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
First Light hitting Cascade Mountain Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada It's funny how you go to a new place to photograph it, with the intention of photographing a number of different locations, yet you end up going back to the same few spots over and over. That's how it was while we were in Banff: Willie and I kept finding ourselves at Vermillion Lakes during sunrise. On this particular morning the sky was starting to burn before we even got out of the car. We knew that this "pre-burn" meant we were in for a beautiful morning. As the sun continued to rise the colors in the sky grew more intense and we quietly snapped away, trying to not crack the thin ice forming on Second Vermillion Lake with our excitement. Light rays beamed out of Mount Rundle. Just when we thought the show was over, we turned around to find new scenes to photograph. While the sun rose in the east, we looked west and caught the first rays of light hitting Cascade Mountain. I loved the orange glow that it cast on the mountain, while the clouds behind it give the illusion that it's spewing fire. I kept the entire scene fairly dark to maintain the peacefulness of the waking morning. Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 155mm, f/2.8, 1/800 sec, ISO 100
