We went on a trip to the Eastern Sierra not too far back. Our plan was to photograph the fall colors but we ended up staying in Death Valley most of the time (Which was incredible).
At the end of our trip, one of our guys really wanted to photograph the sand tufas at Mono Lake. Recently inspired by Marc Adamus, I really wanted to shoot through the sand tufa like he did in one of his images.
I went through different tufas taking different shots and none of them really made me give an audible "wow"...until this one. I set up my camera, took some photographs, and was STOKED. I loved the composition. I waited for about 45 minutes for the sun to get near the horizon, about to set, and it gave me a beautiful sun star that lit up the cavern that was only twice as big as my camera.
After reviewing this image, this has got to be one of my top 5 favorite shots I've ever taken. There's so much detail in the cavern with the sand tufa edges, grain, small cliff-sides and formations. After viewing this on my monitor, it's really hard to believe that this space was only about the size of my head (Even though I do have a really big head).
It wasn't until I got home that I realized this was the exact location that Marc had settled on for his shot. So, even though I stumbled across this, I must credit Marc for this composition, as I believe he's the only other one that has shot this location (AFAIK).
Beautiful! I've seen Adamus' image before and yes, the first thing that popped to my head was, wait a minute, this is the same composition as Marc's. That's OK, I really don't mind that, it's still a great shot. I've seen and been to this tufas general location before but didn't see that particular buildup (at least from this side). It's ok, there are plenty of others there too. But, I've got no keepers because I ended up having a bad weather giving me mediocre shots I just deleted later. A sunburst would be nice
Anyway, great shot!
zurura wrote:
This looks fantastic mate. The composition is awesome and the light is lovely. Well done.
- Gautam
Thank you. I have other shots from this same composition, but they didn't have the sun burst to light up the cavern.
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craigsexton wrote:
Beautiful image. Thanks for sharing this with us.
Thank you and my pleasure!
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Tizeno wrote:
Beautiful!!
Thanks!
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junglialoh wrote:
quite creative artistic work in delicate composition from nice angle view
Thank you!
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amlsml wrote:
Awesome shot. If you didn't explain I would think this was a giant cavern.
Yeah, right? Perspective is key, for sure.
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KCollett wrote:
Looks like a place Gollum would hang out! It is a lovely shot. You did a great job in balancing light throughout the depth of the image.
Thank you! I wish I would've shot a little farther back, but I'm still really happy with it.
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Gregg B. wrote:
Beautiful! I've seen Adamus' image before and yes, the first thing that popped to my head was, wait a minute, this is the same composition as Marc's. That's OK, I really don't mind that, it's still a great shot. I've seen and been to this tufas general location before but didn't see that particular buildup (at least from this side). It's ok, there are plenty of others there too. But, I've got no keepers because I ended up having a bad weather giving me mediocre shots I just deleted later. A sunburst would be nice
Anyway, great shot!
Thanks man! That was the only bummer for me as I didn't get an original composition. I have quite a few other compositions that I took, but none of them were as amazing as this little cave. Hopefully you'll have better weather there next time...there's nothing like a Mono Lake Sunset/Sunrise!
Funny, I opened this thread and said 'marc' in my head. Nice to see you adventure out there. Bit too much magenta overall but thats a thing these days. Great job w the stack/blend. Dig that comp!
aFeinberg wrote:
Funny, I opened this thread and said 'marc' in my head. Nice to see you adventure out there. Bit too much magenta overall but thats a thing these days. Great job w the stack/blend. Dig that comp!
aF
Thanks! And no stacking or blending. Single image.
