Mount Whitney Clearing Storm

I didn’t think we were going to even see Mount Whiney on this sunrise, as the clouds were fairly thick up around the peak of the tallest mountain in contiguous United States. Its ragged pointy top with its companion of several slightly smaller ones next to it, gives this scene a wonderful look no matter when you photograph it. And when you add in some clearing clouds with some nice, punchy morning light, we get an awesome dramatic mountain scene that was thrilling to photograph.
During this capture, I was spending time in the Alabama Hills photographing the amazing scenery in that area, including Mobius Arch (posts on that area coming shortly), and using Mount Whitney as a backdrop. But, as the heavy clouds began to break up and swirl around the mountain, I switched over to my longer 70-200 lens to zoom into the fourteener, perched high up on the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range, helping compress the scene and showcase the beauty of this mountain. I love how the peak of Mount Whitney is still hanging onto the clouds, while still getting some nice light upon its face. I felt this screamed for a dramatic black and white conversion, as the skies behind were a deep blue and the clouds were a bright, fluffy white from the sun shining upon them, giving way to a nice contrast of velvity blacks and crisp, sharp whites.