Banzai To The Bend

I have always marveled at a beautiful sunrise and cherish every minute that I witness one. After shooting very diligently for the past two years, chasing the National Weather Service charts and weather radar as well as a plethora of scouting phone apps I have come to understand one thing, the painful and joyous definition of the word "Fleeting". So many factors are involved for the elements to provide the right conditions for a truly colorful and interesting cloud filled sky. The angle of the sun and elevation of the clouds, the amount of precipitation in the atmosphere the congestion at the horizon at the moment the sun breaches it, all play a role as in a symphony which provides one with the light that one hopes ensues. Five minutes after the predetermined sunrise time the sky finally started to glow with beautiful pinks and purples in wispy cloud formations which lit up along the freshly snow covered peaks of the Sierra Nevada mountain range just above the town of Big Pine. The Bishop area is the hometown and stomping grounds of famous landscape photographer Galen Rowell. As I watched the sky begin to glow I had an odd sense of connection with his photography which has inspired many of my own photos. Now that this has become my local area of interest I find it truly inspiring to stop in and view his works at the "Mountain Light" Gallery in the quaint little town of Bishop. Today on this fine morning all of these factors became abundantly clear as William McIntosh and I stood here, breath held and saying our prayers as the clock ticked away, Bill had called me last night at 7:45pm wondering if I was up for another banzai run to a selected location to see if we could once again witness the miracle that is a sunrise. The schedule would call for a 1:45am wake up time, to be on the road for the 4 hour drive up Highway 395 to Owens Valley. After scouting several dirt roads in Bill's 4x4 prius, Haha we found the spot where the river bends around in the correct direction to line up with the mountain range behind. We shot for the sparse 10 minutes of colorful skies then fired up Bill's new drone for some arials and then we were on our way back home. Hence the definition "Banzai" :) The temperature was slightly chilly at just over 30 degrees but I was fairly well prepared wearing a pair of Under armor long johns and fleeced lined jeans with the same under armor top, a fleece sweater, an Elements wool lined jacket and a North face wind shell to top off my upper torso. My mistake was not donning my wool socks and hiking boots when we left the car so I did have some numb toes throughout the shoot. This is shot just at the edge of a 15 foot drop straight down into the river and I tried to get as much of the river into the shot and still get an adequate amount of sky above the mountains. During the 10 magic minutes I switch lenses 4 times and ended up with 6 nice compositions. When I returned home I realized that I goofed on this shot when I read the Metadata and noticed that I was shooting at the longer end of the lens, if I had shot at 11mm it would of allowed me to include more of the Owens river in the lower portion of the frame. This shot consists of a 8 image panorama bracketed 1 f-stop apart. Hope you like it, even though I goofed it up. :) If you have any questions about this photo or about photography in general, I will do my best to help, just post a comment or send me a Flickr mail and I will respond as quickly as possible. Thanks for taking the time to take a look at my photos, and as always, your views, comments, faves, and support are greatly appreciated!! Have a great week ahead everybody!! :) Please do me a favor and follow me on my other social sites found below: 500px | Facebook | Flickr | Google | Instagram | Youtube Happy New Year's to you all, may it be safe, healthy, joyous and a prosperous one. :)

source https://www.flickr.com/photo.gne?id=31186638613