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Long exposure of El Capitan at night under the stars in Yosemite, with tiny climber headlamps on the granite wall
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California · November 2025

Headlamps on El Capitan

Yosemite Valley, California

The moment

One of my favorite things about Yosemite is sitting in the valley at night and watching the climbers on El Capitan. Their headlamps look like ants moving up and down the wall.

I love it because you see something so small on something so big. As a climber myself, it is close to my heart. You sit there looking up at these massive walls and think about how hard everyone up there is working on their projects.

This was a 30 second exposure, long enough for the stars and the wall to come through while the climbers kept moving.

How I shot it

Lens
Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM
Focal length
16mm
Aperture
f/2.8
Shutter
30s
ISO
400

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