Southern California, like most of the western United States, has experienced a heatwave. The summer of 2021 has been a hot one! I counted on a forecast for heavier cloud cover to keep temperatures cooler in the wee hours of the morning and headed into the mountains near Julian, California for a sunrise shoot. Mother Nature did not disappoint.

One of my photo goals for the year is to explore longer focal lengths. I tend to see the work at a wide angle and I want to grow my creative eye. The valley floor of the Sawtooth Mountain Wilderness in the predawn light provided ample, more intimate landscape compositions. For some compositions, I wished I had even more reach beyond my 70-200mm lens … cropping will have to suffice.

Of course, with a landscape and sky like this, I couldn’t resist capturing some wide angle frames, too. I found that black and white treatments worked well, amplifying the moodiness in the clouds - even as the sky picked up color.

As sunrise continued, the sky and valley floor cycled through a variety of colors, hues of pink and orange, with an occasional hint of magenta. As one camera continued to work wide angle scenes, I used the second body to gather frames for a panoramic stitch.

In retrospect, I should have captured a second set of panels with more sky for a “super blend” pano. A lesson learned for the next outing. That’s as good an excuse as any to return to the Sunrise Highway once temperatures cool down again. :)