Owens Valley

• Tertullian.

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As you embark on the drive north on Rt 395 one f the first towns that appear is the Lovely little town of Lone Pine, CA. The problem with such an early appearance is that it often ends up being a quick pit stop to us as we drive on towards our final destination. So, while its closer to us than almost all other Eastern California destinations we have spent precious little time exploring Lone Pine.

Now that doesn’t mean that the little town of Lone Pine is short of spectacular scenery. The town itself is a wonderful example of a classic western outpost and provides the closest access to climbers hoping bag the tallest peak in the Contiguous United States, Mt Whitney. But one of the most stunning scenery is actually before you reach the sheer granite walls of the Sierras, there is a patch of otherworldly rock formations known as Alabama Hills. As far as I know, they are part of the same geological formations that constitute the Sierras. The difference in shape and pattern of these granite peaks is accounted to different patterns of erosion rather than their means of creations. There are tons of little dirt roads to explore and well over a dozen natural arches hidden between the potato-shaped rocks. Plus, you will recognize many of the rocks if you have ever watched any of the iconic movies that were shot here.

This particular shot was taken at the most famous arch in the Alabama Hills area, the Mobius Arch. We were there during sunrise and after taking the customary panorama shot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, I went with a tight crop through the arch and bought the almost vertical face of Mt. Whitney a bit closer. The fantastic golden light was just a bonus.

• Benjamin Disraeli.

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Today's shot is of the Sierra Nevada mountain range near Lone Pine, CA taken during sunrise. We were originally here to shoot the stunning Mobius arch at the Alabama Hills location and after shooting the arch. We were all packing our gear as the morning glow has been replaced with stronger light. I noticed that the entire Sierra Nevada range was perfectly lit up but the smaller hills in the foreground where still in shadows providing a nice contrast.

I was initially planning to do a traditional landscape shot but was not satisfied by how it turned up with the wider angle of view. So I decided to create a pano stitch shot with a more tele focal length. This is how it turned out, I hope everyone enjoys the shot. I am so glad I got to see this happen. Thanks again for visiting..

• William Wordsworth.

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Mobius arch at Alabama hills area near Lone Pine, California. I have been to this location multiple times but my attention was always drawn to the larger than life presence of Mt Whitney. Its only quite recently that I was aware of this stunning arch and the view through it. So the last day of our tip to Big Pine while we were coming back we started well before sunrise and hiked through the small hiking path to reach this stunning location.

We had the company of two other photographers and it was fun to realize that we were all from the same neighborhood in LA. We waited for the sun to light up the mountains and then shot this beautiful rock formation. It’s a really easy location to get to and an absolutely must visit if you are ever in the Eastern Sierras.

• Robert M. Pirsig.

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One of the best parts about being a landscape photographer is watching the morning light. Now I have to give this disclaimer that I am not a morning person at all. In fact, in my early years as a photographer, I altogether avoided sunrises. After I started visiting the eastern sierras, I seriously began to think about waking up early to catch the morning light. Due to the location of the sierras sunrise, your best bet for capturing the golden hour light. At sunset, the sun goes behind the Sierras' peaks pretty early, and the high dynamic range of the light could be challenging.

Sunrises on the Sierras are something else. You have soft, warm light lighting up the mountains peaks and due to the tall nature of the mountains, a bit more time than other places. One of my first experience shooting sunrise on the west coast was at the beautiful Alabama Hills near Lone Pine. You can see the warm tint in the light even when the whole mountain is lit up. I have noticed that the warm hue gets drastically reduced after a few seconds in most other locations. For this shot, I wanted to emphasize the stunning light that we witnessed that morning. I switched to my telephoto lens to compress the distance between the rocks in the foreground and the mountain peaks in the background.

I didn’t use a wide-angle mainly because the rocks in the foreground were massive, and the perspective distortion of the wide-angle was making the mountain look a bit smaller for my liking. The wide-angle was also bringing another rock formation in the middle ground that was distracting from the main scene. My two stop ND grad filter worked beautifully at this scene, balancing the warm tones of Mt Whitney with rocks of Alabama Hills that were in the shade.

• Paul Cezanne.

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Another shot from the same trip. This one was taken at Alabama Hills near Lone Pine, CA. This place is one of the otherworldly locations you will find one the amazing Rt 395 along the eastern border of California. Most of Lone Pine is a high desert and has the typical terrain you associate with a California desert, and once you get close to the Sierras, the terrain usually progressively get rocky until you just about hit a huge granite wall. But at Alabama Hills, it’s a bit different, before you hit the rocky patch the road will start a bit of gently dips and sways as you pass through some very rounded granite rocks in odd shapes and sizes.

When I first saw them, my immediate thought was that these rocks had to be way older than the Sierras. But later I learned that these were formed at the same time as the Sierras but were lower in elevation and the nicely rounded shapes are due to erosion by wind and rain. Dozens of natural arches are among the main attractions at the Alabama Hills. They can be accessed by short hikes from the Whitney Portal Road, the Movie Flat Road, and the Horseshoe Meadows Road. Among the notable features of the area are Mobius Arch, Lathe Arch, the Eye of Alabama and Whitney Portal Arch.

I haven't seen any mountain range as beautiful as the Sierra Nevada till now. Again, I haven't traveled the world much but I am confident that the...

• Frank Lloyd Wright.

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While I have photographed the Mobius arch at Alabama hills a couple of times over the years, it never occurred to me to look for other arches in the area. For some reason, I assumed the basis of the fame was due to its unique view of the Sierras it provided. But on our last trip, I realized the ease of access made the modius arch such an easily identifiable destination online.

On our last trip, while on the hike to Mobius arch, I came across a location that had a beautiful view of Mt. Whitney. Since I was already late and sunrise was in full swing, I decided to take my images there. I saw the lathe arch while setting up and scanning for any potenetially hidden rattlers. The first thought I had was its size, and it was tiny. To get the shot, I had to get into a very awkward position, but the mountains' view was perfect.

I didn’t think I could set up my tripod here in the limited time I had, so the image was taken handheld with the focal length set to 15mm. At 15mm, everything in the foreground has increased size prominence, which should give you a clue about the size of the arch. I didn’t have high expectations that day of getting an exciting shot due to my tardiness, but the short hike revealed a wonderful surprise.

• Nathaniel Hawthorne

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I posted my last picture just before me and my wife left for our annual 4th of July road trip and hence didn't had a chance to read all of the feedback I got on the image. To say I was happy would be an understatement, I am really glad that so many people liked the image and am really thankful for all the comments and encouragements.

More about today's picture, we decided to stay close this time and rented a beautiful cottage in the small town of Big Pine, CA. This was probably one of the least planned trips as we were both a bit sick at the beginning of the trip. Anyways our first stop was at the stunning Alabama hills location near Lone Pine. We were there just before sunset and we really wanted to up the Whitney Portal road for the sunset. So I quickly made a pano shot before we hit the road again. Hope you all like it, tanks for visiting…