Earlier this month, I went on a 4 day lightning tour of the Eastern Sierras, including Mono Lake, the White Mountains, and some small sights in between. As an East Coast city guy, it is always a fantastic and memorable experience to travel out west. Dramatic geologic events of the past still show their mark on much of the landscape — unlike the East where time has allowed erosion to whittle down the environment to a more conservative look.

While I continue to develop my shots and write the story from my trip, I wanted to leave you with the first image I created while there. This may just be my favorite image from the trip, if not it is certainly one of the most unique scenes I have shot. Being near Washington, D.C., we do not get a chance for as many dark skies and therefore a window into the stars above and our own galaxy, the milky way. On my first day, I set out to capture a scene at Mono Lake looking towards this dramatic celestial show. I hope you enjoy it! I will tell the whole story of how I found and captured this scene in a post early next week.

Thanks for any comments! More to come…