Sunrise rays through a granite window on the Mount Whitney Trail, looking east over the Owens Valley.

Sunrise Through the Windows

Mount Whitney, California

Shooting into a rising sun is normally how you make a bad photograph. The exception is enough haze in the air to turn the light into visible shafts, and there was a valley full of it. The granite does two jobs — it frames the opening, and it gives the lens something dark to sit against, which keeps flare manageable. Metered for the sky and let the rock fall to silhouette.

Nikon Z 7_2 · NIKKOR Z 24-120mm f/4 S · 28mm · f/11 · 1/160 · ISO 250

July 20, 2026

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