Lake Tahoe hidden spot

Lake Tahoe hidden spot

Lake Tahoe hidden spot

I always do a search for good photo locations when I visit an area, and a trip to Lake Tahoe in California was no exception. I read in an interesting blog post that Emerald Bay was a great location and so I decided to try some sunset shots there. Not too great as the sun didn’t really co-operate, but I did get chatting to a fellow photographer also out that evening and it turned out to be Scott Thompson – the author of the original blog post that had taken me there! He told me of some waterfalls just down the road from where I parked that were great for sunrise images so the next morning I was there again and over the wall, across the river and there I had snow, the waterfall and the sun rising in the distance!

Sunrise at Emerald Bay on Lake Tahoe from the top of Lower Eagle Falls as the torrent of water from snow melt flows into the lake from Sierra Nevada Mountains
Sunrise at Emerald Bay on Lake Tahoe from the top of Lower Eagle Falls. Find prints of this image in my online store

I moved around that area to try to capture different views of the rapidly flowing water, looking for compositions that appealed to me. This one with a side view of the many elements of the Lower Eagle Falls was particularly appealing:

Sunrise at Emerald Bay on Lake Tahoe from the top of Lower Eagle Falls as the torrent of water from snow melt flows into the lake from Sierra Nevada Mountains
Sunrise at Emerald Bay on Lake Tahoe from the top of Lower Eagle Falls as the torrent of water from snow melt flows into the lake. Prints available here

It is always fascinating to search around an area for the perfect shot and so I left my waterfall and tried one of the rocky areas with a view of Emerald Bay. Using a small aperture on my lens gave me this image of the rising sun creating a starburst behind one of the trees struggling to grow out of the rock:

Sunrise at Emerald Bay on Lake Tahoe between California and Nevada with snow covered Sierra Nevada Mountains. Prints available here in my store
Sunrise at Emerald Bay on Lake Tahoe between California and Nevada with snow covered Sierra Nevada Mountains. Prints available here in my store

And finally, a broader look at the lake and bay with an interesting tree providing some foreground interest:

Sunrise at Emerald Bay on Lake Tahoe between California and Nevada with snow covered Sierra Nevada Mountains. Prints available here in my store
Sunrise at Emerald Bay on Lake Tahoe between California and Nevada with snow covered Sierra Nevada Mountains. Prints available here

Incidentally, this morning was almost the end of my career as a photographer. As I was coming down the hill to this location in my rental car, I felt the car start to slide on the wet (and, yes, icy) road as I tried to brake. Luckily, I managed to slow down before the bend, but I did then check the tires on the car. This was the front wheel:

Front wheel tires or tyres on car badly worn and bald because of poor tracking or alignment of the wheels. This image is not for sale!

All the way back to San Francisco we were watching out for the slightest bit of rain or water on the road. Not a great amount of grip left on this tire!

This Post Has 4 Comments

    1. admin

      22 Feb 2022 Reply

      Thanks Louis. Luck comes into it with good light but being there is half the battle!

  2. Deb Beausoleil

    28 Feb 2022 Reply

    What a wonderful story and the photographs are breathtaking! What a stroke of luck to run into the author of the blog that wrote the article that brought you there. It’s such a small world.

    1. Steve Heap

      28 Feb 2022 Reply

      Thanks! Yes, it was really lucky to meet him! The weather helped as well!

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