Skip to main content

Topaz Lake, California

  


Traveling from Sonoma County to the Eastern Sierras I will often stay overnight in Topaz Lake to break up the long drive and give myself a little more time to explore along the way.  Topaz is an unincorporated community located on highway 395 just south of the Carson Valley.  The California-Nevada border goes right through the middle of the lake. It is a quiet, mostly residential area with a couple of motels, a gas station and a casino.  Waking up before sunrise is a real treat as the community has not yet begun to stir and it is such a serene scene.  


To the south of town there are a number of side roads to explore that run across the valley to the east, along with a road that runs on the east side of the valley, roughly parallel to 395 for a stretch.  The picture above is a morning shot from the east side of the valley.


This is an image of the valley south of Topaz, looking north at sunset.  At about this time of day the coyotes begin calling to one another.  The smell of sage, a cool gentle breeze, coyotes howling and the sun setting.  Couldn't ask for more.


The community of Topaz and Topaz Lake are situated right next to highway 395.  I wanted to get a shot of the Milky Way over the lake and found a pull off where I could walk down to the shore.  I was up very early in the morning and shooting to the southeast.  Because my Milky Way shots were 25 seconds long I had to time the shooting carefully as the lights from the passing trucks lit up the trees, ruining the shots. I eventually got some undisturbed frames and came away satisfied.

To follow this blog and have it delivered to your email, follow this link:

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Aurora Borealis May 10: A Northern Lights Extravaganza

As a quick update: All of these images were taken on the night of May 10-11, 2024. on San Juan Island WA.  We were taken by surprise in the middle of our vacation when it was announced there was to be an aurora display that would likely be visible from our location.  What an understatement!  What we witnessed was simply out of this world.  We saw colors I did not know existed in the auroras, especially the light pinks and, of all things, orange (neon).   There were four of us on the grounds at the Trumpeter Inn during the "show".  I was the only one with a DSLSR camera so the others would see something interesting and I would point my camera in that direction and take a timed exposer.  Most were in the 15 to 20 second length.   At one point, Jan looked up straight overhead and saw something that was quite unusual; it looked like some kind of convergence.  I pointed the camera overhead and took this picture, which I find startling....

Art Display At The Center For Spiritual Living, Santa Rosa

 The Center for Spiritual Living Santa Rosa, has a wonderful program that encourages artist members to display their work.  The work is hung in the Social Hall and typically has about twenty pieces hanging for two months at a time.  On March 1rst I will be hanging several images taken in Iceland, along with some wildlife images, including foxes, coyotes, eagles and kites.  I will also have some paintings by my mother and two of my own.  I am pretty excited about this showing.   One of the pictures I will have in the show is of Godafoss, a beautiful waterfall in Iceland.  When I first saw pictures of this waterfall I knew I wanted to go to Iceland to take pictures of it.  This composition required gettin into some very cold water.

Mesa Arch & The Washer Woman

When the first light of the day hits the underside of an arch in Canyon Lands or Arches National Parks they glow a beautiful shades of crimson much like those found in slot canyons. A magnificent example is Mesa Arch located in Canyon Lands, Utah. However, as with many of the more popular photography spots, if you want to get a good shot you have to be there early. We were staying in Moab and it was about an hour’s travel time from the motel to getting on site at the arch. But arriving at or near sunrise would not be sufficient, we had to be there at least two hours before sunrise in other to have assurance of a front row seat. This is one of the parts shooting sunrises that I enjoy tremendously. Getting up around 3 am, traveling to the site under the stars, walking in to the location in the dark and setting up without being able to see the whole scene that is going to unfold. On this morning we had a treat. We were the first ones there so we could pick our spots. But more...