Mt Whitney

The first shooting day of the Eastern Sierra Workshop was spent in the Lone Pine area. The most notable feature in this area is Mt. Whitney. At 14,505 feet it is the tallest peak in the lower 48 states. This first image is shot from the arch in the Alabama Hills. The Alabama Hills is an amazing area of rocky formations in the Owens Valley below Mt. Whitney. Hollywood has loved this location over the years having made 400 plus movie and TV programs. Mt. Whitney is featured thru the arch with Alpenglow illuminating it's face.



The wind really picked up as the day wore on. Even though it was very bright I wanted to blur some of the clouds streaming by. The Singh-Ray Vari ND is perfect for this allowing me to extend my shutter speed up to 20 or 30 seconds. It's quite challenging holding back that much light since you have to compose the image before cranking down the neutral density as the image in the viewfinder goes black. The trees in the foreground are also being affected by the strong winds and have gone blurry as well.



As the day progressed and the heat rose to 100 we made an escape to Whitney Portal. Whitney Portal is the trail head for the climb to Mt. Whitney's summit. Water is rapidly running down the mountain here and capturing it requires isolation. The previous and following images show the power and force of the water yet it's simple elegance.



I really enjoy the simplicity and elegance of this image.



The day ended with a spectacular sunset. We stopped on the road down from Whitney Portal to photograph the sunset. I shot a couple of HDR sequences but without Photomatics I'm not able to process them. But this image give the feeling of being there with us.

Roger