“Tufa, Dawn” — Mono Lake tufa formations under cloudy sunrise sky.
My most common way to approach Mono Lake photographically is to focus on the immense scale of the pace rather than on closer elements of the landscape. I like to set tufa towers against distant desert hills under the wide sky, or perhaps place them in front of the distant eastern face of the Sierra Nevada stretching away to the north. Initially I was doing something like that here, focusing on those offshore towers and using somewhat short focal lengths to take in the wider scene. But then I thought to include a bit of this near tower at the right side of the frame.
“Tuolumne River, Dusk” — Dusk light on the Tuolumne River and Meadow, Lembert Dome, and the Sierra crest.
Photographing in the morning and evening twilight can be a bit of a crapshoot. The light can be soft yet intensely colorful… or it can simply fade away to gray. Familiarity with the patterns of clouds and light can improve the odds, but you still have to head out there and take advantage of whatever happens. That was my plan on this late-August evening when thin clouds stretched across the sky, presenting the possibility of colorful light.
. “Lake, Towers, Distant Mountains” — Mono Lake tufa towers silhouetted against distant desert mountains in morning light.
I arrived here well before sunrise, thinking that clouds overhead and clear sky on the eastern horizon might produce a colorful sunrise. It did! So I made monochrome photographs! OK, I do have some color photographs of the early morning color, too, but I really did come back with as many monochrome photographs as color photos. Maybe MONO Lake calls for MONOchrome images?
“Subalpine Meadow, Evening Light” — A ridge rises above a subalpine meadow and forest, Yosemite.
This is another “quiet” photograph — no brilliant colors, not really an iconic location. It simply captures, I hope, something of the feeling of being in the High Sierra as the day winds down, the light warms as sunset approaches, and begin to stretch across the landscape. It is a beautiful time of day — everything slows down, it gets quieter as people go to camp for dinner.
Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
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