“Sierra Meadow and Peak” — Early light strikes a Sierra Nevada crest peak above a shadowed subalpine valley.
I was up and out of camp in the dark on this late-August morning. My plan was to work my way up Tioga Pass Road toward the pass, where I had a few subjects in mind along the way. After that I would head over the pass and out of the park to explore some areas just east of the Sierra crest. After going to the end of this valley to make a few photographs of alpine terrain, I headed back down this way, to pausing at a few places I had noted on the way up.
“Morning Trees, Shadows” Trees in morning light as mountain shadows recede across a meadow.
I made this photograph on the final morning of my late-August visit to the Tuolumne Meadows area of Yosemite. Since I had until noon to vacate my campsite, I figured I would do some early morning photography before breaking camp. I had a particular sunrise photograph in mind, and after completing that I looked around with no particular agenda and decided to head up to the meadows around Tioga Pass.
“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.
“Tuolumne Sunset” — Looking westward at sunset sky, Tuolumne Meadows.
On this late-August evening I headed to a spot along the Tuolumne River that I had scouted earlier that afternoon. I’ve previously photographed from this location at sunset, so I had a general idea of what I would be working with. The photograph I had in mind was not this one — it fact, the planned photograph had me pointing the camera in exactly the opposite direction, toward the Sierra Nevada crest.