Abstract reflection of Mt Whitney in a high elevation tarn above the tree line in the John Muir Wilderness.
What I liked about this viewpoint is you have one the Sierra’s most famous icons but it’s so different from just looking at it from highway 395 or the Alabama Hills. We are creative photographers right? We can come up with a new view right? We don’t have a list of photos we intend to copy or slightly twist to call our own idea, do we? Sometimes we just stand in a place where we fall into deep thought… .
The sky is so heavy and full of rocks in the scene it’s hard to make out what is correct if the scene is real? You can stand underneath these California Sky Scrapers and feel the rise from the bottom. I couldn’t imagine climbing up the face of one of those peaks but who knows maybe someday.. . You can almost make out the East Buttress or the East Face. I didn’t take either one of those routes, instead I took the mountaineer’s route up to the top which only involved a 500ft section of some mixed class 3 and 4 climbing. I’ve been yet to try any alpine class 5 yet but my friends are pushing me to do it. I had the chance to speak to a free soloist at the campsites, an older man http://www.sierenphotography.com/photos/i-976cBDx/0/M/i-976cBDx-M.jpg from Canada. He gave me thoughts on how to improve my climbing just by breathing consciously but he also gave me the impression that there was no other place he’d rather be but in the Sierra where the mountains are much warmer then Canada. It likely to be the last place he will ever lays eyes on. (I took that photo so it’s not me in the photo). The guy is actually chatting with my friends who are very small in this picture somewhere. . .
I really enjoy any challenge I can handle with preparation. For the most part I love photography and little climbing here and there keeps me on my toes and fingers.
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Tags: abstract, copycat, copying, duplication, Eastern Sierra, fine art, icon, mountains, mountainscape, Mt. Whitney, rare, reflection, Sierra Nevada, thoughts, unique
Steve Sieren's Blog 
June 19, 2012 at 11:55 am |
Fantastic shot, Steve!
June 19, 2012 at 1:06 pm |
This is really wonderful, Steve–a great abstract, with an almost dreamlike quality.
I like the message here too; glad you’re taking on climbing. It’s a great way of seeing the world…
June 19, 2012 at 1:21 pm |
Very creative photography here in the wilderness – and yes, the effect of the fine reflections are so fantastic that you are very unsure about what is what in the picture!
June 19, 2012 at 2:49 pm |
Thanks Susan, Greg, and Truels!! Off to the Mojave Desert to finish up a night sky image for public display. Using the Nikon D800e for it. Hope I get shoot something for me with it.
June 21, 2012 at 7:49 pm |
Great unique perspective!
July 5, 2012 at 4:24 pm |
What fun. I really get a kick out of this one, but I also wanted to turn the computer upside-down to see how it looks the other way. It looks great that way too.