Normally a popular spot for photographers, but in the middle of a cold winter, solitude can still be found for intrepid travelers seeking a few moments of clarity before darkness comes. Mono Lake – Eastern Sierra, California

Winter sunrise over Mt Morrison – Eastern Sierra, California

This is my first post for 2011 and I am at a loss of words, unsure what to write. Needing a break, I packed my gears and drove up the mountains last weekend. I should have been home with my family, but I didn’t want to sit around to discuss terminal illness and death and dying yet again.

It’s hard to explain how priceless these moments are to me: sitting in solitude waiting for first light to break through a dark and cold winter night. The process of waiting and anticipating for that first light restores my balance and increases my self-awareness of where I am and where I want to be. When those brilliant colors show up, nothing else matters. Even in the freezing temperatures, my heart glows with the sunrise light.

For those struggling to find your balance, I hope you find your own space that allows you to recharge and regain your focus. It does not have to be an exotic location. All one needs is a place to find inspiration in solitude. If you have not found yours, don’t rush, allow it to find you.

About this photo: The composition is not as clean as I would have liked. I found the left edge too distracting; but due to the ice and snow, my tripod location choices were limited. I used a 0.6 hard-edge GND filter and under-exposed by half a stop. I like to under expose my RAW file slightly to boost colors. As for interpretations, here are a few to think about: fire/ice, peaks/valleys, the end/the beginning, genesis, rebirth, reborn …

A two minutes twilight exposure of a frozen Twin Lakes – Eastern Sierra, California

I took this long exposure of Twin Lakes in the Mammoth Lakes basin after a wonderful dinner at the Tamarack Lodge’s Lakefront restaurant. If you are ever in Mammoth Lakes, I recommend an early dinner at the Lakefront restaurant before a sunset shoot.

I scouted around this area to see where and when I could set up my tripod. I walked near the base of Twin Falls on Lake Mary, but preferred the view from this side of Twin Lakes. From what I saw, this location should be good for sunrise also. I didn’t have enough energy for a sunrise shoot for this trip, but I’ll definitely return to this location next time.

Looking West on California State Route 120 from a few miles East of US-395

This is a hand-held shot taken about half an hour after the previous shot, Motion in Stillness. I had my circular polarizer filter to its maximum and my lens image-stabilizer on.

Early morning winter light on Mono Lake, California.

There I sat frozen on the edge of Mono Lake in the midst of gentle snowflakes tumbling down, enjoying every second of my winter solitude. I could time the gentle ripples on the lake surface; I could sense the clouds moving; I could feel the early winter morning light dancing on the distance mountain peaks; yet the stillness of the landscape was unmistakable. As out-of-this-world as those terrestrial sedimentary rock formations appeared, I felt so connected to my surroundings. Moments like these remind me that I am sharing my time with a living and breathing planet.

I arrived at the lake well before first light, hoping to catch a red sunrise sky on Mono Lake as I once witnessed, but this time, it wasn’t meant to be: dark clouds blanketed the eastern sky. Didn’t want to waste my effort of driving 400 miles and waking up before dawn to get to this location, I waited in the freezing cold for over two hours in to get this shot.

Some might say that Mono Lake has been done to death, but I love to capture scenes that I enjoy being apart of – regardless of how many times they’ve been photographed. It’s not the pursuit of uniqueness that I am after; it’s the desire of being in the moment that I seek.

Cloud movement on the Southern Sierra Nevada Mountain Range seen from the Owen Valley.

I rarely take out my camera in the middle of the day, but when I saw these clouds while traveling on US-395, I decided to pull over near Lone Pine to make this long exposure (150 seconds). The cloud movement were erratic as a storm was brewing further up North.

It looks as if this image was heavily manipulated in PS, but it is just a long exposure converted to black and white. I used both red channels (Image/Calculations/Red/Red) to really pop those clouds. I thought about doing a panorama, but with super long exposures, I knew that it would be impossible to line up those clouds in between frames.

If you are curious about how I shot this: 70-200mm lens @70mm, manual focus to infinity, circular polarizer filter, neutral density 110 filter, bulb exposure.

First Light over Mt. Laurel, Convict Lake – Eastern Sierra, California

This is a color version of a similar shot converted to black and white I posted last week. I guess this is a “normal” view of the scene as opposed to the surrealism feel from the previous high contrast b&w version. The two were shot about an hour apart.

Winter sunrise light over Mt Laurel, Convict Lake – Eastern Sierra, California

I meant to post this winter wonderland image of a nearly frozen Convict Lake sooner, but couldn’t find the time …

Last week, I went up the mountains after the recent snow storms. After a day on the slopes with my snowboard, I caught this beautiful sunrise with my camera the next morning. It was a cold morning, -5 F. With snow deep to my thighs, I couldn’t get around the lake perimeter as much as I would have liked. I dug myself a semi igloo, curled up in a ball and enjoyed the prissiness and the quietness of the mountains … deep blue skies of the high sierra, cold mountain air that left me breathless, pristine white powder, soft morning light on the snowy peaks… life is too darn busy, and these beautiful moments are too far and few in between … at times, I felt like I was sitting on the edge of darkness waiting for dawn light …

PS: For a different perspective, here is a nearly identical view that I shot a few years back.

Men’s curiosity searches past and future
And clings to that dimension …
For most of us, there is only the unattended
Moment, the moment in and out of time,
The distraction fit, lost in a shaft of sunlight …

The Dry Salvages — T.S. Eliot

Unusual title for this rather dramatic black and white landscape? As I mentioned in my previous post, I slept for a while on the edge of this lake waiting for the light to come through. Although I wrote that the light never came, I did catch a faint brush of light for a few seconds before darkness returned. After the light disappeared, I left my camera alone for the rest of the morning. I watched the clouds moved across the mountain range and contemplated about my relationship with time and my surroundings. Time is the binding force that keeps me from finding myself as I often get lost in my surroundings… past, future, the moment in and out of time, lost in a shaft of sunlight …

Laurel Mountain basking in the early morning light – Eastern Sierra, California

My regular viewers might recognize this view from Convict Lake in the California’s Eastern Sierra. If not, perhaps you’ve seen the Nature Valley Granola bar TV commercial where this location was used as a backdrop?

Last week, a good friend told me that the snow on the slopes of Mammoth Mountain were still good. Needing a short break, I packed my gears and headed to the hills.

On Saturday morning, I spent over two hours on the lake, waiting for the light to break through, but it never did. I lay on a large boulder and dozed off for a while … birds chipping in the woods, creek water running in the distance, clouds rolling by slowly … it was easy to sleep out there on the lake side.

On Sunday morning, I missed the sunrise by a good half an hour and only managed to get a few decent shots of the mountain face glowing in the morning light. The water was incredibly still, providing crystal clear reflections. I wished that I had gotten out there sooner.