Category: 20 Mountains
Mount Pinos, California
On the summit of Mount Pinos, a foggy winter morning provided me a soft light palette. I had shot a series of frames on the frost floor and was drawn to this crystallized branch, sweeping the frozen floor. High winds kept moving the branch, but hours of patience–freezing in the snow–finally paid off. I only needed four seconds of stillness, but it felt like a lifetime.
That soft light on the crystallized branch really comes through in the print, like I'm standing on that summit again. The frost detail is razor-sharp even up close, and the winter fog gives it this quiet, moody feel that brightens my whole wall.
The frost detail on that branch is so crisp it feels like you could reach out and snap it yourself. The soft winter fog gives the whole scene a quiet, almost meditative mood that works perfectly as a large print.
The misty morning light in this shot is unreal—that crystallized branch looks like it’s glowing from within, and the frost detail is so crisp you can almost feel the cold. It’s the kind of piece that makes you stop and just stare for a minute.
