Alpenglow is a mysterious phenomenon. I had never seen it before this month. I thought I had when I mistook the sun's first rays on the peeks, something I had seen many times even before becoming such a dedicated photographer. But that was not alpenglow. So I was taken by surprise when we saw the real thing on the tallest peak in the lower 48, magnificent Mt Whitney

Alpenglow is unmistakable, even if you've never seen it before. The peaks glows with an amazing soft, warm light. They appear to have a radiance that emanates from within. It begins about a half hour before sunrise and at first it's very faint. Then it grows to a peak of intensity and starts to fade just before the sun peeps above the horizon. Experiencing alpenglow is exhilarating, especially on a majestic peak like Mt Whitney.

I photographed it from the valley below right at the base of the mountain using my Canon 70-200 f/2.8L lens with a -2/3 stop exposure compensation. Mt Whitney is unique among the Sierra Crest peaks in that it is set back from the crest a couple of miles. The valley that leads up to Whitney Portals and the peak beyond frames the mountain and sets it off. The lower cliffs weren't catching the alpenglow yet and were still painted in soft blues and purples from the early morning sky. I cropped the final image to a 4X5 aspect ratio to further emphasize the power of the mountain.

Post processing in the digital darkroom required very little adjustments. The most important was to pull detail from the shadowy forest in the bottom center and overcome some color gamut errors.

This was definitely one of the highlights of the entire workshop. This image lingered in my mind for the remainder of the time I was up there and is still with me, more than a week later as I write this. And I expect it will stay with me for a long, long time to come.