THE CARSON PASS

The Gathering

This is a single exposure captured in July of 2015 during a series of very wet storms that passed over the Sierra Nevada. What started to seem easy after the first couple hours of processing, turned into a royal PITA. I hit pixel burnout, and just wanted to get this thing over with. This is the end result… I had to deal with a few boo boo’s, issues, and challenges along the way, etc. etc. etc. But, it was time to move on, and maybe revisit this one later. Overall, I am ok with how it turned out. The composition; I was not totally jiving with at first, it was a difficult one to frame to get what I wanted. No perspective warping was done here. Anyway, this image was captured at my favorite high alpine ‘small’ lake in the Sierra Nevada, called ‘Woods Lake’ (fitting name). This little gem is somewhat hidden off the Carson Pass and easy to miss. I have captured a few variations of this scene over the years, with sunny skies, cloudy skies, and then this one with totally diffused light from very stormy weather, drizzling rain, and mist floating over the lake; this was definitely the best of the bunch. Prior to ever capturing this scene years ago, I was eating a freshly barbequed hamburger and then looking at this photo op. Yes, there is a barbeque and picnic table directly to the left of where I captured this image. Thanks, for checking it out. © MIKE CLASEN PHOTOGRAPHY www.mikeclasenphotography.com

The Edge Spirit

Captured July of 2015, during one of the best summer storm systems to roll over the Sierra Nevada that I have been able to witness. What you see here was captured on the sloping portion of a steep cliff right off the road. Dare not venture out on the saturated slope too far at all, it would surely be death if one slipped and fell. The cool thing about this storm was, nobody else was up there with a camera, or out in the storm, anywhere! It was wet, it was drizzling rain the whole time, so towels and lens cloths were a must have, along with some very technical rain gear for the camera; a shower cap and a Ziploc bag. This tree seemed to be at one with the storm, a part of it, or conducting it, with it’s branch arms reaching out to the side, and head of branches lowered in the storms direction. This ancient volcanic area, is on the north side of, and looking away from Thunder Mountain, near the crest of the Sierra Nevada right off the Carson Pass. This is a single handheld exposure… © MIKE CLASEN PHOTOGRAPHY www.mikeclasenphotography.com

Storming on the Crest

Captured from the Carson Pass in July of 2015. This is a single hand held exposure (a little soft), captured from the side of the road when I was traveling up to the Caples Lake, and Kirkwood areas. We had a series of storms during the spring and summer of 2015 that rolled over the Sierra Nevada bringing a LOT of rain, while creating moody atmosphere, and very dramatic skies. © MIKE CLASEN PHOTOGRAPHY www.mikeclasenphotography.com

Sierra Storm Fade Reflection

The weather in the Reno/Tahoe area and in the Sierra Nevada has been out of the ordinary during the summer of 2015. We have had a LOT of storms roll through and a LOT of rainfall. A great time to go get some of those photo-ops waiting up in the Sierra’s and surrounding areas. The reflections on Woods Lake, are a site to behold. This is one of the prettiest alpine lakes in the Sierra Nevada I have had the privilege of visiting. It takes little work to frame a shot and alleviate any signs of human involvement around Woods Lake. There is a picnic bench on the shore, 15 feet from where I captured this picture, a great place to BBQ hamburgers. ;-) So, I hit pixel burnout on this image. There is a lot of shade, if not total shade in this image, it took a lot tweaking to get this image as close to how it looked when I was there. It was dark when I captured this image (total shade), so when I was adjusting levels selectively and globally while viewing the histogram, it became very monotonous, a lot of dodging and burning. This is an exposure blend of two images (for the sky), from a stand and shoot capture in July 2015. © MIKE CLASEN PHOTOGRAPHY www.mikeclasenphotography.com

Caples Moon

Captured August of 2014, a full moon rises over Round Top and The Sisters. This scene was composed on the rocky shoreline of Caples Lake, which is nestled on the crest of the Sierra Nevada right off the Carson Pass scenic byway. Many of the Sierra Junipers in this area of the Carson Pass appear to be in a frozen wizardly stance, sculpted from extreme weather and wind that rips over the crest of the Sierra Nevada. I was showing a friend of mine around who had never been to the Carson Pass, and we were heading back to Reno when I saw the full moon illuminating the distant mountains, trees, and shoreline, so I HAD to pull over and do some shooting. It’s like I did not have a choice in this at all!? This is an exposure blend of four captures; the initial exposure, then subsequent exposures stopped down to capture highlight detail in the moons reflection, and to not clip the highlights in the 'glow' of the moon. © MIKE CLASEN PHOTOGRAPHY www.mikeclasenphotography.com

