“We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon, and the sun, how they move in silence... We need silence to be able to touch souls.”

Mother Teresa

Typically, the 4th of July weekend Mammoth is so crowded you need to get away from your getaway.  To avoid the crowds, I started to get out around 4:30 in the morning.  I wanted to go out and look for sunrise images.  For several days in a row, the weather was perfect for photography:

• Perfectly still in the morning

• Clouds in the afternoon

• High clouds in the evening providing some sunset color

Originally, I was going to head up towards Sagehen because I had never been past the Aspens at the summit.  With it being perfectly still I changed my plan and headed into the June Lake Loop.  June Lake already had some wind so there was no chance of getting any reflections.  I was thinking, oh well, at least I tried.

I headed to Gull lake and about had a heart attack.  There was no water movement, no wind, no early fishermen, nothing, nada.  It was just me and a few ducks.  The lake was like polished glass.  In fact, in some places, the reflection of the colorless cloudless sky, appeared like it wasn’t there at all. 

I took a few pre-sunrise images from the boat ramp figuring it would not be long before the ramp became active with fishermen.  I then went onto the boat docks for the sunrise because there were some interesting foreground elements.  For me, taking multiple long exposures on a floating dock requires some forethought and control.  These days, I am a Covid “heavy” boy and any movement I make will rock the dock.

I had to set the tripod up, frame the composition, and then, with a wide stance, hold perfectly still for several minutes to let the dock stop rocking.  I then had to touch the shutter release lightly and only move my hand half an inch away from the camera to not rock the dock. 

Well, the work was worth it.  One of my signature styles as a landscape photographer is still lakes with glass-like reflections.  In my biased opinion, these images came out awesome.  I cannot wait to print these on metal.

After Gull, I went to Silver Lake and discovered it was the exact same way.  No movement, no wind, no fisherman, nothing, nada.  I set up to shoot Carson peak that was ablaze from the sunrise.  Just as I am about to shoot this duck comes swimming into my composition.  My first reaction was to shoo her off.  Instead, I started to talk to her. 

You see my group of close friends believes in “making friends wherever we go.  I figured I would make friends with her.  I asked her if she was intent on ruining my picture?  She responded by standing on a rock right in front of the camera so as not to create any ripples.  She kept pruning herself so I asked her if she could pose?  She stretched her neck out and held perfectly still while I took my series of HDR images.  I thanked her.  She then did this amazing thing.  She stood on one leg and spread her right wing out to show the coloring in the wing.  She held that pose long enough for me to get several HDR series of her “Instagram” posing! It was like she was saying “ I am ready for my close-up Mr, Dimille.

It was an incredible experience and I made a new friend.  As Mother Teresa said in her quote “We need silence to be able to touch souls.”

My next post will be on the clouds from the 4th of July weekend. Be sure to check it out.

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