In this incredible black and white photograph by Peter Essick, we see mighty thunderclouds towering over Banner Peak (12,942 ft/3,945 m) on the right and Mount Ritter (13,149 ft/4,008 m) on the left. Both are situated in the Ansel Adams Wilderness area in the Sierra Nevada of California, USA. In the foreground is Garnett Lake. As Essick recalls in his book, THE ANSEL ADAMS WILDERNESS:

“It was raining lightly when I took this photo with a 2-stop neutral density filter on the sky. I had to keep drying the filter as the light changed quickly when the sun moved in and out of the clouds. When I made the print, I felt it was important to give the feeling of backlight in the clouds without losing the billowy texture.”

For more information on the recently released book, see the press release below.

 

Photographer and wilderness preservationist Ansel Adams devoted his life to producing iconic images that convey our deeply personal connection to nature. A new book from National Geographic, THE ANSEL ADAMS WILDERNESS (National Geographic Books; ISBN 978-1-4262-1329-8; April 15, 2014; hardcover; $22.95), pays tribute to Adams and the California Sierra Nevada wilderness area — immortalized in his photographs 75 years ago and named in his honor — through striking black-and-white pictures by acclaimed photographer Peter Essick.
 
Published in collaboration with The Wilderness Society to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act — created in 1964 to protect 9.1 million acres of federal land — the book also commemorates the 30th Yosemite National Park to the west and the John Muir Wilderness to the south and east for Adams. In addition to creating some of the world’s most compelling photos, Adams was devoted to protecting wilderness, and he served as a Wilderness Society council member and supported the organization for more than four decades.
 
Organized by terrain type — peaks and lakes, passes and meadows, headwaters and rivers, trees and plants — the stunning images in THE ANSEL ADAMS WILDERNESS showcase the powerful landscape of California’s High Sierra through the modern lens of digital photography.