Donner Lake in Truckee, CA (Part 2) - Truckee/Tahoe February 2016

Back in February 2016, I took at trip to Truckee, CA and Lake Tahoe (both California and Nevada side). Most of the photos are of snowy winter scenery. I visited places such as Donner Lake, Tahoe City, Kings Beach, Abandoned Historical Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) Tunnels, and more. I took many photos and are here to share with you. The photos will be split over several blog posts. If you have been following me on here, you'd know there has been a ton of stuff happening in my life such as my old computer breaking down and health issues I've had to deal with. This delayed my photo processing by a very long time which is why I am only posting them now. I also did vlogs on this trip. If you are interested in viewing them, you can do so here.

Full Resolution Photos: If you want to see full resolution photos of any of the photos you see here, use the following links. If you wish to purchase prints of any of the photos, please contact me here. To view my best Lake Tahoe and Truckee photos for 2012 and 2015, use this link. To see my best monochrome and abstract photos for 2016, use this link. To see all of my photos from this trip, use this link.

Parts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 

The photos for today are from day 2 of my trip and were taken on 2/20/2016. The photos are of Donner Lake, Donner Creek, and other random parts of Truckee, CA. You will get to see a lot of snowy winter scenery in this blog post.

A photo of Donner Lake shot from a random pier on the side of Donner Pass Road. 

Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 39 19 30 N 120 16 11 W 

Black and white process of the photo above. 

Another photo of Donner Lake from the same pier. You can see on the on the right that another pier is covered in snow. The one I was standing on was also covered. It was a pain to walk on. Being from the San Francisco Bay Area, I am really not used to walking in snow! Also on the mountain in the center, there is the Abandoned Historical Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) Tunnels.

Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 39 19 31 N 120 16 11 W

 Black and white process of the photo above.

A photo of a bush growing on the shore of Donner Lake. Photo also shot from the same pier.  

Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 39 19 32 N 120 16 11 W

A photo of Donner Lake shot in a park on the side of Donner Pass Road. I am glad I actually got into the park this year because I remember it snowed so hard one year, the park and parking lot was just a giant pile of snow! On the mountain in the distance is the Abandoned Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) Tunnels. 

Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 39 19 29 N 120 16 60 W 

Black and white process of the photo above. 

At this point in my trip, I decided to get a photo of myself at Donner Lake. This is one of my most favorite view points of Donner Lake. Sunny in a winter wonderland. :) I took the photo on a self timer. 

A photo of Donner Creek shot from South Shore Drive. This creek leads into Donner Lake. I had much better luck getting a good photo at this spot back in 2012. You can see that blog post here. There was a lot more snow that year and it looked much prettier. On the mountain in the distance is the Abandoned Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) Tunnels. 

Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 39 19 13 N 120 17 25 W 

 Black and white process of the photo above.

A photo of Donner Creek and Donner Lake from the other side of the bridge I was on for the photo above. 

Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 39 19 13 N 120 17 25 W 

 Black and white process of the photo above.

A photo of a cabin in the woods shot at Summit Court in Truckee, CA. 

Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 39 19 14 N 120 17 28 W 

Black and white process of the photo above. 

I then headed to a park on the side of South Shore Drive. Here is a photo of the snow covered shore of Donner Lake. This was very hard to walk in. 

Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 39 19 19 N 120 17 25 W 

 Black and white process of the photo above.

A photo of Donner Lake shot from the park. 

Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 39 19 20 N 120 17 21 W 

Black and white process of the photo above. 

A photo of Donner Lake and its shore at the park. 

Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 39 19 21 N 120 17 21 W 

Black and white process of the photo above.

This is all the photos for today! I hope you have enjoyed the photos! In the next blog post I will have photos of Lake Tahoe from Tahoe City, CA. Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Instagram. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

Parts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 

Truckee & Tahoe (Part 1) - February 2016 Vlog

I went up to Truckee, CA with a few friends for vacation, sightseeing, and of course photography. Here is part 1 of the 3 part vlog series where I visited Truckee, Donner Lake, and Lake Tahoe. In the vlogs, you will get to see the videos of the places I took photos at, get some tips and tricks for photography and traveling in the great outdoors, and see little bits of my hangout with my friends (yes, it did get a bit crazy in a few of the clips).

In this vlog:

• Lots and lots of snow. 
• It is snowing in Truckee and I was taking photos out in the snowstorm!
• Hot tub with Sunny in a bikini. We play with icicles. 
• Donner Lake & Donner Creek
• Truckee River (Drive to Tahoe)

Warning: Hateful, rude, anti-LGBT comments will be deleted, and you may be banned from my channel.

