NEW WORK

The wind was ripping across Washoe County in Nevada at 60 to 80+ mph on Feb 6th, 2015, and this was the reason I was, where I was, when I captured this scene. The dust storms at Winnemucca Lake NV were insane on this day and made for perfect conditions for long exposures, and to capture something unique. The price was dirt in the ears, eyes, nose, mouth, clothing, and equipment being used, but it was well worth the whole experience and the end results. Being the only person physically out there in these crazy weather conditions and experiencing it all was beyond awesome! Watching the rapidly changing skies and lighting conditions, watching the sand storms rip through the area and getting caught in them, getting caught in rain that moved sideways, all created somewhat of a challenge when shooting in these conditions. A rain cover can be used on the camera with the bottom sealed on the tripod to keep dust off of it – sort of… This image consists of two photographs that were blended together. The sky and the mountains in the background was a long exposure of 90 seconds (gives an idea of how fast the clouds were moving), where the foreground landscape was a fast exposure to freeze movement of tumbleweeds and sagebrush. I chose to freeze the landscape due to it just being a yellow blur in the long exposure, lacking any foreground/middle-ground detail really.

The monolithic presence of the tufa megaform on the desert lake bottom stands around sixty feet tall and was formed thousands and thousands of years ago under the surface of the great Lake Lahontan when it was an inland sea.

This image won second place at the 2015 Annual Student Art and Design Exhibition in Photography, at Truckee Meadows Community College, NV. It was printed as a 24"x36" print for this exhibition.


© MIKE CLASEN PHOTOGRAPHY
http://www.mikeclasenphotography.com

From TUFASCAPES