Alabama Hills in Lone Pine, California. It was my first time here, and I was gobsmacked at the incredible terrain in the area. I am always looking for some atmosphere to create a little drama around the mountain landscape, but today, this would not happen, and I would need to shoot it as is.

Ultimately, I decided on a monochromatic image because of that very thing. The blue was just too blue, the sun was too bright, and the clouds were too few. All the contrast in the rock and the white from the little snow left on the peaks pointed to a black-and-white shot.