“Evening Clouds, Mono Lake” — Evening clouds from the Sierra Nevada drift over Mono Lake.
Late in the afternoon I was photographing autumn aspen trees in a deep valley along the eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada. Not long after I arrived there developing clouds began to block the light that best shows the intense colors of the trees. I continued working and found ways to photograph effectively in the soft light, but I was a bit disappointed by the cloud cover. And then it occurred to me that the cloud line would end as they dissipated out over Mono Lake.
“Tufa at Dawn” — A shoreline tufa in light reflected by sunrise clouds above Mono Lake.
There is a lot to see and photographer during sunrise at Mono Lake. I was there again in late August, driving down from my Sierra campsite well before the first light. The entire process of sunrise offers photographic possibilities, from the first faint eastern light to the eventual direct sunlight on the landscape as early morning colors begin to fade. Over that entire period I worked quickly, moving from subject to subject as the light and conditions changed — focusing on everything from the sky and clouds to the tufa formations, the water, the face of the Sierra Nevada and even some birds.
“One Departs, One Remains” — A juvenile osprey leaves the nest while its sibling remains.
This is a bit of a serendipitous photograph. I had been photographing landscape subjects since before dawn, but the early light had now dissipated. I figured I was done for the morning, so I shouldered my gear and started ambling in a direction that would take me back to my vehicle. Along the way I saw a little side path marked “dead end” that led toward the water, so I thought I’d take a look. A few feet later I was through some brush and on a rocky beach. A woman was there photographing, and she pointed out two juvenile ospreys at a nest atop a rocky formation just offshore.
“Lake, Forest, and Ridges” — Ellery Lake and surrounding peaks, Sierra Nevada.
I previously shared another photograph made from this same vantage point. That photograph is more tightly cropped and does not include sky. By using a somewhat shorter focal length I was able to include a bit more of the forest at lower left and the rising ridge at the right, though these choices required me to include the sky in the frame.
Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
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