Sometimes when conditions don’t look promising where I am I make some guesses, rely on hunches, consider past experience, and head off in a different direction at the last minute. On this evening I was up near the crest of the Eastern Sierra, hoping for a break in the clouds and some interesting light. But it did not look like that was going to happen, so I jumped in my vehicle and headed down to the East Side and looked for long views that might include the landscape and what I hoped would be interesting end-of-day light.
Arriving there, not a lot was happening. The crest was socked in by clouds that obscured the peaks and blocked the light from the west. Where I was it was fairly gray. But I know that it isn’t unusual for some clearing to occur near sunset — and if it happens colorful light can suffuse the landscape. I had to wait until nearly the last minute, but the light finally arrived. Gaps appeared in the clouds and beams of colorful light began to stretch across the scene. In this photograph the clouds are above desert mountains and the Mono Lake Basin.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him.
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