Almost Always Blue

The Eastern Sierra holds a special place in my heart. When I was little, my parents took me and my siblings camping with my grandparents at Convict Lake. Although I was young, the events of this trip are engraved in my memory. One fond and core memory was fishing with my grandfather, dad, and brother. We hiked along the lake looking for the best fishing spot. One day, as I recall, each time I cast was followed by me reeling a fish to the shore.

Now, fast forward 20 plus years and I was ready to travel back to this enchanting area of California. Though this trip I wasn’t trying to catch fish, but epic landscapes. Ever since I picked up photography, autumn has turned into my favorite time of the year. There’s something exhilarating about trying to capture the turning of the leaves. It takes planning, coordinating, and a little bit of luck. So my wife and I packed the car and took to the road, searching for oranges, yellows, and reds.

In the plan, I knew it was forecasted to be bright, blue skies for the one and a half days we would be visiting the Eastern Sierra. Landscape photographers dream for these types of conditions… not. At least not for me. I prefer clouds filling the sky with some character, forcing the sun to shed sporadic and dapple lighting onto the scenery. Unfortunately, when I have the time to take my camera out, it is almost always blue skies. Because of this, I would need to focus on emphasizing contrast with the harsh light promised for the weekend.

Another part of the plan I had to consider was my gear. I recently swapped my gear and had been waiting for a lens that did not arrive before we left Reno. I have been gravitating recently toward the focal range of 36mm to 99mm, which is exactly what I would be missing. Instead, I brought a telephoto lens (often a lens a photographer would use for wildlife) and a wide-angle lens.

With the telephoto lens, I focused on looking at the landscape and honing in on a tight, intimate scene to target and tell a story. As for the wide-angle lens, I chose to use it conversely, opposite to the telephoto: going into a tight, condensed area and telling a story of a wider image.

Ultimately, I was pleased with the shots I was able to capture given the conditions promised and the gear I had brought. Some of the higher alpine lakes had their trees’ leaves fallen. This is all the more reason to come back to capture those images and chase better light for future autumn seasons in the Eastern Sierra.