During a visit to the Sunrise area of Mount Rainier National Park, fog settled across the high country and obscured many of the distant views.
Instead of waiting for the mountain to appear, I began paying attention to what the fog was doing to the landscape around me.
Rocks, alpine trees, ridgelines, and patches of open ground appeared and disappeared as the mist moved through. The broad landscape became quieter and simpler. Distance was harder to judge. Small groups of trees and sections of rocky terrain began to stand on their own.
Those conditions became the basis for this small series of black-and-white photographs.
When the Larger View Disappears
Sunrise is known for expansive views of Mount Rainier and the surrounding Cascade landscape. It sits high on the east side of the mountain in subalpine country.
Fog changed that familiar experience.
From Sourdough Ridge, views that would normally extend across valleys and toward distant peaks were reduced to layers of gray.
Looking down toward Huckleberry Basin, the fog softened the distance and separated one part of the landscape from another.
The exposed rock became especially important once the fog removed much of the distant landscape. Shapes and textures that might normally have been part of a much larger view became subjects of their own.
Looking at the Smaller Landscape
With the distant views obscured, I kept narrowing my attention.
Individual groups of alpine trees became subjects. Their shapes stood apart against the fog instead of disappearing into a much larger mountain landscape.
This is one of the things I enjoy about working in black and white. When color is removed, the relationships between shape, texture, light, and tone become more apparent.
Fog simplified those relationships even further.
The same approach carried over to Frozen Lake.
Rather than trying to describe the entire lake and surrounding landscape, I concentrated on a small section of it. In the fog, even that limited view became enough for a photograph.
Responding to the Conditions
I didn’t need Mount Rainier itself to make these photographs.
The fog had changed what the landscape offered, and that became the point of the project.
Instead of broad mountain views, I found rocks, trees, ridges, and small sections of alpine terrain emerging from the mist.
That experience is one of the reasons I enjoy exploring with a camera. Conditions don’t always give me the photograph I might expect.
Sometimes they show me something else.
Further Explorations
Sunrise, Mount Rainier National Park, Washington
