Friday, October 18, 2013

Classic Fall Foliage in Mono County - Eastern Sierra Nevada

Last weekend, we passed by Mono county on our trip to South Lake Tahoe for fall color. Even though we didn't plan anything for June Lake and Lee Vining area but we were in for a big treat. Every other year, we always miss the peak of the season in this area. We either went too early or too late. But this year, it was just perfect. It was a cool late Sunday afternoon with a lot of cloud in the sky. First we stopped at Conway Summit and the viewpoint was just off the Highway 395. You can take this photo even from your car and that was an amazing thing. We loved how the patchy clouds create different light and dark area on the ground. Then we drove off to June Lake loop.

Colorful quaking aspen fall foliage in Eastern Sierra Nevada June Lake Loop near Mammoth Lakes in Mono County Southern California.
By the time we got to June Lake loop, it was already late. Most of the road was in the shade already. However, it was the best time to photograph the area. When foliage is at the peak, we find it more colorful in soft-light or in the shade. In addition, there was not a lot of traffic at all. So it wasn't hard to take photo in the middle of the road (I'm not recommending anyone to try this, please be careful).
These photos were taken only last week (10/13/2013). So, it is still peaking right now. It's not too late to go this weekend.

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Uncooperative Weather over Emerald Bay Lake Tahoe

Raining in Emerald Bay South Lake Tahoe California in Black & White
We arrived at Emerald Bay viewpoint around 6:45am on a cold Sunday autumn. There was a lot of cloud in the sky, but we hoped that maybe it would break apart during sunrise just enough to give us some magical light. But it never did. We saw about two or three other photographers at the viewpoint hoping for the same miracle. It was cold and the breeze was freezing literally.  Instead of keep searching for the color in the sky, we focused on an approaching storm. The cloud formation was really interesting and it started to rain hard in the middle of the lake. We know that we couldn't get much color out of an overcast stormy weather so we just went with the flow and anticipated images would be converted to black&white. It was our first time visiting lake Tahoe and it was a fantastic experience even though we didn't see the sunrise that we hoped for.