ve seen a few photos from the park and had a vague idea on what hikes we wanted to go on, but I think because I didn’t really know what I was expecting and the fact that this was a stop halfway through our trip just made this beautiful place all the more surprising for me.
We woke up early in the morning in North Cascades National Park and spent about 6 hours in the car making our way south of Washington. The highway started off beautiful - rocky mountains, rushing rivers, reflective lakes. It eventually turned into a highway that looks like it was built somewhere in Mars. We had the music blaring and the vlog camera rolling every hour into our road trip through the state.
After a few viewpoint and a couple of food stops, the highway starts becoming more lush. At first we enter and exit small sections of forest along the way. And before you know it, we were immersed in green, crossing a bridge over an amazingly blue lake with a mountain looming over us in the not-so-far distance. Our first official stop in Mt Rainier was one with the daisies. We could see Mt Rainier in the distance and there was a viewpoint covered in white little flowers. We stopped her for a quick picture and to stretch our legs before continuing.
We were delirious and pretty tired by the time we reached our cabin in the woods. We were staying literally minutes from the park entrance, but by the time we arrived it was already getting dark and we had no energy left in us again. Instead, we decided to get to know the area we were staying at a little better with a small walk around the grounds and then and early bed time to be prepared for the following day.
Morning was an easy one. We ordered a blackberry pie which we shared for breakfast with a coffee each. We had this all in the car with the morning light shining on our faces as we drove to the entrance of Mt Rainier National Park. There was lots of roadwork on the way up the mountain, so we vlogged in the car, talking about silly things and making ourselves laugh to wake ourselves up. By the time we got our first glimpse of Mt Rainier up close we started getting excited.
I couldn’t recommend more to get to this National Park as early as possible. We were there from pretty much sunrise and we managed to be able to go for a drive around the park, stopping at a few lookouts and waterfalls for pictures that were completely full of cars and people by the time we were leaving the park in the afternoon. If you get here late there is a high chance that you will miss out on seeing and doing quite a few things!
We set off on our first hike of the day and ended up spending the next 6 hours hiking through the mountains. Our first stop was Myrtle Falls in Paradise, followed by the longest hike of the day to Upper Crystal Lake and back to Longmire where we started off so many hours ago earlier that day. The majority of photos from this blog post where taken of all the amazing sights we saw along the way!
At the end of the day we got back to our car and ended up taking the wrong road home which sent us to a different exit of the park. We turned around and headed back the right way to our cabin where we fell asleep ready to do it all over again tomorrow.
all photos edited with my NEW Washington Lightroom Preset
I loved every part of North Cascades National Park. It is one of those rare places where reality is better than any of the photos you’ve ever seen of the place online. My sister and I had spent the whole day hiking in this amazing landscape, driving down the main road of the National Park, stopping for an hour or two hike, getting back in the car, stopping at viewpoints and just taking it all in. Before we knew it, we were at the furthest point in the park we could reach. Back at our starting point of my bucket list location Diablo Dam.
We got out at Diablo Dam and I breathed in deeply through the harsh wind whipping my hair around knowing that I won’t be back here again for a very, very long time. We turned the car around and headed back to our wonderful accommodation in the middle of the mountains with the deer.
Luckily for us, the days in Washington are extremely long throughout the summer and when we got home we were welcomed by my favourite sunset of the whole trip. We quickly got changed out of our hiking clothes and went running in the long grass to take pictures and film our last day in North Cascades. It was a magical afternoon spent giggling and tripping over grass, running and just marvelling at the sights surrounding us.
As usual, we had an early wake up call the next morning. We packed the car, said goodbye to the snow capped mountains and made our way to the town of Winthrop to fill up petrol and buy some snacks. We ended up going for a little walk around Winthrop - I absolutely LOVED this town - it’s everything you’d expect to see in a movie. Cute wooden shop fronts with lovely hand painted signs, it was gorgeous. We had some ice cream and headed off on our way.
Next stop: Mt Rainier National Park.
all photos edited with my NEW Washington Lightroom Preset
After a gloomy and cold welcome to Washington, we awoke to a sunny first day in North Cascades National Park. Since George and I were staying in Winthrop, we had made up a plan on what to see in the park where we start from the end which was closest to us and made our way back to the entrance.
