This Bristlecone Pine was growing right on top of a rock pile. My guess is that at one point in the past, the soil was present on top of the rock and has since eroded. The erosion of soil around the root systems is one of the causes of death for bristlecones. That’s one of the reasons that they request visitors to stay on the pathways: to keep erosion to a minimum.
Here’s another image that “stumped” me (sorry, couldn’t help it). Does this “work better” in color or black and white?
When I am working on editing photos, I usually check to see how an image looks when converted to black and white. Sometimes it is a surprise. Sometimes it is a no-brainer. However, sometimes it is a struggle to decide which image has more visual impact. This is an example of one such image. I like both. How about you?
For the non-technical folks: digital cameras capture raw data in a numerical format: it’s just a string of numbers. Either in-camera or in the computer, the data is converted to a set of (not entirely arbitrary) corresponding colors … or, in the case of black and white, tonal values. If converted in the computer, the photographer can make a choice of converting to black and white. If in the camera: the manufacturer decides what tonal values (and colors) are “correct”.
When a storm passes across a mountain range, it doesn’t clear off the same way it does in the low country. Clouds hang over the peaks typically for several days. This was a day after a storm crossed the Sierras and while it was sunny in the valley, it wasn’t in the high country. Folks hiking the Pacific Crest Trail would have been getting wet.
This is looking across the Owens Valley in the Big Pine area to the east side of the Sierras. This was taken from the viewpoint on the road to the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest in the White Mountains of California.