A Glenn Morse Print: Mormon Lake View of the San Francisco Peaks

Here at Morse Bros Studios I print some of my brother's old photos as his contribution to the studio. One my favorites I dug up a few years ago was a large format 4x5 transparency he took on Ektachrome with his Wista 4x5 camera.

I recently planned to make a back-lit presentation frame from it and so I decided to scan it one more time so I had a good copy to make prints from in the future. It scans out at about 500 MPixels at 6400 dpi. I cleaned up the dust and scratches and ended up with a nice scan.

I know exactly where this photo was taken on the southern edge of Mormon Lake south of Flagstaff. The view is to the north and the bluffs on either side of the lake frame the distinctive silhouette of the San Francisco Peaks. This was taken sometime in the mid to late 1980s and at the time the lake was usually full of water. I note now from Google Earth the lake seems dry these days and more pasture than lake. It was always somewhat of a ephemeral lake. Shallow it would rise and fall with greatly fluctuating precipitation typical of the climate around Flagstaff.

On the evening the photo was taken I can image my brother waiting by the roadside camera erected on the tripod and waiting for the light. The dry summer air cooling and perhaps he was nervous as I am anticipating the conditions of light and wind and exposure and estimating the right time to open the shutter. The photo was taken well  into blue hour as blue is the dominant color though the warmer magentas show through. He was blessed with a spectacular cloud formation.

Original 4x5 image

The image is perhaps a little under-exposed and the dark cloud in the upper right corner is perhaps a little too dark. Still the photo has a cool drama that I love. Because of this dark cloud effecting the balance and the great amount of dark foreground I chose to crop it to my current favorite aspect ratio of 3:1. It fits the landscape well and brings a panoramic view to the scene. This I printed to 15 inch and 30 inch widths.

Final crop in 3:1 aspect ratio

The detail in the distance is exquisite. For those who know the area the San Francisco Peaks are clearly visible including left ot right Agassiz, Fremont, Doyle with Sugarloaf Peak on the right. In the gloaming in front of the Peaks you can just make out Mt Elden. On the far right a some small bumps on the horizon are O'Leary Peak and perhaps Sunset Crater. I made a crop to show more of this detail.

Crop to show mountain details. Sugarloaf peak in the center. 

Here is the Google Street View version from the highway today.