Quick Visit to Denali Park; The Mountain (Sort Of) (June 2021)
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You can't always get what you want. Viewing Denali is never guaranteed. It wasn't visible on our entry, and there were prominent clouds over and around all the mountains on departure. A dense layer hid Denali. But finally there was a brief moment when the peak was visible, and the tour bus stopped for a few shots.
The mountain, The Mountain, when fully visible is iconic, massive, very beautiful, and inspiring, full of complex facets, shadows, declivities, ridges. But even when it is partially obscured, it commands attention: the peak and highest snowfield visible above the clouds stand improbably higher than the viewer would have guessed. The clouds accentuate its magnitude.
The first few images below were relatively "wide" views of Denali, taken at a focal length of 140mm, which is essentially a short telephoto focal length. Some were converted to B&W (obviously). The focal length increased as shooting progressed; the longest focal length was 560mm, although some frames were significantly cropped, especially the closest view of the snowfield just below the peak; had climbers been on that field, they would probably have been discernible.
This mountain and the surrounding range seem to demand conversions to B&W. But perhaps that is to be expected from a sensibility inspired by the work of Adams and Washington. Striving to emulate them is justified, if challenging or futile. On the other hand, Sydney Laurence would have been puzzled that anyone with a full palette might choose to use only blacks, whites, and grays for Denali.
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The "foothills:"
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After a lifetime of mainly expressing myself with words, my postings here will mainly rely on images. They will speak for themselves to some extent, but I'll usually add a few comments of explanation. I've taken photographs for decades, since the 1950's, inspired in part by my father's photographic skill. Four years of photo assignments and quality darkroom time eventually gave way to decades of casual and family picture-taking. I re-immersed myself when I left film and turned to digital.