Tag Archives: towers

Lake, Towers, Distant Mountains

Lake, Towers, Distant Mountains
. “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?

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Tufa, Stormy Sky

Tufa, Stormy Sky
“Tufa, Stormy Sky” — Tufa formation in pre-sunrise light, backed by dark clouds above the Sierra Nevada.

The light on this scene was a surprise. I had left my campsite high in the Sierra Nevada while it was still dark, arriving at the shore of Mono Lake well before sunrise. For a moment I was the only person there before others began arriving. There were lot of clouds — which can be a blessing or a curse for sunrise photography, depending on where they are and whether there are breaks in the right directions. I expected to arrive at this formation in fairly dismal light, then go look for compositions and set up for sunrise.

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Sandstone Towers

Sandstone Towers
“Sandstone Towers” — Red rock sandstone towers, Arches National Park.

Remembering the October day when I made this photograph, I recall that there were some thunderstorms around the area and that we had mixed light. These were those wonderful conditions where it might rain one moment and the next there might be brilliant sunshine, always with the possibility of a dramatic sky. It appears that I made this exposure during one of those sunny breaks. (Looking at other original exposures in the sequence, not all of them had this light.)

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Two Towers

Two Towers
“Two Towers” — Two backlit sandstone towers, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

Stopping to photograph these formations was almost an afterthought. We had been far down a remote road in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument photographing even more obscure locations, and we were headed back towards Escalante. Not being familiar with this area back then, I was surprised when we stopped here along the way, but then this little red rock garden began to attract me.

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