Yosemite National Park with Ansel Adams as your tour guide

With Yosemite preparing to celebrate its 125th anniversary on Oct. 1, my wife and I spent four days there in midsummer seeking new perspectives on the park. And what better way to see the park in new ways than through the eyes of those who have photographed the splendors of this national treasure.

We began at the Ansel Adams Gallery, perused photos by Adams and others, and signed up for a Saturday morning photo walk.

“Let’s move back about 100 feet for another look at Yosemite Falls,” photographer Mike Reeves said. About 10 of us on the free photo tour in Yosemite Valley recompose our shots. This time, we see the waterfall framed by a pair of the valley’s towering pine trees.

“Sometimes just taking a few steps back can make all the difference,” said Reeves, a staff photographer at the Ansel Adams Gallery.

On the 90-minute tour, Reeves showed us how including just part of a mammoth sequoia tree in an image is a good way to suggest its size, and how it’s sometimes advantageous to shoot during an overcast day if you want high-contrast images.

Starting our visit with a photo tour sharpened our vision of Yosemite and led us to appreciate the park in novel ways.

And we tried another approach on this trip: Rather than camping or staying in a lodge, we rented a Jucy mini-RV. It’s a Dodge van with a gas stove, small fridge, interior dining table, little sink and pop-up sleeping tent on the roof.

The van is cleverly designed and was comfortable and convenient. Outside Yosemite, we could pull over and camp almost anywhere, but in the national park we needed to reserve a campsite.

We spent part of our time in Yosemite Valley, starting with a hike up to Vernal Fall, three miles round-trip, catching sight of rainbows in the mist created by the pounding waters.

Then we drove up to the high country of Tuolumne Meadows. Most visitors to Yosemite spend time primarily in Yosemite Valley and don’t see the sheer granite peaks and sculpted domes of the park’s higher-elevation regions, which is a shame. While nothing compares with the valley’s views of Half Dome and El Capitan, the high country has its own majesty. You can hike along trails with few people to nearly deserted lakes, even in summer, and scale peaks for commanding vistas of snowcapped mountains.

“I like the high country of Yosemite: the mountains, lakes and meadows,” said park ranger Yenyen Chan, who is stationed at Tuolumne Meadows. “I find the higher elevation inspires me … the openness, the vast space. That’s what drew me to this place, this part of the park.”

Chan said she enjoys the sense of wonder in first-time visitors to Yosemite. “There is this real joy to be in the mountains. I’m struck when people come on a star program, and they look up at the night sky on a clear night,” she said. “There are so many stars. It’s so different from the stars at night in the city.”

Getting caught in a blizzard near Tioga Pass is humbling, too. That’s what happened to us — in July! — so we sought shelter at the Tioga Pass Resort, warming ourselves by the fire and fueling up for our next hike with plates of eggs, bacon and potatoes.