First Light, Lake and Peaks. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
First morning light on Sierra Nevada peaks is reflected in the waters of an alpine lake.
This view, or something very close to it, was our constant companion during our weeklong stay at a basecamp in this 11,000′ Eastern Sierra valley. We camped very close to this lake — not quite as close as the photo, for those who keep track of such things. It more or less wrapped around us, with a very narrow outlet channel on one side of our camp and a larger bay on the other. The view of the lake and the peaks beyond was generally the first thing we saw in the morning and the last thing we saw at night.
Perhaps ironically, since this camera position was mere steps from my tent, I didn’t think to photograph it with the water in the foreground until several days after we arrived. The dawn light here was a bit tricky. Because surrounding peaks were between these mountains and the sunrise, soon after the first light touched the peaks as seen here the light began to lose it sunrise color. I began photographing before this light arrived, in the soft pre-dawn light, and then composed the scene to include the reflected color in the foreground water.
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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