I made this photograph on a rather remarkable Sierra evening. Late the previous day it had started to rain. Contrary to my expectations and experience, this turned out to not be just another afternoon shower — it absolutely poured, confining us to tents for hours and restricting our movements well into the next day. Finally the rain began to let up and we got out, though everything remained gray. It wasn’t until the second evening, right at sunset, that the clouds finally broke enough to let in some light. But what light it was — perhaps a reward for our forbearance during the storm!
This photograph has been sitting in the archives for quite some time. I have looked at it in periodically and puzzled over how to handle it. The challenge was that the sky color was bright and extremely intense, so I my exposure left the foreground in deep shadow. This week I came back to it and figured out how to process it. Part of the challenge was technical, but it was also aesthetic — a question of how bright to make things and still retain the sense of oncoming twilight.
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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.
Blog | About | Instagram | Flickr | Facebook | Threads | Post | Email
Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.
Scroll down to share comments or questions. (Click post title first if viewing on the home page.)
All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.
