Snow fell last Thursday on Mt. Diablo in Contra Costa County—not an everyday occurrence. The day after, I hiked up a steep, muddy trail near my house to reach an overlook on the Lafayette Reservoir Rim Trail. These photos were taken with my monochrome camera. I used 35, 50 and 75mm prime lenses, all with either an orange or a red filter.

Sometimes the sun would go behind a cloud and not shine on the snow on the mountain. I kept waiting for it to come back out, like it did here.

These photos were taken around 5:30 p.m., when the sun was at my back. It lit up the clouds, making them as important a part of the scene as the reservoir and Mt. Diablo.

This was later, when the water tower at lower left was completely in the shade. But the clouds were even bigger and brighter.

A different composition, with the mountain to the left. Still great clouds.

I did a fair amount of processing to increase the contrast on the mountain and make the snow stand out.

It was worth the hike up the muddy trail—especially because it’s not likely to snow again on Mt. Diablo anytime soon.