Morning Virga, Mono Lake. Mono Lake, California. July 25, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Isolated Mono Lake tufa towers stand in the morning light below clouds dropping morning virga.

Early in the morning, Mono Lake is often a very still and quiet place and the sense of empty space and the scale of the landscape are palpable. Down close to the water the only sound comes from the gulls and the water is often nearly glass-smooth. (For a while – later in the day the wind often rises and the things become more agitated.)

I had spent an hour or more photographing at the shoreline in and around tufa towers and had finished for the morning. I had packed everything up and loaded the car and was actually starting to drive away when I saw this scene composed almost entirely of blue tones, with the clouds dropping virga (rain that doesn’t reach the ground) above the distant mountains, and a few isolated tufas offshore.

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.

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