We set off and quickly arrived at the first carpark where we could hear the sounds of a woodpecker working away in the forest somewhere. We took a quick hike to Washington Pass Overlook and hung around to film and take photos. Our next stop was to hike to Rainy Lake. We stopped where we thought the hike path begun but after walking for a while we started to think we weren’t in the right place. We hadn’t seen a single other person around but luckily a German couple appeared in the distance walking towards us on the hiking path. We asked them if this was the Rainy Lake trail and somehow in-between both our language barriers we figured out we were definitely in the wrong place!
We checked the map again and figured out the right place where we were meant to be and headed towards it. At the carpark we got distracted by a couple of chipmunks - we don’t have them in Australia so they are cute to watch as they scurry around! The hike to Rainy Lake was beautiful. I couldn’t help myself and would point out and exclaim about all the moss hanging from the trees every few minutes - it was amazing! We passed some look out points and waterfalls before we made it to our destination. Rainy Lake was stunning, the water was a vibrant blue which reflected the mountains and waterfalls surrounding it. Even though it was the middle of summer, there was still a pile of unmelted snow at the bank of the lake.
Since we weren’t going to get the chance to drive back through North Cascades National Park tomorrow, we decided to visit Diablo Lake one last time. Unlike yesterday, today the sun was shining brightly and the water was such a brilliant shade of turquoise. It was ever so slightly less windy so we made sure to spend a little extra time here soaking in the landscape.
It was only our second day in Washington but I already feel like we’ve seen so much!
all photos edited with my NEW Washington Lightroom Preset
The day started the same way it ended; with the moon. We woke up in our LA home at an ungodly 3am and fumbled sleepily with our things getting ready and packing up the last of what was laying around into our suitcases. We rolled our baggage to our car and sadly said goodbye to the perfect place that homed us for a week. After a drive through the empty L.A. streets so early in the morning, we were soon saying goodbye to Los Angeles too as our plane took off.
The sky turned from black to orange to white as we flew through the clouds. Minutes before landing, I remember excitedly peering out the window and seeing all the green down below. Seattle, Washington was already looking promising. Water and trees? My idea of heaven.
We set off in our car, music blaring and us energetically cheering to the vlog. We were beyond tired after our week visiting theme parks and our early flight, but I think our excitement was enough to keep us awake. We drove straight past Seattle and headed for the first highway. At first sights, Washington was reminding me of Poland in Europe. The grass was overgrown on the edges of the road and trees planted in any nook and cranny that was available around the structures. We had a 5 hour drive ahead of us to our first accommodation in Winthrop.
As we left the city behind, the country fields started rolling out in the distance and we passed so many beautiful country homes and barns. The barns were painted bright red with white windows and doors - it looked like it was right out of a movie. The rain would pour and then stop, it was a perfect welcoming to Washington, I thought. We were headed to North Cascades National Park to a place that has been on my bucket list for years. As soon as we caught the first glimpses of the mountains in the distance that we were driving towards I couldn’t help but get emotional.
The road continued as we passed bridges, lakes, pine forests, fields and more country houses. The fog was getting thicker and I couldn’t be happier. We made a pitstop for some coffee and eventually made it to the North Cascades information centre. I don’t think I’ll ever forget reaching the National Park entrance after driving for hours, we were surrounded by forest and there wasn’t another soul around. It was magical.
Our first stop once we were in the park was Diablo Dam - a place that’s been on my bucket list for the longest time. I remember always seeing photos of it online and knowing that I had to see this beautiful place for myself. We drove down a winding road that really looked like it could only fit one car, but somehow it was a two lane road. We drove across the dam and I had goosebumps on my arms - it felt unreal being here in person. As we parked and got out of the car the huge gusts of winds immediately pushed us around, but we went for a little wander around anyway, running around and taking photos.
Onwards with our road trip, we continued on the single road through North Cascades and seriously couldn’t believe our eyes - how can something so beautiful really exist?! Around the bend of one of the roads I squealed with excitement as I saw yet another sight I’ve wanted to see my entire life - the top of a forest immersed in fog. We made it to the town of Winthrop and made our way up the gravel road to our accommodation. A beautiful house perched on top of a hill with 360 degree views of the still snow capped mountains all around. We had spent hours driving around that day, so we made dinner and headed off to bed ready to wake early the next morning to do some exploring. The windows of our accommodation reached from the floor to the ceiling, so I fell asleep watching the moon rise from the mountains.
Am I really here? I guess I’ll find out tomorrow.
all photos edited with my NEW Washington Lightroom Preset
As quickly as I was home from my last trip to San Francisco, I was already boarding another flight back to the States this time with my sister Georgina. We were headed to California for the summer after weeks of planning our trip together and I couldn’t have been more excited. My sister and I are extremely close, we can spend hours talking and we laugh at absolutely everything. She is my favourite person in the world.
