The Last Light. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
A final and unexpected bit of sunset color over the Sierra Nevada crest at Tuolumne Meadows
I could probably write a chapter on topics related to this photograph and the circumstances of making it. But I promise to keep this to a couple of paragraphs… at least for now. Earlier on this day I thought that I might make an evening visit to this high point in the Tuolumne Meadows area. As I ascended the conditions were far from promising — thunderstorms and light rain were falling to the east and the cloud shield extended far enough west to cut off the light. It was one of those occasions when I was ready to simply enjoy being in the place and perhaps not bother to photograph. There was one other photographer in this location and since there wasn’t much to photograph we spend some time in casual conversation, largely about the less than exciting light. There was a lighter area far to the west, but it appeared to be too far north of the setting sun to send much light our direction.
As we talked I mentioned a specific condition that can quickly (and often quite briefly) turn very boring light into something miraculous. If the cloud shield ends far to the west (or in the east at sunrise) there may be a narrow gap between the edge of the clouds and the horizon. If so, as the sun nears the horizon there can be a short burst of intensely colorful light. Any time I’m in a situation like the one on this evening, I look for signs of that horizon light… and if they are present I stay. That’s what I did on this evening, and I set up my camera with a lens selected for my guess at what the scene might do. With 5-10 minutes to go before sunset the sky was still murky and gray, and it appeared that my patience might not be rewarded. Then I noticed some pink in clouds far to the north. In a matter of second a soft reddish glow appeared at the summit of the large granite dome, and almost instantly the light came up on the peaks as a beam passed across the forest in the foreground. For the next 3-5 minutes the entire scene was a miracle of colorful light… until the sun dropped below the horizon and the red was gone.
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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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That is a lesson that I finally learned some years back. I was photographing along the Pacific Ocean coast below San Francisco in winter. It was a very grim, gray, foggy evening with overcast above the fog — your basic murky conditions.
A few minutes before sunset the sun dropped into a clearing below the far edge of the clouds and the high overcast thinned. It was like what happens in a theatre when the lights on the stage behind the scrim are brought up. The murky atmosphere became transparent, and beyond it emerged a colorful sky full of magnificent clouds.
You may wait for this 100 times and only have it happen on 10 of them, but those 10 make it all worthwhile!
Hi Dan,
It’s amazing how many times I’ve gone out in what was the muddiest, most overcast sky, only to witness a transformation into the most stunning light.
Blake