Stone Grove

This image was captured August 2014, I am finally getting around to sorting through, and processing images captured over the past five years. Old Sierra Juniper’s stand strong on the granite crest of the Sierra Nevada. There is a face in this image, and I was not sure if a better name would suit it, such as ‘Monster’, or ‘Gremlin’. ‘Gremlin of the Stone Grove’, ‘Faces in nature’? Oh well… It is better that the viewer sees with their own eyes, and not have their perception influenced by a title. If the face appears, even better. © MIKE CLASEN PHOTOGRAPHY www.mikeclasenphotography.com

Creature on the Crest

A friend of mine and I found this magical tree one day when hiking up off the Carson Pass in what I like to call “Hobbit Land” due to the VERY old Sierra Juniper’s that are standing watch on the crest of the Sierra Nevada in this area. Sculpted by wind and weather, this Sierra Juniper has a base diameter of roughly 12 feet, maybe more (I am guessing), and appears to be reaching out for something in a twisted stance. It is very old, and was truly something to witness. The branch in the middle foreground with a flat end, was cut by some careless person long ago, and that is not the only area of this tree that has had portions of it’s limbs cut off. Who would want to desecrate this ancient spirit of the Sierra Nevada? The tree is so old, who knows when the cuts were made… This has been one of the most difficult images I have processed. I am using fairly new techniques that I have learned via video and instructional tutorials over the past year. I initially captured this scene for focus stacking and exposure blending, but a single exposure with a deep depth of field at f/13 worked out. This is not an HDR image… I did not have any wiggle room in this composition for cropping, I was completely zoomed all the way out at 16mm, sitting down with my back against a granite wall, to capture what you see here. Captured August 2014 © MIKE CLASEN PHOTOGRAPHY www.mikeclasenphotography.com

Jurassic Garden

This is a single exposure captured last July on the crest of the Western Sierra Nevada. The West Coast of the US and the Sierra’s had a LOT of rainfall during spring and summer of 2015, and also, the Sierra’s had relatively NO snow during winter. The consistent amount of rainfall provided for some unique opportunities for photography; to capture the Sierra’s under conditions that normally just would not be there. During this capture sequence, there was a constant drizzle coming down, and the fog and low lying clouds just kept moving throughout the area diffusing the sunlight nicely, and creating a moody scene. With my lens tilted upwards at about a 35-degree angle, I had to shield the camera with a shower cap (they work great), and also held a Ziploc bag extended out and over the lens to keep the drizzle from falling on the glass. I recently found a rain shield that mounts on the hot shoe and extends out over the lens, hopefully this will serve its purpose fairly well. © MIKE CLASEN PHOTOGRAPHY www.mikeclasenphotography.com

Autumn Aspen Sunlight

The “Carson Pass” is one of the most spectacular places to witness fall color in the Sierra Nevada. I used a higher f-stop to increase depth of field and to create a “sun star”. The ISO was increased for a faster shutter speed to stop the motion of the trees, leaves, and grass from the High Sierra afternoon winds. A polarizer was used to bring out more fall color in the Aspen leaves and to reduce glare. © MIKE CLASEN PHOTOGRAPHY www.mikeclasenphotography.com

Resting Place

This image was captured off the Carson Pass in a thick aspen Grove during the recent May 2015 storms that moved over the Sierra Nevada. There were fresh bear tracks, and some deer tracks in the wet earth from the recent storms. I was not sure how fresh the bear tracks were, but my eyes were more aware after that ;-). This aspen grove was very thick and it was hard to get an open shot that was not just, a bunch of Aspen. I was lucky to find a clearing in time to capture the last light show, and get a more open view of the peaks in the distance, and some interesting foreground elements. The light gets pretty radiant on the Sierra Crest when the sun goes down. The alpenglow in the distance was a bonus as clouds were blocking the sun shortly prior, like a show about to start with the curtains down, and all of a sudden the curtains opened up and the show began. This is a focus stack consisting of 5 captures at different focus points.