All images and material © 2016 by Mike Clasen Photography • All Rights Reserved • Use By Permission Only
A friend of mine and I found this magical tree one day when hiking up in the Sierra Nevada in an area I like to call “Hobbit Land” due to the VERY old Sierra Juniper’s that are standing watch on the crest of the Sierra's. 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's? The tree is so old, who knows when the cuts were made… 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
This scene was captured early April 2016 while a storm was rolling over the Sierra Nevada. We were headed to Mono Lake, and decided to head up a canyon nearby. The atmospherics in the canyon were great, and the rain had let up enough to where many low lying clouds were moving through the area, providing for some great photo ops. This is one exposure, a quick snap, no tripod. © MIKE CLASEN PHOTOGRAPHY www.mikeclasenphotography.com