When we landed in Los Angeles and went outside, the heat brought back all the memories of the last time I was in the States in the summer. The jet lag this time though, was one of the worst I’ve ever experienced. We picked up our hire car and spent our day trying to keep ourselves awake with a little bit of shopping, eating and checking into our first accommodation in Anaheim. By the afternoon we couldn’t keep our eyes open any longer - we were deliriously laughing in our hotel room at who knows what, trying to stay awake in vein. A story that we always bring up now through tears of laughter is how we ended up falling asleep in the late afternoon, only for me to wake up a few hours later thinking I had slept through our entire second day in LA, missing out on our trip to Disneyland and hallucinating that the streetlight just outside our window was the sunrise. After a few minutes of confusion I couldn’t have been happier that I still had hours to sleep and adjust!
On our first full day in LA, we woke up to a still dark 5am to get ready for our day in Disneyland. We had an ambitious plan for the week to visit 5 theme parks in 5 days and we documented our entire experience in the form of daily vlogs which I have included throughout this blog post! So if you would like to see more of an insight on our days spent on rollercoasters and exploring parks please check them out!
After our second day in Disney California Adventure Park, we checked out of our accommodation in Anaheim and moved back into the city of L.A. where we checked into the cutest cabin house! We were so happy we had this home booked for the rest of our week in the city because it was beautiful and absolutely perfect. We continued our theme park adventure with Universal Studios, Six Flags and ending the crazy week at Knott’s Berry Farm. On the last day of the week we had a full free day so we spent it driving around Beverly Hills, doing a little more shopping, visiting Venice Beach where I finally saw it in the sunshine (as opposed to last year where it was cloudy and gloomy!) and visiting the Griffith Observatory where we took about a hundred photos in the iconic smoggy LA sunset.
That night we woke up super early to catch our next flight where our adventures continue.
all photos edited with my LA Lightroom Preset!
We were awake before sunrise, slowly carrying our things from our cabin to our car in the still, icy cold air of the morning. It was a bittersweet goodbye. I know I will be back here, but not soon enough.
The sun started trickling over the mountain, shining on the frost-covered ground as we hopped in the car and made our way from Yosemite National Park back to San Francisco. The light was warm through the car window until we drove upwards into fog. At first we would drive in and out of it - patches of white and then back into the sunshine. Until we were completely surrounded and could see nothing but white over the hills on either side of the road. It was magical.
It was the start of Spring while we were in California and what was rows and rows of luscious green apple trees the last time we were here in the summer, were now endless fields of cherry blossoms - pink and white. The rows of trees were endless and we just couldn't help ourselves but get out of the car and run through them with our cameras. Eventually we were back in the bustling city of San Francisco where we had a little list of things to do before heading back to the airport. We caught a flight that evening back to Hawaii and the next morning, we were on our way back home to Sydney. I remember flying out of San Francisco gazing out the window watching a city I loved so much get smaller and smaller in the distance. I will be back soon. I know it.
I also have some exciting news because I've started sharing more fashion shoot behind the scenes videos + Lightroom & Photoshop Tutorials on my YouTube Channel! Be sure to subscribe as I upload 2 new videos every week x
all photos edited with my San Francisco Lightroom Preset!
It was our second last day in Yosemite National Park when Dan and I spent the night in our trembling wooden cabin, shaking from the storm happening outside. The lights and internet would switch off momentarily before turning back on more times than I could count and the wind was howling loudly outside. Frustrated that we couldn't get in contact with our families to let them know how we were, we fell asleep only to wake up to a perfectly calm and sunny morning the next day. Walking outside to the balcony of our cabin was strange. The night was so noisy and yet this morning all was quiet and still - such a stark contrast to when I fell asleep. When I first noticed the light snow in the surrounding trees, we immediately got ready and headed out.
I think it was Yosemite's perfect way of saying goodbye. On our last day I finally got to see what I've wanted to see my whole life; the world drenched in winter. The further we drove up the same road we had driven the entire week, the thicker and thicker the snow on the ground and hanging on the tree branches was. I couldn't believe my eyes.
We stopped on the side of the road so many times to take photos of the snow covered trees and the pathways leading to nowhere. The Yosemite National Park entrance sign that was bare when we first arrived at the beginning of the week had piles of snow on and around it. We visited all our favourite spots one last time. Tunnel View, Lower Yosemite Falls, Valley View and places which I don't even think have a name.
