Lake Tahoe in winter has some fabulous vistas. Add in a nice sunrise and you have the makings of a memorable photograph.
Early in our family visit to Lake Tahoe, the forecast called for some early morning clearing in an otherwise cloudy day. It had snowed recently and the potential was there for fresh untracked conditions. Although it was cold my daughter and I knew we had to get out there for sunrise. This particular vantage point looks over Emerald Bay on the southwest side of Lake Tahoe and would provide a nice view of the developing sunrise. Driving through the mountains in the early morning light with fresh snow on the roads was a special time. As an added bonus there was very little traffic especially considering the end of year crowds in Lake Tahoe. When we finally arrived at the turnout, there was no one else there. I set up the tripod and camera as the sky was starting to lighten. The clouds were moving into some nice patterns above the mountains and things were looking pretty good. Once we reached the official sunrise time with no real color in the sky however, I was getting a little concerned. A short time later patience prevailed as a faint glow of color appeared in the sky. It continued to intensify and spread across the sky over the next few minutes and rewarded us with the view you see here. After I made the image above, another photographer arrived but by the time he got set up he had missed the best light.
This particular location is pretty popular as evidenced when we went again the next day but in the afternoon. I wasn’t expecting much from an image perspective and I was right but I wasn’t ready for the deluge of people there. It was pretty chaotic with cars trying to find spots to park and people everywhere all trying to get selfies in front of the view. Quite a contrast from the quiet early morning serenity you see in the image above. It pays to get up early and get there while everyone else is still in bed. Yes it was cold and with the wind at this elevated position the windchill was in the single digits. But you may just get a view that makes you forget about the cold. You’ll never know if you don’t venture out.
Nikon D810 with Nikkor 16-35mm @ 16mm. F/11 at 1/10th second. Graduated neutral density filter to lower the sky values.
