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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
http://www.mikeclasenphotography.com

From THE CARSON PASS