July 26, 2024

The Pizen Switch Times

Established 2021

Local Photographer Richard Massey Captures Unique and Unexpected Portrait

Local photographer Richard Massey took a trip recently to the Mobius Arch in the Alabama Hills near the Eastern Sierra area of Mount Whitney and the town of Lone Pine in the Owens Valley.

Per Wikipedia “The Alabama Hills are a range of hills and rock formations near the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada in the Owens Valley, west of Lone Pine in Inyo County, California. Though geographically separate from the Sierra Nevada, they are part of the same geological formation.”

The Mobius Arch is named after a Mobius strip  :

Richard Massey wrote, “The last time Robin and I were in the Alabama Hills one of our goals was to get the standard tourist shot of Mt. Whitney from under Mobius Arch as the first morning light was just hitting the tops of the distant mountains. We headed down the 1/4 of a mile long trail at about 4 in the morning to beat the usual crowd.”

“To our dismay, when we arrived there were already three people sitting right on “our spot!” To say we were disappointed is an understatement. As we hiked down one of the nearby trenches I happened to look up and saw the three photographers and Mobius Arch silhouetted against the night sky. What a great opportunity to make some lemonade from lemons!  This is my favorite image from the trip. Although everyone (but me and Robin) seems to have the standard shot, I think we are probably among the very few to have captured the scene like this.”