Morning Fog on Hot Creek, Mount Morrison. Owens Valley, California. October 9, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning fog rises above Hot Creek with the Sierra crest and Mount Morrison in the distance.

Finding this shot was just about as random a process as I can imagine. I was in the eastern Sierra to photograph aspens, and staying in Mammoth Lakes. I woke up very early without a really solid idea of where I’d shoot that morning, but started out heading for Rock Creek, where I had seen great aspen color a week earlier. As I left Mammoth and headed south on highway 395 I noticed low fog out in Owens Valley – Crowley Lake was pretty much covered and it appeared that there were bits of fog here and there above creeks and springs in the valley. This started to look more interesting to me than photographing aspens again, so I changed plans and headed out into Owens Valley, not knowing precisely where or what I might find but thinking it would involve fog and mist and early morning light.

I first stopped and photographed near a small pond along side the road. After shooting here a bit – mostly shots pointing back toward the Sierra crest – I recalled that I had been on some gravel roads a bit further north of my position, and I decided to do a bit of exploring. I turned off on the first road going north and followed it until I found another interesting road that dropped down into a small valley and crossed a creek on an old rickety bridge – I later figured out that this was Hot Creek. A cloud of mist and fog was lying above the path of the creek, periodically thickening and thinning, and because it was not deep the morning sun was still somewhat lighting the scene through the fog. At times the peaks of the Sierra crest would gradually resolve through the fog. I set up and waited and made some exposures as the fog rose and fell, increased and decreased.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email