It wasn't long after that where we headed off to spend one day in San Francisco before catching our flight that same night back home to Sydney.
all photos edited with my NEW Yosemite Lightroom Preset
I have never seen it snow before. I've been to the snow twice in Australia; once with my family when I was young and again on a road trip recently with Dan and my friends to the Victorian Alps where the landscape was covered in snow. But it never snowed while we were there.
Dan and I travelled from Hawaii to Yosemite National Park just after peak winter season. The days were cold, but not extremely. There were still patches of snow in the park but most of it had melted away. Towards the end of the week, the forecast said it was going to snow and I was so giddy with excitement every time I looked at it, I couldn't wait for that day to arrive. I giggled one afternoon while Dan and I were getting lunch at the two workers in the cafeteria having a chat in between small amounts of work left to do for the day. "Oh man, I got so mad when I saw the weather predictions this morning. I just want the snow to go away, I've had enough". Such a stark difference to my opinion. I've never seen it snow and can count the amount of times I've been in snow with one hand.
We had spent the morning in Yosemite Valley, wandering around, taking photos and going on a hike. By the afternoon we had finished everything we wanted to do, so we decided to go on a drive to the tree-house cabin we stayed at in the summer time in Yosemite West. The further we drove, the more of our surroundings were covered in snow. We rolled down the road slowly to approach two deer nibbling at the ground right on the side of the road with our windows down. Onwards, the snow still lingered in thick slabs on top of rooftops and verandas. Some driveways of what I'm assuming are holiday houses were still caved in with snow and the trees surrounding us were also decorated in white.
On our way back, we wanted to see the closed entrance Glacier Point Lookout road so we stopped at Badger Pass Ski Area, parked our car and went for a walk. It was too late in the afternoon to purchase an entry to go and ski, so we went for a walk around the area to admire the trees and the mountains of snow. In the distance I could see what looked like rain, but it was falling in the motion that a feather would. "Is it snowing over there?!" I wanted to go up the ski lift so badly, but we couldn't unless we hired ski equipment which it was too late to do. I started to get excited. Before I knew it, the storm clouds crept closer and the snow started to fall everywhere. At first it was small amounts and within minutes there was white everywhere I looked. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face, holding my hands out to try and catch some snowflakes. Dan and I spent the next hour running around madly in the snow, taking pictures and filming. I laughed and breathed in deeply, knowing I will never forget this moment.
Finally with our hair and clothes drenched we went back into the warmth of the car and headed to our new accommodation, a cozy wooden cabin just outside of the park. Our time in Yosemite National Park was slowly coming to an end with only a handful of days left over before flying home.
I also have some exciting news because I've started sharing more fashion shoot behind the scenes videos + Lightroom & Photoshop Tutorials on my YouTube Channel! Be sure to subscribe as I upload 2 new videos every week x
all photos edited with my NEW Yosemite Lightroom Preset
"The mountains are calling and I must go."
- John Muir
It was sunrise on the first day Dan and I woke up in our room in Yosemite National Park. The warm morning light streamed in through our b&b window, creating a little rainbow from the fractures of light. We couldn't contain our excitement to be back in this beautiful place, so we were out of our room and on the road heading to the park in record timing. Our idea behind coming to Yosemite National Park again was to be able to immerse ourselves in the landscape, to enjoy the quiet under the stars, to distract ourselves with landscape photography and just not be working for a minute. And that's exactly what we did.
Each morning we took the same road into the park, and every morning it looked like we were in a completely different landscape. One day it was warm and sunny, the next it was gloomy and cold, one day we woke up and the world was a winter wonderland. We embraced even the small things like our drives to and from destinations. On our first morning we set off on a hike to Mirror Lake again. Having visited this place in the summer it was a strange, nostalgic reminder being here again in winter. Where everything is the same, but all so different at the same time. I remember the ice cracking under our feet as we set off on the hike. Where there were leaves and branches the year before, now was a pile of snow still unmelted. When we got to the end of the hike, it was such a stark difference from the year ago we were there. In the summer, there is a sign pitched into the ground that states "mirror lake" but all you can see around it is tall grass and dirt pathways paved out by people who have gone looking for the lake. In winter this time, everything was glacial blue and magnificent. The water from Mirror Lake actually reached up to the sign they've pitched and was so still it really did look like a perfect mirror reflection of the trees and mountains surrounding the valley.
