I’ve read about and seen photographs of Mono Lake for years but my travels never took me to that part of California. During 1999 I vowed that I would shoot there, and so I managed to photograph both a sunset and a sunrise a couple of days apart during a shoot in theEastern Sierrain October.
Mono Lake is located on Hwy 395 at the Town of Lee Vining where Highway 120 and the Tioga Pass lead into Yosemite National Park. Like many wonderful photographic locations it only is worth shooting at sunrise or sunset. The formations are mundane during mid-day.
It’s hard to find a new perspective on these remarkable formation, called Tufas, but the 4,000 foot altitude produces light of exceptional clarity and colour and so every day is unique.
Taken with a 40mm Schneider Super Angulon on Kodak 100VS film. ACokin Blue/Yellow polarizerwas used.
Photographer at Mono Lake, 1999
We were joined on our shoot for a few days by Las Vegas based large format photographer Bill Glickman. Here Bill is seen surveying the Rock Tufas area near China Beach at dawn.
Taken with a 40mm Schneider Super Angulon lens. A Lee coral-tinted split neutral density filter was used to control the extreme contrast between the earth and sky.
Strawberry Jam, Mono Lake, 1999
No, it’s not a new comet. It’s a damn aircraft contrail, but in this rare instance it’s welcome as it adds a graphic contrast to the strawberry jam sky.
Taken with a 300mm Schneider Apo-Tele-Xenar.
Yellow Valley, 1999
Highway 395 is the main corridor down the eastern side of the Sierra. In October there are numerous spots to pull over, enjoy the view and sometimes even photograph the pleasant mountain vistas. This one was not too far north of Mono county.
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