Golden Swirls Over Mono Lake
When Sunset Fails, The Sky Still Delivers Over The Eastern Sierra
Back in October 2017, I made my annual pilgrimage up to the eastern Sierra to catch the autumn colors along the mountain slopes and up the side canyons along US 395. I was camped down my usual two-track forest road off Highway 120. It is a well-known spot that gets a little more crowded every year, teaching me the hard way that if you don't leave something behind to mark your spot while you're out shooting, someone else will gladly claim your piece of dirt by sundown. Sure enough, I came back from photographing down at the lake to find a new neighbor parked in my site. Luckily, Highway 120 has plenty of other turn-offs further down the line, so I just rolled on down a couple of miles without making a fuss.
That evening, I headed down to the lake near the south tufa area, hoping the sky would catch fire with that classic Sierra sunset glow. Sometimes nature has other plans, and the anticipated color display just never fully developed. Instead of a blazing red horizon, the sky went flat and quiet. But photography teaches you to keep your eyes open and not to pack up until the very last light fades. For just a few minutes, some genuinely crazy, swirling cloud formations rolled in overhead, catching the muted golden light of dusk against the dark backdrop of the Mono Basin.
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When a Sierra sunset failed to develop, strange swirling evening clouds saved the shoot near Mono Lake's south tufa area.