Twilight Clouds, Sierra Crest. Yosemite National Park, California. July 15, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
Sierra Wave cloud above the Sierra Crest at dusk, Yosemite National Park
On an evening of suddenly stunning clouds, this was just about my final photograph. The event was the sort that I have learned to sometimes anticipate when the conditions are just right in the Sierra. Much earlier in the day I had noticed the edge of a high deck of clouds to the northeast, lined up very close to the crest. Such clouds can be examples of the Sierra Wave, a kind of line of clouds that forms above and along the crest, often producing amazing skies.
As I started out photographing in the meadow and worked my way toward its far end, I watched the double-deck wave cloud for developing form and color. Eventually it started to look like there was going to be the potential for a special show, so I headed back to the camera position of this photograph, where I expected to have a view that including the peaks of the Sierra crest, the foreground meadow, and the clouds themselves. Before long the sunset light lit the clouds in extremely intense colors. I continued photographing as the sun dropped below the horizon and the colors gradually became more subtle, as seen in this post-sunset photograph.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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