It had been four years since I visited Rainier. I was glad to be back. The decision to here for photography came to me after looking at the weather very closely. I knew the marine layer clouds (in the valley here) streaming in on a westerly flow would max out at around 5000ft on this morning, leaving Paradise in fog and Sunrise (a location on the east side of the peak) mostly clear. I never loved the perspective from either of those locations a lot anyway though, as neither offered the type of overlook that makes the peak stand up big like high in the Tatoosh Range would. I also knew there was a frontal band crossing the state from west to east and knew that there would be nicely shaped vertical clouds associated with that if I was looking north or south with a wide angle. A look at the satellite loop at 3am on this morning confirmed to me there would be a flaming sunrise, as the eastern skies were completely clear and the clouds over my position were mid/high level. I then hiked up through the fog with some friends of mine, arriving above it, as I suspected, near the top of the Tatoosh.
The image was mainly captured in a single exposure at about 16 or so mm, however, 3 additional exposures were made throughout the focal range at f/16 and then hand-blended in for DOF on the Heather closest to me.
Hope you enjoy.
Sig Nordal 