pixgaga.com blog

Award winning photographer, Satish Menon, selling fine-art prints and sharing photography insights with other photography enthusiasts.

Tag Archives: snow

California Winter

Although the pandemic has dampened our air travel, I have not slowed down on my weekend road trips. Winter is a special time offering unique spectacles. In Northern California, it is easy to get to snow, as you go towards the Sierra Nevada mountains.

Last month, as I was passing through Groveland, California, I came across this hillside forest. It had fresh snow, perfect side-lighting and a great pattern of the vertical tree trunks. I loved the pattern, the contrast and the texture. A great representation of California’s winter.

This scene was a bit away from me and therefore I used the Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 lens and framed this at about 180mm. Since the nearest part of the image is already far away, I knew that an aperture of f/11 is enough to meet the depth of field needs. I bracketed several exposures to finally picked the capture with the right leaning histogram.

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Snow laden forest, Groveland, California, USA

Alaska#23

Mountains, snow and clouds, as seen from Delta Junction, Alaska. This was photographed in early August, during a long lonely car ride from Fairbanks to Paxson lake. Nikon D4S with Nikkor 200-500mm f5.6 + 1.4x teleconverter. This view was very far from the road that I photographed this from, and I had to use a 1.4x teleconverter attached to this lens set at 500mm to accomplish this composition. People think that a 700mm lens is only for wildlife photography. Not true.

Hills, Delta Junction, Alaska, USA

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Alaska#17

Mt. Denali, Denali National Park, Alaska. As you know, tourists are no longer allowed to go into Denali National Park freely in their own private vehicles. You pretty much have to win a lottery to have this privilege. In late July, we stayed overnight in a lodge outside the Denali park and took the Denali tour bus and photographed through the bus window or when the bus stopped. When our bus arrived at this location, Mt. Denali was covered with clouds. Fortunately, the snow capped peak was visible at the very top. This photograph became a keeper for me, because of a sense of discovery. This is a routine trite shot of some hills with clouds over it, until you discover the snow capped Mt. Denali. Nikon D4S with Nikkor 200-500mm f5.6 lens. Why use this telephoto for landscapes? Isolating interesting compositions from a bus is easier. If I included the bus window and the road and the parking lots, it wouldn’t be as interesting.

Mt. Denali, Denali National Park, Alaska, USA

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Alaska#15

Another composition of the same scene in Alaska#14. In this one, I eliminated the water from the bay. Although I was on the same boat, this gives the perception, that I was firmly on land. Lot of depth here from the foreground hill with a bit of brown on it, to the distant snow laden peak. Notice how the fog made the distant peak less clear and therefore added depth. Several frames stitched together in Lightroom to make the pano image. Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 lens.

Prince William Sound, Alaska, USA

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Alaska#8

Glacier, Snow laden Chugach Mountains and Clouds, seen from Prince William Sound, Alaska. The glacier inlet you see on the left is the same one that was on the right in Alaska#6. As the boat moved away from the spot of Alaska#6, I fired several frames. The visual overload that day was a little too much and I ended up with tired hands and shoulders, carrying two camera bodies and two heavy lenses in extremely cold and wet weather. All worth it. Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 lens.

Prince William Sound, Alaska, USA

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Alaska#7

Iceberg, snow, glacier, hill and clouds, Chugach Mountain range, seen from Prince William Sound, Alaska. There are so many elements here. The foreground iceberg in blue, the extension of a glacier on the right, snow on the left and the hill covered in clouds. I was shooting with my D4S loaded with the Nikkor 200-500mm f5.6 lens and this scene needed me to go wider. Instead of changing my lens, I simply shot several frames that covered the top left, the top right, the bottom left and the bottom right. I stitched them all together to create this image. Images of this form factor are usually not stitched, but given the lens I had with me at the time, I had to improvise. I am glad I did. Looking at this image, I still feel the same chills that I felt that day.

Glacier and hill, Prince William Sound, Alaska, USA

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Alaska#3

In this shot of the Chugach Mountains shot from Prince William Sound of Alaska, you see a Glacier at the very top with some flow into this bay. I love how the mountain edges, the glacier, the tiny flows into the bay and clouds all provide a sense of balance in the elements. This photograph does not do justice to the scale of things I saw that day, but I am trying. Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 lens.

Prince William Sound, Alaska, USA

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Alaska#1

Late July / early August last year, my family and I visited Alaska. Needless to say, I carried my photography gear and made some good nature photographs, both landscapes and wildlife. I have edited around 12000 shots to end up with 65 keepers. I present them to you now, one a day for the next 65 days. Hope you like them.

Alaska#1 – Glacier, hills and clouds, Prince William Sound, Alaska, USA, photographed late July. We stayed overnight in Anchorage and drove our rental car to Whittier, Alaska. From there, we took a day cruise to see glaciers and icebergs. Loved the views. In this photograph, you see a glacier ending up into the Prince William Sound bay. The mountains you see are the glaciated Chugach Mountains. It was a foggy day and we weathered cold rain and wind. It was all worth it. It was hard keeping the front element of the lens from getting wet. For this photograph, I used my Nikon D700 with the Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 lens loaded. This pano shot was made by stitching several individual frames using Lightroom. During this shoot, I also had my Nikon D4S loaded with my Nikkor 200-500 f5.6 for other moments.

Prince William Sound, Alaska, USA

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When many things come together …

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Grand Canyon Dawn in Winter

Grand Canyon Dawn in Winter

Many things came together that resulted in this image.

Good light. I almost thought that I would not get good light that morning. It was dark, cold and cloudy. However, the clouds just opened up and brought in some great light, just after sunrise.
I found this rock as a foreground to lead the viewers into the image.
There is tremendous depth. You can examine the details from the foreground to the background and there is enough to see at every stage of your journey.

Best time to shoot landscapes

June Lake and Sierra Crest at dawn

June Lake and Sierra Crest at dawn, Mammoth Lakes area, Eastern Sierra, California, USA (6:57AM)

June Lake and Sierra Crest at dawn

June Lake and Sierra Crest at dawn, Mammoth Lakes area, Eastern Sierra, California, USA (7:19AM)

June Lake and Sierra Crest at dawn

June Lake and Sierra Crest at dawn, Mammoth Lakes area, Eastern Sierra, California, USA (7:21AM)

I made the first image at 6:57 AM. I made the second image at 7:19AM. I made the last image at 7:21AM. All on the same day.

I am reminded of a lesson that John Shaw taught us in his January 2011 seminar in Santa Clara, CA. “Don’t be late to work”.