A Clear View of Mt. Denali

Our guide said fewer than 10% of visitors to Denali National Park get to see the the top of Mt. Denali. Most leave disappointed that fog or clouds covered its peak during their entire visit. Snow fell the night before our tour of the park--an end of season snow the locals said. The first snow signals the end of the tourist season and serves as notice to residents that soon roads in the area would become impassible due to snow and ice. Then, the few park rangers remaining on duty patrol the park using dogsleds and teams of dogs to travel through the park using frozen river and streams as roads. However, the skies cleared the morning of our tour providing us with this spectacular view.

The image is everything I had imagined. The colors and lines in the scene are soothing. The warm, fall colors of the plants in the foreground contrast with the cool violets and blues of the mountains. In a few weeks this scene will all be covered in snow. I don't normally like to place my subject in the middle of the frame but the shapes and lines of the scened seemed to tell me this was the best choice. There are even enough wispy clouds remaining to create an interesting sky for this photo.

Then, for those who are drawn to a more painterly look, I created a mixed media art work combining the photograph with digital textures and brush strokes and applied more editing techniques..