Scale

Wind Turbines at Dawn — Altamont Pass, California

We aren't big fans of wind turbines, and what they do to wildlife and the landscape, what they cost environmentally to build and maintain, their unreliability. But there is something compelling about them. We don't live too far from several large turbine installations at Fairfield and Altamont Pass. [But you should see the deployment around Tehachapi, the birthplace of the industry. It is impressive.]

Anyway, with the forecasts calling for colorful skies, I drove up to Altamont in the dark, and with a traffic jam at the I-5/205/580, but finally made my way to a prospect from which I had no previously imaged the turbines. As the sky color came up, I noticed cows grazing near the base of one of the turbines. The difference in scale was jarring. The image all but drew itself.

Fine Art California Wind Farm Photography Print

Provenance: Phase One XF | IQ3.100 | Mamiya 300mm