Sierra Frosting

Just returned from a week of cross country skiing in the Mammouth Lakes area of CA, and my 1st intro to the Sierra. While there was plenty of snow while I was there, most of it was traveling sideways at 30 MPH so my thoughts of fresh snow on trees were blown out the window. Days were spent skiing, but early mornings I headed toward Bishop to check out the photo possibilities there. I had planned a backback from the area 2 yrs earlier but had to can it after a back injury, so I was eager to see what I missed. I decided to spend most of my time investigating the braided Owens River with the finite time that I had. I spent sunrise around the river, then walked the river's edge thereafter each morning looking for possible comps for the next morning.
I was surprised to find the variety of colors of the sage and brush around the river, especially in winter. Given the braiding of the river, I though it would be much easier to find comps with unobstructed views of the Sierra without brush or telephone poles blocking the view. Not as easy as I thought. I must have walked a good portion of the southern and northern ends of the river.While I didn't get any of the blazing skies while I was there, there was a peacefulness and beauty to the valley that kept me coming back each morning.

Canon 5D MII, Canon 24-105 L, f16, partial polarizing filter, 2 stop grad ND filter hard edge.

I used the daylight WB and warmed it slightly in processing - wanted to convey the frost on the foliage that AM.