3 Photos of Bonsai Rock, Lake Tahoe

I love being in the position of amateur photographer. Sure, I have dreams that someday I'll get to the point where people are clamoring to scoop up my limited edition prints, but  right now I'm free to shoot whatever and however I want. I was talking to a photographer a while back who his own gallery and sells his prints in the $500-$3000 range. He has collectors and followers who buy his work, which is gotta be nice. He mentioned that he produces work with a signature look and when a new print represents that "look" it sells well. 

For an ADHD photographer like me, that doesn't sound like as much fun as just shooting whatever I feel like. Two months ago, if you had asked, I would have said "monochrome is for me". I love classic black and white landscape photography. Artist like Barry Goldwater (that's right....BG was a world class photographer), Clyde Butcher, and Michael Kenna produce(d) photos I'd love to have hanging on my wall. I also really enjoyed developing my own film  and can't wait to do it again.

However, this month it's all about Fuji Velvia and supersaturation. That's because the ping pong balls of my attention lottery are greatly influenced by the strips of film I have before me. And this week I have, you guessed it.....Velvia. There is nothing like getting a roll of properly exposed slides back from the lab. Unlike color negative film, with slides what you see is what you get. And this is what I saw.

You've seen this location before, and will see it again. 

The first two are actually from the same night taken about 10 minutes apart. I got to the beach and rushed down to my favorite perch just in time to get the orange and yellows in the first photo. There was about 5 or 6 other photographers snapping away with their 5DIII and D800E's when I got there. I was trying to compose and execute this frame to the sound of all those 5 shot AE bursts for future HDR manipulation. I pressed the shutter 4 times that night. 3 were to get the first shot. When I thought the color was at it's peak, I took one picture at the exposure I felt was right, then for safety I took an exposure one stop brighter and one stop darker. I'm glad I did, because this is the one stop brighter exposure.

Bonsai Rock Warm. Eat it digital HDR.

After all the color was seeming to fade, and a freshening wind came in from the South, the other photographers started making their back to the road, leaving me all alone. I had one frame left on my roll and was super excited about what I had just seen. I wanted to finish up the roll in the camera and I like the solitude and quiet of a deserted beach, so I stuck around. The oranges and reds quickly faded from the sky and the yellow on the horizon was all that was left. I waited about 10 more minutes and then suddenly, for reasons that I can't even fathom, the sky momentarily brightened and the grey clouds took on a purple glow from within. It was awesome. I was so lucky to have been there and witness it. I metered the scene, tried to figure out reciprocity failure in my head as I counted Mississippi's for the exposure. In a word, I nailed it. This is Velvia at it's best. On a technical note, even though the values and density appear about the same in the two photos, the second one was almost 3 times longer of an exposure since it was so much darker. 

Bonsai Rock Medium. Who can tell me the Physics lesson on display here?

The photo below was taken the next night. Conditions were obviously much different. A stiff wind was coming out of the west and there was a lot more atmospheric haze, but sparse cloud cover. In fact, the clouds in the photo are about the only clouds in the sky that night. Lucky for me they worked right into my composition. This photo has a more dynamic feeling to it. It seems like the lake was painted by an artist trying to capture the movement of the waves. (It was.... me). This was truly the last light of the day as the color faded from the sky even as my shutter was open and recording this on film.

Bonsai Rock Cold

Three different photos taken over a period of 24 hours. All the same subject and same equipment, but in my mind, they each project a completely different feeling. I feel like one could visit this spot every week and each time come away with a completely different look. I said in an earlier post that I am going to use this location as a way to experiement with my equipment and skills, and so far that is working out. Each time I go, I feel more confident in my ability. Hopefully, this will equate to more consistent results no matter where I go.

Chris