Rich Capture
Bonsai Rock Study #1 - Lake Tahoe, Nevada, USA
For A Tribute to Our Unknown Heroes and Bonsai Rock #2 click away :-)
For my final view of this rock for now :-), click on Bonsai Rock #3 :-)
So, first I'd like to start by saying Happy New Year to all my flickrite friends. I hope all your photographic dreams come true for 2010. Thank you to all who have visited my photos and commented on them. It is much appreciated and motivates me to go out and find great spots to make wonderful images at.
Now, for those of you who have not shot in Lake Tahoe before, it can be a little tricky at times. Or so I was told before I went up for the past week and a half to enjoy some much needed time off. The main reason for my stay started out being relaxation and time with family and friends and soon became an obsession to get a few good shots at this one location.
The trip started the usually way any trip does. Go on flickr/google/etc. and try to find interesting places to shoot while in the area. And so I did. I ran across a fellow, using google, who had mapped out two "trails" and I use the word lightly, because there WAS no official markings of where they start or end off the highway, so I made a few notes in my friend Alex's cell phone of how to get there.
Short side note: Since I had returned to this same spot 7 times in the past week and a half. "Someone", but I couldn't say who, decided to add a piece of orange caution tape to one of the snow poles that cal-trans adds to the side of the road when it snows. So if anyone decided they would like to shoot this spot, drive southward from Sand Harbor .7 miles and you should see it on the right hand side of the road. The trail down to Bonsai Rock starts a few yards north of the orange tape :-)
Now, what makes shooting in Tahoe interesting is the weather. Most times you get either complete overcast or bright blue clear skies. Now, this is not always the case as you can see from this shot. The secrete to getting great shots here is the same as anywhere else. Pick a spot and keep returning to it until you get what you want. So that's what I did here. I just kept coming back every day at 1pm and keep talking test shots until sunset. Now, out of 10 days at this spot. I only got this kind of color on 2 days. The rest of the days were a mix of interesting fast moving clouds and complete blah due to overcast. I was able to shoot some great long exposure shots that will make awesome B&Ws. But as far as color. Two days and that was it. So the formula for great photos in Tahoe is either be very patient or very lucky. I prefer lucky, but that wasn't the case this time.
Another side note for shooting at this location or anywhere in Tahoe is Bring WARM CLOTHES. You will hate life if you don't. It was 17 Deg F in the mornings and 22 Deg F as soon as the sun went down in the evenings. This was not a problem for me or my friend Alex, which I have to thank for tagging along with me, seeing as he's not a photographer and could care less for taking pictures of a rock. I believe his quote to me was. "Dude...why the hell do you need to take another picture of that rock? For christ sake you own a house here, just come out and look at it again, next time you are up here." There is a certain logic to that for those who are not photographers. For, those who are, that statement just makes no sense. Is anybody with me on that?
Anyhow, this is a great spot to shoot. And out of the 7 days of shooting here I only ran into other people 1 morning out of 7 mornings and 7 evenings. Which was nice, but surprising seeing that Tahoe was packed with skiers galore for their Christmas vacations.
Now, this is not to say that this is a secrete spot in any way. There is clear evidence of people visiting this spot in the form of Graffiti, which is something that really pisses me off. Not only do I have to compose around it as a photographer, but I have to look at it ruining the absolutely perfect scene that is this location. It boggles my mind how anyone could think that their painting on rocks would be appreciated by anyone at all. I don't know what else to say about that, except that it is an absolute shame. :-(
So, as not to leave this story on a low note, I just wanted to leave you with a quote from my father who accompanied myself and Alex on one of the days we shot here. And I quote, "This is ridiculous. Next time you want me to join you on a shoot, there had better be women in bikinis and 80 degree weather, with sandy beaches and Pina Coladas. Not rocks covered in snow and 17 degrees. This is just stupid" Me and Alex could not stop laughing... Good Times.... Oh Yeah...Good Times....
Enjoy :-)
For the Techies :-)
Canon 5D Mark II
Exposure: 8sec
Aperture: f/16.0
Focal Length: 16 mm
ISO Speed: 50 (to get as even an exposure as possible)
Lens: Canon EF16-35mm f2.8L II
Tripod Gitzo G 026
Head Gitzo G1178M
Filters:
1)Standard B+W UV that never leave my lens
2) Hitech 1.2 Solid ND
3) Lee .6 & .9 soft edge ND grads
If I had 1 more slot in my Lee filter holder I would have added a Singh-Ray .3 reverse ND grad.