One afternoon, Dan and I were chasing the sunlight for photos and out of the shrubbery a few meters away from us, two white wolves stealthily jumped out, glanced at us and went about their way. It was terrifying but so wonderful to see these creatures up close. That same afternoon, the sun was still lingering in the sky, but had set already in Yosemite Valley. We decided to head to Yosemite Falls and when we arrived we had the whole place to ourselves without a single other soul around. I remember standing on one of the rocks just following the water crashing from the top to the bottom of the waterfall. Again, in the summer time the waterfall was there but it was such a small stream of water. Now in the winter, the water was powerful and loud.
That night we headed up to Tunnel View to take photos of the stars. We shivered in our coats as we waited for our 30 second exposures to finish, giggling at silly things we were talking about and constantly realising and appreciating where we were.
These are just a few snapshot memories of our time in Yosemite National Park. Below are so many photos I've taken of our time there. I still have more to come too!
all photos edited with my NEW Yosemite Lightroom Preset
We are so close.
It's one of our favourite places in the world.
Why don't we just go?
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Dan and I had spent the morning watching the waves crash on the black sand beach on the Big Island in Hawaii. We were waiting at our gate to board our flight to Honolulu when we started talking about Yosemite National Park. We spent the rest of the time we had waiting at the airport and on our flight doing some research and trying to plan out our trip if we were to make it happen. With a smiles we couldn't wipe off our faces, my hands shaking and crazy eyes of "should we" we cancelled our flight back home.
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[ AND SO WE WENT ]
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Instead of catching an 8am flight the next morning to Sydney, we were boarding a 10pm flight that same night to San Francisco instead. I couldn't believe we were doing it and I couldn't believe how easy it was. One second I was ready to go home and the next I was just travelling further away. After a quick five hours on a plane, that made me feel sick from the turbulence - I squeezed Dan's hand so tightly almost the whole way there - we landed just before sunrise. We picked up our hire car and drove into the San Francisco sunrise, headed for snowy Yosemite National Park with a suitcase packed full of summer clothes. Our first day in San Fransisco was spent driving around the suburbs of Stanford shopping for winter clothes and boots.When we were ready for the snow, Dan drove towards Yosemite while I was on the phone calling a few different places to try and book our accommodation! Worst case scenario, we decided we could always sleep in the car. Luckily the third place I called picked up my call at 6pm and said they had a room available. The next morning we woke up at sunrise again out of excitement and set off on our drive to the park. This is our first couple of days spent exploring this magical place again.
I also have some exciting news because I've started sharing more fashion shoot behind the scenes videos + Lightroom & Photoshop Tutorials on my YouTube Channel! Be sure to subscribe as I upload 2 new videos every week x
all photos edited with my NEW Yosemite Lightroom Preset
It was morning and Dan and I were going through our normal routines, I was having breakfast and Dan was walking around our house packing up a few of his things as we were getting ready to leave Hawaii in a few hours. The entire house just started shaking like crazy and both of us froze in our motions and stared at each other with a look of "what is happening right now and what do we do".
Just like that it stopped and we asked each other "did we just experience an earthquake?!"
We looked online and it turns out we felt the outside radius effects of a 4.0 magnitude earthquake that was concentrated in the nearby suburb of Pahoa. After doing some more research, I then learnt just how common that is to happen on the Big Island. The earthquake we experienced happened at 9.28am and there had already been 8 other earthquakes on the island in just that one day. We were lucky that we were fine and nothing happened, but it was a strange experience and one that I hope I won't ever experience by chance again.
This was our last day on the Big Island, and in Hawaii in general, so we packed up all our things, said goodbye to our cabin and went to visit a black sand beach that was nearby where we were staying. We took some photos by the palm trees above and proceeded to head down the extremely rocky and rocky terrain to the beach. Flip flops were a bad idea haha.
When we arrived at the beach, I couldn't believe my eyes - it was incredible. The waves were strong and crashing down on the lava rocks, the sand was jet black and the most wonderful thing I've seen. The water must have been clear, but because of the black sand, it was a brilliant shade of deep, vibrant blue. It was mesmerising. The locals were swimming nude and I couldn't keep my eyes off their heads bopping in and out of the water in the mass of this surreal landscape. We took some photos and retired on a rock to just watch the world around us. I think we must have spent at least an hour just watching the waves crash against the shore and just taking in the beauty that is Hawaii in one last time before we left.
I also have some exciting news because I've started sharing more fashion shoot behind the scenes videos + Lightroom & Photoshop Tutorials on my YouTube Channel! Be sure to subscribe as I upload 2 new videos every week x
all photos edited with my San Francisco Lightroom Preset | black and white photos edited with my Charcoal Lightroom Preset
