Autumn Sunrise, Piute Crags. Sierra Nevada, California. October 2, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
Autumn morning light on Piute Crags, reflected in the shoreline waters of a Sierra Nevada lake.
I made a lot of photographs during the past few months, traveling to the Sierra and a number of other places frequently. I often go through the photographs from the most recent shoot and post images soon after, but when I’m on to the next adventure fairly quickly I don’t always have time to get to everything in one batch before I shoot the next one. Inevitably, some images get “left behind.” Things have slowed down just a bit, and now I’m finding time to go back through some of that earlier work and pull out a few more images that I like. This is one of them.
Folks who photograph in the eastern Sierra will likely recognize this location. The long, rugged ridge of Piute Crags is striking, especially in the morning light, more so in the fall when the aspens change color, and double-especially on such a fall morning when clouds are moving in and out of the scene. I’m not going to say much more about the location beyond telling a little story. As I made this photograph there were perhaps 50 photographers set up more or less tripod-to-tripod a ways away shooting the same general subject from the place where almost everyone shoots. Their location is, indeed, a beautiful spot and I’ve shot there myself. (Heck, I shot there later on this same trip, though at a time of day when the workshops had gone elsewhere.) But there is more than one way to photograph a scene, and with a bit of thought and some wandering around it is usually possible to find a perspective that isn’t quite the same as the familiar one.
(If you know where I stood, please resist the temptation to say too much. This precise spot could not withstand the stress of dozens of photographers. Thanks!)
This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.
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Great image. The color, angel and composition of the photo are excellent. Thanks for the commentary, I really enjoyed it!
That is great advice Dan. You really don’t have to go far to find stuff to photograph at all. And I have heard it said that doing photography is like playing a musical instrument. You get get better when you practice. Now I just need to get out and do it!
Thanks, Cynthia. By the way, when you can’t get away to the Sierra… get away to something closer! Sometimes I enjoy walking out the front door of my home and shooting street within walking distance, and there are a ton of subjects not far from here that people travel from all over the world to see! :-)
Dan
Gorgeous beautiful shot Dan! And your making me jealous with all your photographic adventures. I am always seem to be stuck behind a desk and can never seem to get away. I haven’t been out with my camera in at least 5 months! Yikes. I am going to Bishop during Thanksgiving week for some photography though and hoping to make a good sunrise composition of Mount Tom from a location just outside of Bishop I have been working, if I can find just the right foreground I am looking for. We’ll see.