"Last Kiss of Light"

[maverick]

After numerous visits to beautiful Dusy Basin, mother nature has allowed me to capture her in a piece, that not only represents the Palisades Ridgeline in all its glory, it also truly represents the essence of what the Sierra means to me. Rarely does one get the chance or opportunity, to capture both of these representations in one magnificent piece.

After scouting for a pond in the basin for a couple of hours earlier that day, which gave me the right angles and reflections of Agassiz, Winchell, Thunderbolt, North Palisade, and Isosceles Peaks, discovered a smaller pond, west of Lake 11388, which I returned to, after one of the many storms that hit us. After setting up and waiting, had just about given up on any light being able to penetrate the dense cloud cover from the storm that had just dropped a large amount hail on us, not less than an hour ago.
The "Kiss" or Alpenglow, was just the right amount, it created balance, instead of being overpowering, Isosceles Peak towering to the right, is draped in its evening shadow, it adds enough shadow, to counter-balance the brightness of the pond in the foreground. The rocks on the other side of this small pond, still had enough light to give off some its warm, red-rusty colors, which accentuated the cold blue shadows draping the basin in the evening hour.
Click on the piece, to get a larger view.

Have two large private shows coming up in October, this piece will be very well received by my investors, who will not only appreciate my vision, but also appreciate my message/mission, of protecting our natural resources, like "Our" national parks and forests.

Thanks for looking!

If you are interested in any of art work or have any questions, please contact me at: wildernessapertures@gmail.com

[The Other Tom]

Very nice, Mav

[SSSdave]

I've have some nice 35mm Kodachromes during the 90s from behind that pond while being shut out during each subsequent Dusy trip with MF and LF cameras despite base camping several days each time. So it goes, strenuous effort with little reward haha. Note none of my huge body of old 35mm SLR work is on my website because that is all small image material. On wet years like 2017 the shallow pond is the best reflection location because as your image shows, is a functional size to reflect the background crest. However after average precipitation winters it tends to be much smaller, unable to get far enough back from to view all those peaks. Last year early September, an average year it was bone dry as was certainly the case more so during the 4 recent drought years.

There are other less ideal pools in that zone where a reflection is also possible. For instance the marquee image on the Isosceles Peak page at summitpost I shot in 1984. But last year that pond was also nearly dry.

From Agassiz to Thunderbolt can be seen a shadow line due to Black Divide to the west. In fact Isosceles that has lower vertical and only rises higher due to being closer, is totally in sunset by that late time of day at that time of year. Earlier than late August the sun is blocked by slopes bounding the north side of the basin. There is an optimal date when the sun is far enough south of that blockage while being at the north end low point of Black Divide. While warm light is still illuminating most of Isosceles, the sun is never low enough in the sky to really render the peaks much more than orange though one will see Photoshop manipulated images where they grossly rotate hue to red then jack saturation even some like Rudolph's glowing red nose.

To experience exceptional light requires a cloud deck sun underlit condition on a clear day that magnifies warm light. That tends to be not too uncommon about Sierra Crest areas especially when thunderstorm remnants from a monsoon flow from the east are dissipating.

[oldhikerQ]

Nice image Mav. I like the depth of field that you were able to incorporate in the photo. The rocks visible under the water in the foreground have a special appeal to me. Not sure why, but many of my favorite images include that detail.
Thanks for sharing.

[maverick]

Thanks Tom.

Dave,
There is another small lake, that has exceptional views of the ridge, but on this trip, it never received the quality of light to do justice.

OldhikerQ,
Finding a pond/small lake as a foreground, that is clear and shallow enough to be able to see the rocks at the bottom, is something high on my list when scouting locations during the day. Thanks.

[SSSdave]

To see under water rocks without using a polarizer. Notice the only areas where the reflection does not dominate are the deep blue sky areas. Not only because it is darker but also water attenuates blue wavelengths much more leaving mostly just the bottom features.


http://www.davidsenesac.com/2016_Trip_C ... html#sep12

Other situations where foreground underwater rocks show is with a dark thundestorm in the sky that is part of a reflection, background shadows, or dark forest like the below:



That is on this page:

http://www.davidsenesac.com/2017_Trip_C ... .html#sep2

Notice how forest band areas below the light blue sky horizon show bottom features more clearly and more saturated than anywhere else in this small lake while that above is a mix of the light blue sky and shallow underwater rocks. Likewise below the forest band is again more a combination of the landscape above the shore edge including that rock outcrop.