A few clouds drifted east from the Sierra crest and held together long enough to occupy the sky above Mono Lake at sunset. The long shadow of the Sierra stretched across the foreground shoreline and tufa formations, and in the distance the earth’s shadow is visible above basin and range mountains.
Continue reading Mono Lake, Earth Shadow, Clouds
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.
Continue reading Tufa at Dawn
My most common way to approach Mono Lake photographically is to focus on the immense scale of the pace rather than on closer elements of the landscape. I like to set tufa towers against distant desert hills under the wide sky, or perhaps place them in front of the distant eastern face of the Sierra Nevada stretching away to the north. Initially I was doing something like that here, focusing on those offshore towers and using somewhat short focal lengths to take in the wider scene. But then I thought to include a bit of this near tower at the right side of the frame.
Continue reading Tufa, Dawn
It was a quiet moment at the Pacific Ocean shoreline on the upper Big Sur coast. It would not last, of course, as the area is overrun by visitors during the warmer months. I go very early in the morning to beat the crowds, and I had a couple of good hours before the Monterey and Carmel tourists finished breakfast and drove down the coast. (If you want to see the Big Sur coast in relative solitude, try a winter weekday morning.)
Continue reading Shoreline Rocks, Offshore Islands