A beautiful glassy morning at Emerald Bay. We stopped for a quick peak as we drove over to Squaw for a day of very warm winter ... err .. spring skiing

A beautiful glassy morning at Emerald Bay. We stopped for a quick peak as we drove over to Squaw for a day of very warm winter ... err .. spring skiing

Drought Rock

Photography. Skiing. Hiking. The 3 things I tell people that I spend my time doing ... or at least I used to tell people until California started enduring drought after drought. When I planned a February ski trip I never thought that there would be so little snow that many Tahoe resorts were forced to close early. After spending a fun day avoid rocks while skiing at Squaw, Rebecca and a few friends and I decided to go to my favorite spot for sunset: Bonsai Rock. It was immediately apparent how low Lake Tahoe is. When I first visited in 2011 you could practically swim right up to the edge of the “ramp”. Now it’s 5 feet above the water. On the other hand there’s a ton of boulders that are great as foreground elements! Sunset that night was gorgeous but cloudless. The next day our skiing at Alpine Meadows was a lot like the day before but with one noticeable difference: the sun kept getting hidden behind thin clouds. With the sky looking juicy we left the slopes early and made our way back to Bonsai. A quick text message from Jeff/Escaype confirmed my own research: tonight was going to be beautiful! Rebecca and I were one of the first to arrive and we quickly staked out 2 different spots. Thanks to Social Media and Google Maps I had the feeling that it would get crowded quickly. By the time the sun had set there was a line of 20 photographers elbowing for spots (which is insane in itself because this area is so huge). In fact, I had to somewhat forcefully remove a photographer from setting up directly in front of her! Sure enough once the sun set, the sky lit up with reds, pinks, purples, and oranges and lasted that way for over an hour! Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8: 17mm, f/11, 1.0 sec, ISO 50

Draught Rock

Photography. Skiing. Hiking. The 3 things I tell people that I spend my time doing ... or at least I used to tell people until California started enduring drought after drought. When I planned a February ski trip I never thought that there would be so little snow that many Tahoe resorts were forced to close early. After spending a fun day avoid rocks while skiing at Squaw, Rebecca and a few friends and I decided to go to my favorite spot for sunset: Bonsai Rock. It was immediately apparent how low Lake Tahoe is. When I first visited in 2011 you could practically swim right up to the edge of the “ramp”. Now it’s 5 feet above the water. On the other hand there’s a ton of boulders that are great as foreground elements! Sunset that night was gorgeous but cloudless. The next day our skiing at Alpine Meadows was a lot like the day before but with one noticeable difference: the sun kept getting hidden behind thin clouds. With the sky looking juicy we left the slopes early and made our way back to Bonsai. A quick text message from Jeff/Escaype confirmed my own research: tonight was going to be beautiful! Rebecca and I were one of the first to arrive and we quickly staked out 2 different spots. Thanks to Social Media and Google Maps I had the feeling that it would get crowded quickly. By the time the sun had set there was a line of 20 photographers elbowing for spots (which is insane in itself because this area is so huge). In fact, I had to somewhat forcefully remove a photographer from setting up directly in front of her! Sure enough once the sun set, the sky lit up with reds, pinks, purples, and oranges and lasted that way for over an hour! Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8: 17mm, f/13, 8.0 sec, ISO 100

Dry Spell

After skiing one day at Squaw, a few friends and I made our way down to Bonsai Rock to watch sunset. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky but it gave me a nice change to scout out a few locations in case the following evenings proved better. The next day was spent skiing at Alpine Meadows and the entire day I kept looking up at the clouds eagerly: “This could be an amazing sunset.” Rebecca and I left the slopes early and made our way to Bonsai, knowing that it could get fairly crowded. A quick check with Jeff and his Escaype app confirmed my research: tonight was going to be beautiful! We arrived early and staked out spots. Unfortunately by the time the sun had set the clouds had moved a bit and were no longer positioned right in my composition. I had to scramble and quickly move slightly to maximize the amount of color in the frame. I used a slow shutter speed to turn the water into a glassy reflection Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8: 19mm, f/13, 1.6 sec, ISO 100

After staking out a gorgeous spot for sunset, I wanted to make sure to move a little bit and try getting a few more snaps. The sun had set more west (more to the right) than my original composition and I moved left so I could capture the pretty part of the rock and the massive cloud burn that was occuring to my right. A slow shutter helped bring out the reflections.