Bonsai Rock Study #1 - Lake Tahoe, Nevada, USA
For A Tribute to Our Unknown Heroes and Bonsai Rock #2 click away :-)
For my final view of this rock for now :-), click on Bonsai Rock #3 :-)
So, first I'd like to start by saying Happy New Year to all my flickrite friends. I hope all your photographic dreams come true for 2010. Thank you to all who have visited my photos and commented on them. It is much appreciated and motivates me to go out and find great spots to make wonderful images at.
Now, for those of you who have not shot in Lake Tahoe before, it can be a little tricky at times. Or so I was told before I went up for the past week and a half to enjoy some much needed time off. The main reason for my stay started out being relaxation and time with family and friends and soon became an obsession to get a few good shots at this one location.
The trip started the usually way any trip does. Go on flickr/google/etc. and try to find interesting places to shoot while in the area. And so I did. I ran across a fellow, using google, who had mapped out two "trails" and I use the word lightly, because there WAS no official markings of where they start or end off the highway, so I made a few notes in my friend Alex's cell phone of how to get there.
Short side note: Since I had returned to this same spot 7 times in the past week and a half. "Someone", but I couldn't say who, decided to add a piece of orange caution tape to one of the snow poles that cal-trans adds to the side of the road when it snows. So if anyone decided they would like to shoot this spot, drive southward from Sand Harbor .7 miles and you should see it on the right hand side of the road. The trail down to Bonsai Rock starts a few yards north of the orange tape :-)
Now, what makes shooting in Tahoe interesting is the weather. Most times you get either complete overcast or bright blue clear skies. Now, this is not always the case as you can see from this shot. The secrete to getting great shots here is the same as anywhere else. Pick a spot and keep returning to it until you get what you want. So that's what I did here. I just kept coming back every day at 1pm and keep talking test shots until sunset. Now, out of 10 days at this spot. I only got this kind of color on 2 days. The rest of the days were a mix of interesting fast moving clouds and complete blah due to overcast. I was able to shoot some great long exposure shots that will make awesome B&Ws. But as far as color. Two days and that was it. So the formula for great photos in Tahoe is either be very patient or very lucky. I prefer lucky, but that wasn't the case this time.
Another side note for shooting at this location or anywhere in Tahoe is Bring WARM CLOTHES. You will hate life if you don't. It was 17 Deg F in the mornings and 22 Deg F as soon as the sun went down in the evenings. This was not a problem for me or my friend Alex, which I have to thank for tagging along with me, seeing as he's not a photographer and could care less for taking pictures of a rock. I believe his quote to me was. "Dude...why the hell do you need to take another picture of that rock? For christ sake you own a house here, just come out and look at it again, next time you are up here." There is a certain logic to that for those who are not photographers. For, those who are, that statement just makes no sense. Is anybody with me on that?
Anyhow, this is a great spot to shoot. And out of the 7 days of shooting here I only ran into other people 1 morning out of 7 mornings and 7 evenings. Which was nice, but surprising seeing that Tahoe was packed with skiers galore for their Christmas vacations.
Now, this is not to say that this is a secrete spot in any way. There is clear evidence of people visiting this spot in the form of Graffiti, which is something that really pisses me off. Not only do I have to compose around it as a photographer, but I have to look at it ruining the absolutely perfect scene that is this location. It boggles my mind how anyone could think that their painting on rocks would be appreciated by anyone at all. I don't know what else to say about that, except that it is an absolute shame. :-(
So, as not to leave this story on a low note, I just wanted to leave you with a quote from my father who accompanied myself and Alex on one of the days we shot here. And I quote, "This is ridiculous. Next time you want me to join you on a shoot, there had better be women in bikinis and 80 degree weather, with sandy beaches and Pina Coladas. Not rocks covered in snow and 17 degrees. This is just stupid" Me and Alex could not stop laughing... Good Times.... Oh Yeah...Good Times....
Enjoy :-)
For the Techies :-)
Canon 5D Mark II
Exposure: 8sec
Aperture: f/16.0
Focal Length: 16 mm
ISO Speed: 50 (to get as even an exposure as possible)
Lens: Canon EF16-35mm f2.8L II
Tripod Gitzo G 026
Head Gitzo G1178M
Filters:
1)Standard B+W UV that never leave my lens
2) Hitech 1.2 Solid ND
3) Lee .6 & .9 soft edge ND grads
If I had 1 more slot in my Lee filter holder I would have added a Singh-Ray .3 reverse ND grad.