Feeding Frenzy

Even though it is the weekend, we worked most of the day. Late in the afternoon, I broke away and drove up to Lake Tahoe. It was a beautiful day, and I wanted to shoot some panorama's and wide angles of the lake and the surrounding mountains with the warm light of late afternoon.

I drove to the overlook above Incline Village. The sun was low in the sky but still far from sunset, and reflecting brightly on the water. When I got there, I was the only one. By the time I set up my tripod and camera, another photographer had driven up and started clicking away. He left and I enjoyed the quiet interlude by myself. A few minutes later, he was back with 3 tripods, two backpacks and a long metal rail. He set up two of the tripods about three feet apart, then mounted the long metal rail between them. He then attached some sort of box on the rail, then mounted one of his cameras on the box. He then attached several different cords that were attached to several small monitors. He then set up the third tripod with another camera with a zoom lens on it. As he was doing this he explained that he was essentially a videographer, but like to take time-lapse shots.

About that time, the sun was starting to set. Within two minutes, the entire overlook parking area was full . . . of photographers. As I was shooting my pictures, there was activity all around as they quickly set up their tripods so that they could catch the sunset on the lake. I stopped counting at 20. It was like some sort of feeding frenzy.

But we were all transfixed as we watched and "clicked" away trying to capture the awesome sunset that we were witnessing.

I later found out that, with the exception of the first photographer, all the rest were part of a workshop sponsored by a local community college.

After the last vestige of red and purple had disappeared from the clouds and the reflections faded from the lake, they all packed up and left. I stayed long enough to capture the dusk shots on the lake, then I packed it in. The time-lapse guy was still there, however, with his mounted camera clicking away every second.

After I got home and processed my photos, I found two that I could not decide between. J said that he liked this one best. But here is the other.

Go LARGE to see the houses lit up.

Have a great Sunday!