Autumn in the canyons of the Eastern Sierra Mountains is legendary and a season not to be missed by a landscape photographer…
We decided to push up our trip to Bishop by a week and a half due to reports found on the internet stating that the Bishop canyons color was near peak. Heading south on 395 over Conway Summit, we found that the color there was just starting to turn, and the aspen groves were not yet in their full glory. We stopped anyway to capture a couple of nice images.
Arriving in Bishop in midday sun, we wasted no time in heading up CA168 to scout the 3 canyons and choose a location for the following mornings sunrise. The midday sun was harsh and difficult to photograph the dramatic mountain scenery. More success was found in the few attempts I made at woodland photography among the changing aspen. But this day was more about scouting out the area for the first time.
The decision on the location for the sunrise was a difficult one, as all 3 lakes (North Lake, Sabrina Lake and South Lake) at the heads of the canyons were all spectacular in their own way! I chose North Lake as I felt it was a bit more intimate and had some nice color surrounding.
After several hours of scouting we headed back to Bishop for dinner and some rest to get ready for the early start in the morning…
We were up at 5AM and the coffee in the hotel room was absolutely horrendous! Thankfully, we found a local coffee house was open on our way out of town and picked up some delicious hot beverages for the drive up the canyon.
The hike out to the location I had chosen at North Lake was short but required a slippery river crossing. The temperature was around 20 degrees and the rocks had all iced over causing Harmony to lose her footing and submerge one foot in the cold water.
As expected, there were several other photographers out with the same idea lined on the edge of the lake. But it was easy to pass them and find my own spot to set up the tripod and get to work.
It was a very peaceful location, only broken by a couple of photographers across the lake bickering and fighting for their piece of ground to shoot from! There was a very slight breeze creating ripples on the surface and a bit of mist rising off the water on the far shoreline. The skies were cloudless, so no drama there, but the fiery glow as the first rays of sunlight hit the high peaks was absolutely fantastic! There is something truly special about the Eastern Sierra glow that is not found in other mountain ranges that I have seen.
I frantically captured one composition after another, switching lenses between ultra wide angle and telephotos with a little more reach. Bracketing exposures and focus points in case I needed to blend or focus stack in post processing (which I ended up not using and just processed single exposures). I shot all the way through until the sunlight reached the water level when the surface calmed to near perfect mirror reflections.
With the sunrise shoot completed, we headed north of Bishop and east of Tom’s Place to the Little Lakes Valley. Another magically post card perfect location. It is a relatively easy hike back in the valley with little elevation gain. The trail follows a river back passing many little lakes (hence the name). After several miles we decided to break for lunch at Box Lake before heading back. We will have to come back to this valley for further exploration as the valley continues farther back than we ventured to more little lakes surrounded by grand high peaks!
The following morning, before making the drive back home, we were up again at 5AM for another sunrise shoot. This time I chose Sabrina Lake mainly because I knew the hike would be easy. It was a bit warmer than the previous morning and certainly beautiful, but the high peaks above the lake did not capture near the orange glow that was found at North Lake. Following the sunrise outing, we made the four hour drive north back home.
The wilderness of the Eastern Sierras outside of Bishop is by all means dramatic and very rugged! Maybe it was the timing, but the beautiful fall color we did find fell a bit short of what I had become used to in Colorado… I feel like we barely scratched the surface of this area and will certainly have to find more time to come back for further exploration!
Love the photos Dad! I especially like the use of the water in the foreground. Were you using a filter to get the rocks and lake-bed to come through??
Thanks Taylor! Good question… A circular polarizer would be the filter needed to reduce the reflection on the surface of the water to see underneath. But in this case, no filters were used. Just happened the lighting worked out without needing to eliminate the great reflections of the mountains.