Autumn Storm Clouds at Dawn – Basin Mountain and Mount Humphreys. Sierra Nevada, California. October 3, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
Early morning light above the Buttermilks illumunates Basin Mountain and Mount Humphreys under the clouds of an early autumn storm over the Sierra Nevada crest.
This is another of several exposures I made on this beautiful early October morning when I decided to abandon my plans to be at North Lake for dawn after spotting these astonishing clouds over the eastern Sierra as I drove through the Buttermilks on my way up into the Bishop Creek drainage. I drove out on gravel roads into the high desert until I found what looked like an interesting juxtaposition of near hills, mountains beyond, the peaks of the Sierra in the distance, and the clouds that were dropping light snow up higher in the range above.
Needless to say, the light and the cloud forms were constantly changing as I watched this scene. I waited until the closer rocky hills began to pick up a bit of a glow from the sun low in the eastern sky, and then I made a number of exposures as the sun struck lower on the mountains and as the patterns of light and shadow from racing clouds moved across the peaks.
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Thank you for the very detailed reply! This is one thing that always interests me, and is usually not talked about nearly as frequently as what gear was used. The logistics of getting to nice places can be tough, and can also get expensive sometimes. Thanks again for the response (and I will have to keep the Four Jeffrey Campground in mind when I go to Bishop!)
Rich
This is a beautiful photo. I was wondering what your process is for getting out and taking photos. I think you are in the Bay Area, so for a location like this do you usually get up really early, or do you typically make weekend trips to different locations? Also, how do you find new locations to shoot?
Thanks!
Rich
Rich, thanks for the comment and for your kind words about the photograph.
About my work habits… or perhaps I should write driving habits… when I shoot locations on the east side of the Sierra I usually stay over there for at least one night and often longer. While I have occasionally done one-day out and back trips over the crest, those are very difficult and generally work best when I know pretty much exactly what and where I want to shoot – a day that starts at perhaps 3:00 a.m., includes over 600 miles of driving AND photography (and usually a mid-afternoon nap!), and end as late as midnight or 1:00 a.m. isn’t conducive to wandering about exploring.
I backpack a lot, so a certain percentage of my Sierra photography is done on pack trips. These can be a short as one night or as long as a week to even two weeks. Other stuff is done via car travel, and that was the case for the photograph you commented on. I most often camp – in a pretty basic way – when I photograph. Since I’m usually out and about very early and then again in the evening, camp generally is nothing more than a place to sleep. On this trip I car-camped at the Four Jeffrey Campground near the junction of the roads to South Lake and North/Sabrina Lakes.
On this particular trip I left in the mid-afternoon on a Friday to drive to the Bishop Creek area. Because of the time of year I couldn’t be certain about the weather, so I decided I didn’t want to be looking for a campsite… at night… in rain or snow… So I gave in and got a motel room in Bishop for the first night.
I am usually up very early – usually before the first real light. My goal is to be in position where I’ll shoot well before the “good light” arrives.
As for finding new locations, I suppose there is no one answer to this. Some responses include:
Finally, I’m actually a big believer in going back to the same place many times. While seeing brand new places is exciting and part of what I enjoy, I feel that a lot of my best photography is done in locations that I’ve gotten to know very well. I understand them more thoroughly, have perhaps seen them in more than one season, and have had time to look beyond the obvious.
Take care,
Dan