“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.
“Gruinard Beach” — Surf rolls in at Gruinard Beach, Scotland.
We passed this large beach on our way from Ullapool to Applecross, Scotland this past May. We were on a long day trip loop drive out there. I don’t think I really had a good idea of what we’d see or what kinds of country we would pass through, and I was surprised by the many places where our route took us along the ocean coast. This beautiful beach seems to be shallow, with the tides uncovering a wide swath of sand. And, as is so common in this part of Scotland, we could see both the ocean waters and distant high peaks.
. “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?
