Whitney: 15 Minutes Before Sunrise

"Whitney: 15 Minutes Before Sunrise" is one of the most ambitious projects I've taken on up to this point. It began with a photo; a massive, long exposure panoramic shot of the mountains at sunrise, found hanging above a family-friend's dinner table. It was taken himself atop the “99 Switchbacks” of Mt. Whitney, a prominence of 13,600 ft. In thinking about how I could depict this photo, the idea of a so-called 'real-time piece' began floating through my head; a piece tied to seconds, depicting a program that would unfold in real time. 

To me, this meant a piece of exactly fifteen minutes–– five minutes per movement–– with different motives coming and going as the terrain, weather, and speed of the hiker change freely throughout, all tied down by a a consistent nagging tick of a clock, emphasizing the consistent progression of time.  Throughout the piece, the hiker progresses up the switchbacks at various speeds, with each switchback–– all 99 of them–– marked with alternating diatonic motions until the summit.