“Tufa, Sky, and Water” — An island of tufa formations under early morning sky, Mono Lake.
I think of this photograph, in part, as a study in tones. I had been photographing a brilliant sunrise in color, but as the first wild sunrise colors diminished I began to think about monochrome. (Of course, my camera being digital, I was capturing color images, though monochrome results were in my mind.) The brightest areas of the clouds were extremely bright, while the facing side of the tufa formations, being backlit, were very close to black. My plan was to control the bright areas in the exposure and then lift the shadows in post, just enough to hint at details on the tufa.
“Early Light, Mono Craters” — First morning sunlight on the slopes of Mono Craters.
Mono Basin is a fine place to contemplate geology and immense spans of time. Mono Lake itself is an ancient body of water, and one that has not always looked like it does today. The lake is probably 3/4 of a million years old, and its ancestor lake was, at times, much deeper and larger than it is today. At times its waters rose high enough to overcome its current landlocked state and drain either north or south. (To really bend your mind, its waters may have drained to ancient Lake Manly in Death Valley.) Today, as large as the lake is, it is greatly diminished in size and depth by comparison.
“Dawn, Mono Lake” — Mono Lake tufas under a colorful pre-sunrise sky.
In the right conditions, a Mono Lake sunrise can be spectacular. To some extent it is up to the clouds. Clouds produce the most colorful sunrises, of course, but if they are too thick or in the wrong place they can also “turn out the lights.” The ideal, I think, is for it to be clear on the eastern horizon, with scattered clouds closer to the lake. Almost anything goes in the west — some clouds there to catch the light can be good, but clear skies and the earth shadow or even dark and dramatic clouds can work.
“Lake, Tufa, and Morning Clouds” — Mono Lake tufa towers silhouetted against morning sky and distant mountains.
With this post, I am doing something unusual for me — I’m sharing monochrome and color versions of the same photograph. By that I mean literally the same file, though interpreted differently. (The monochrome version was posted here recently.) Usually I settle on either color or monochrome, but in this case I feel like both have something (different) to offer.
Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
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