Mount Shasta

• Thomas a Kempis.

| insta | blog |

As a landscape photographer, I like the idea of planning for a perfect landscape image. In fact, photo pills and the photographer’s ephemeris are the only two paid apps on my phone. Unfortunately, as a travel photographer, I rarely get to plan for the perfect landscape image. It is usually a lot of adjusting to the conditions. But so far, I have been unusually successful with moonrises and moonsets in my photography.

I saw this barn on our first trip to Mt Shasta on our way out of town. On our second visit, I couldn’t find the location. By our third visit, I had found the site and was ready, only to watch helplessly as a freak winter storm completely conceal the mountain for the entire time we were there. The fourth visit turned out to be the lucky one, I was right there at sunset, and it went perfectly except for the presence of any clouds, but the rising moon more than made up for it. The moon was rising a bit to the left of the ideal composition, so I made this shot into a stitched panorama of three shots while keeping the focal length at the long end of my 24-70. I liked how this image turned out especially the light on the mountain and the barn and the rising moon's surprise presence.

• Rumi.

| facebook | 500px | ferpectshotz |

I have been to Mt Shasta about 4 or 5 times now and this location has been one that eluded me the most. I first saw this location on our very first trip as we headed north and made a mental note to return when we had more time. So we returned next year but we had a problem, I completely forgot which road I took the shot from and we had no luck finding the spot even after driving around for close to 2 hours. I returned home with a mission and scoured the roads around Mt Shasta on google street view until I finally found the location. I marked the location on my maps and we returned in early spring to the spot 3rd time. Only a winter storm hit the exact same day we arrived and Mt Shasta stayed hidden by clouds the whole week we were there.

So while we were coming back from our summer road trip to Oregon, we planned it so that we will be by the barn just before sunset. This was the shot I made at the barn with the beautiful Mt Shasta behind lit up by beautiful golden sunset light. I would have preferred some clouds to add some drama but I waited for 4 years I can do a bit more.

• Leo Tolstoy.

| facebook | 500px | ferpectshotz |

So on the last day of our summer road trip, we planned to get to the beautiful little town of Dunsmuir by evening. I had an alternative reason for this timing, Mt Shasta. Since my first visit to Mt Shasta some 4 years ago, I have been fascinated by the southernmost peak of the Cascade Range and the nearby small towns.

We came across this mount and the barn as we were done with the shoot and heading back to the hotel. The sun has already set but there was still the warm glow left in the sky. Plus the moon had risen to complement the mountain and the spectacular sky. Thankfully the road was pretty empty so I could jump out and set up my shot before the light faded.