Sunrise in Alabama Hills
36.53754444, -118.1087469
Alarms went off at 4:30 am, giving us nearly two hours to climb out of bed at the Quality Inn (normally I prefer to camp, but hey, were working and its paid for), grab McDonald’s for breakfast and be at the spot we found while scouting yesterday. We pulled up to our spot with about 45 mins until even blue hour would be upon us, which gave us plenty of time wade through the the dark to try our shot at setting up some compositions for some astro images before we had to shoot the images for PolarPro.
This being my third trip to Alabama Hills I knew we were in for a treat as the sun began to rise over the mountains to the east. The sun rises above the horizon, which gives us enough light to start shooting, but the real magic happens just as the sun crests the mountains that surround Death Valley and hit Lone Pine Peak and Mt. Whitney. The sun slowly reveals the mountain range and eventually the entire valley, by this time all the flattering light is gone and it is far to harsh. But for about 30 to 40 minutes, the earth puts on a show of light and it is this sequence of events why I crown Alabama Hills “The king of Sunrises”. Its easy to get side tracked by the sunrise here but we were here to work and to get content for PolarPro and for the launch of their “Summit” Filter System.
The shoot was a huge success in terms of getting the shots PolarPro needed, but the highlight of the 24 hours spent in Alabama Hills was the location. It is such a cinematic location with 360 degrees of views, and ultra dynamic lighting which makes shooting so much fun at almost anytime of day. But now its 8am, the sun is blasting into the valley, and were hitting the road back toward Orange County.
Gear List:
Sony A7iii w/ Sony FE Wide-Angle Zoom 16-35mm f/2.8 GM
Google Pixel 2 XL
