For our road trip to the red rocks in January 2018, I feel like I overplanned everything, fastidiously following the itinerary, and stubbornly chasing specific shots I found online, driven by FOMO and at the expense of creativity. As a result, while a couple photos turned out great, I believe that they were great mainly by virtue of the subject — the awe-inspiring red rocks of Utah.

For this trip to Yosemite, I decided to go back to the "exploring first, photography second" mentality from when I first took my camera with me on hikes. We decided fairly last minute — that Friday — to go to Yosemite during 2018 Memorial Day weekend. It was perfect timing as well, because Tioga Pass had just opened that Monday. I decided to leave the wide angle lens at home, forcing myself to pick out interesting features of a landscape with my telephoto lens instead of relying on just the breathtaking views. Also left at home, we agreed, were our FOMOs.

This photo was taken on a hike somewhere along the Tioga Pass. It was not a planned stop; in fact, there were no planned stops this time. We just caught a glimpse of granite through the trees while driving to the valley, found a trailhead, and started hiking towards an opening. The soft, ethereal morning mist was sliding down one section of the cliffs, blurring the contours of the rock faces and providing a stark contrast to the hard, striking gray of the granite. It seems like Serendipity is just as capable as any master plan.