The 1994 winter storms brought a huge snow pack to the Sierra mountains of California.  The following summer I had heard of a photography workshop that was traveling to the rim of Yosemite Valley to witness the full moon over Half Dome's 8842-foot summit.  I researched the moon's trajectory and Yosemite's topology; indeed, the opportunity appeared promising.  The increased winter snow pack would insure ample water supply for the three-day backpack trip I began to envision.

For creating images with warm sunset light on the landscape and a full rising moon, I usually prefer the day prior to the official full moon date.  Arriving even earlier allows contemplation of the scenic elements for improving the image aesthetics.  It's like arriving early for a show to get the best seat in the house.

At the 7500-foot trail head, hiking post-hole-style through deep snow in midsummer was an unexpected surprise and made trail-finding difficult, but the water supply at the end of the trail was welcome.  I arrived midday and explored the surrounding area. At sunset I observed the moonrise directly over the top of the dome.  Using a 300mm lens allowed the moon to be a significant element in the frame, but portrayed Half Dome as flat-topped, dark, and uninteresting.  I did not feel the need to include the entire dome in the image because half dome is such a mature subject.

The following afternoon, just before "show-time", I positioned myself more southward to isolate the dome's more interesting rounded southern shoulder and water streaks.  At sunset the shadows crept upward and the upper face was slowly transformed to warmer hues. I continually switched to a longer focal length lens to crop out the unwanted shadows, while working my way down the hill, keeping the rising moon within the picture frame.  At times I was running down the hill to keep pace with the moon, stopping only momentarily to setup the tripod and release the camera's shutter.  At one point I slipped on pine needles and slid butt-first downhill fifteen feet, hopped back up, and kept running (with newfound caution).

The dome turned orange and just before the light faded I took the final image you see here, without time for bracketing exposures. I finally began contemplating the evening's excitement as I slowly made my way uphill back to camp, but little did I know there would be an encore performance of a more subdued sort.  I occasionally glanced over my shoulder hoping the reasonably clear atmosphere might allow the brightening of Half Dome's west face at dusk.  As the dome brightened I setup my camera at a spot I had noticed the previous evening.  At the brightest moment, I took the image Moonstar, with a small aperture to hold the branches in focus and to maximize the optical star effect.  No filtration was used for these images.

The next evening, the official full moon date, the workshop participants arrived gleefully and busily photographed the full moon.  I mingled and enjoyed the sunset with them.  Unfortunately the sunset light had left Half Dome's face well before the moon arrived, making the scene's contrast unmanageable.