Matterhorn Peak and the Sawtooth Ridge [Canon 5D]
August 29, 2010 • Eastern Sierras, California
(click in the image for a larger version)
Lately I've had mountains on my mind, and my thoughts have been drawn to a location that is less than a four hour drive from where I live: the jagged peaks of the Sawtooth Ridge on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada. I took this photo a little over a year ago, as I was driving down to Death Valley, another of my favorite photo destinations . It shows the Sawtooth Ridge as seen from Highway 395 near Bridgeport, California. The ridge line is the northeast border of Yosemite National Park. The peak on the far left is Matterhorn Peak, which at 12,279 feet (3,743m) is the tallest peak in that ridge and the most northerly 12,000' peak in the Sierras. Jack Kerouac incorporated a fictionalized account of his attempted ascent of the peak in his 1958 novel, "The Dharma Bums". Some of the other peaks in the ridge are Dragtooth, Doodad, the Three Teeth, and Blacksmith Peak. Below Blacksmith is the ominously named Avalanche Lake.
Sawtooth Ridge from the Northeast, from A Climber's Guide to the High Sierra, edited by Hervey H. Voge (click in the image for a larger version).
The reason this particular group of peaks has been on my mind is that I've been thinking of a photograph I'd like to make that requires high, jagged mountain peaks and this area would be perfect. Actually, there are several images I can see making in this location, but one in particular has been driving this train of thought; a new addition to my Artifacts of an Uncertain Origin series of pinhole photographs.
Since the wooden camera I use for that series has no lens, just a tiny pinhole (the approximate aperture is f/235) with a wide-angle field of view, things that are far away tend to look even farther away in the photographs it makes. So if I want to have a jagged mountain peak in the shot and have it look good, it means getting up close and personal with the peak. The mountain I'm thinking of focusing on (pun intended) is Matterhorn Peak, the one on the far left. I'm not really interested in summiting this peak as I am in having it figure prominently in the background of the photograph (though apparently you can reach the summit without special equipment).
Photographing with the ZeroImage pinhole camera on the western side of the Sierras in April of 2010. (click in the image for a larger version). You can see the image I made at this location here.
This excursion will likely last several days, to accommodate backpacking the roughly five miles up to the ridge and having plenty of time for scouting the best locations, waiting for good weather and light and also just enjoying being in such an amazing place. I feel very fortunate to live in a place where such locations are only a short drive away, and sInce the area is relatively close, I may even make more than one trip. In the image I am planning, I would like to have a fair amount of snow on the peaks and good cloud action is a must. In terms of summer or fall, I'm still pondering the best time to go and more research will help answer that question, but it's definitely on my photo destination list for next year.
Finding the time for such creative projects can sometimes be challenging and it's easy to get distracted and caught up in all of the other aspects of our busy lives. I am continually battling those forces of distraction! But planning ahead and visualizing making certain images, or traveling to specific places, make it much more likely to realize those visions. Writing about it (as I have done here), is another way to make something seem more real and attainable. To that end I also made a print of this image this morning and am hanging it in my studio so I can see it every day and be inspired by the idea of that future trip.
Speaking of inspiration, I was reminded of this location by an excellent photo of Matterhorn Peak that Gary Crabbe posted to his Google+ stream a few days ago. Seeing his image prompted me to look in my Lightroom archive where I found the photo you see above. Thanks Gary!
Comments