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Monochrome Process - Lake Tahoe/Reno 2012

I have only recently started going into monochrome (black and white) photo processing. I have went back and redone some of my old photos into monochrome (black and white) photos. Here today, I have photos from my 2012 trip to Reno and Lake Tahoe. You can see those original photos here.

Full Resolution Photos and Prints: If you want to see full resolution photos or buy prints of any of the photos you see, they are up on my portfolio for viewing. To see my best Lake Tahoe/Reno/Donner Lake photos from 2012, use this link. To see all of my photos from this trip, use this link.

Message from the Photographer: If you have been following me, you know that I am planning to open up a portfolio for my photography. I plan on doing so after I am done with my road trip photos from the SF Bay Area to Vancouver, BC, Canada. I am almost done with those, therefore I already started planning for the portfolio. There will be several changes coming up. My photography business name will be "Naturetastic Photography" and I have already purchased my own domain which is "https://www.naturetastic.com". This blog will get it's own "subdomain" and will also be rebranded as Naturetastic Blog and the main domain will be linked to my portfolio. The Facebook page will be also rebranded, but my Twitter account will not change. Right now, the domain just redirects you to this blog because I haven't finished setting up the portfolio yet. I will continue providing you guys with blog posts here, and the old URLs will still work so there isn't anything you have to do on your end. I hope you guys enjoy these changes!

This photo was shot after sunset. I stopped at the Vista Point on I-80 to see Donner Lake. This photo was a 30 second exposure. This photo was from Part 1. 

 This was from my trip from Reno to Truckee, CA to go see Donner Lake. This photo is from the Hirschdale Road Exit (bridge) on I-80 near Truckee, CA. This photo was from Part 7. 

I think this might be Donner Creek? Not too sure though. Photo taken on the bridge on the east side of Donner Lake facing east. At approximately +39° 19' 25.31", -120° 14' 13.41" (Thanks Google Maps!). On the mountain in the distance is the Abandoned Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) Tunnels. This photo was also from Part 7. 

I think this was on my trip from Truckee, CA to Lake Tahoe. Where exactly I don't know. I found a place on the road and turned out because it looked beautiful covered in snow. It seems to be some kind of hiking trail head. Not too sure because everything was drowned in snow. This is an HDR composition I turned into a black and white. This photo was from Part 10. 

These are all the photos for today. I hope you have enjoyed them. Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Instagram. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

Lake Tahoe/Reno 2012 (Part 7)

If you live in the SF Bay Area, you probably know it never snows here. Many people like me who live in the SF Bay Area love snow. The nearest place that does get snow is in Lake Tahoe and Reno. Many of us go there in the winter to go ski and snowboard, but for me, I don't like any of that. I enjoy taking photos of snow and playing in it. :) Here are photos of Lake Tahoe and Reno I took during my trip in Christmas of 2012. I will be splitting them into several parts as I took a lot of photos there. Hope you enjoy.

Full Resolution Photos and Prints: If you want to see full resolution photos or buy prints of any of the photos you see, they are up on my portfolio for viewing. To see my best Lake Tahoe/Reno/Donner Lake photos from 2012, use this link. To see all of my photos from this trip, use this link.

Parts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 

Before I get started today, I would like to tell you about a great product to add to your camera bag. First question I for you is, do you do panoramas? If you do, have your panoramas ever turn out tilted? I have an easy solution for you. In order to have a straight panorama, not only do you have to get your camera leveled out, you also have to get your tripod leveled (usually the root cause of tilted panoramas)! Most tripods only have levels for your camera but not for the legs itself, but that is easily fixed. The product I want to tell you about today is the Manfrotto 032SPL Autopole Spirit Level. This tiny level is adjustable, and fits on most tripod's center columns so you can easily level your tripod legs so you can fix the root problem with panoramas. There isn't much else to say about this, and using it is pretty self-explanatory, so if you are interested in getting your panoramas leveled and straight the time that you take it, please check out the Manfrotto 032SPL Autopole Spirit Level.

Okay, now let's get started with today's photos. :) The photos for today are from my 3rd day. These photos are from my trip down to Donner Lake and also some photos from the residential area (on Point Drive for a few) near Donner Lake.

Continuing my trip down to Truckee, CA to go see Donner Lake. These first few photos are from the Hirschdale Road Exit (bridge) on I-80 near Truckee, CA.

Beautiful tall tree covered in snow at the Hirschdale Road Exit.

Then I proceeded to take a photo of the Truckee River on the bridge at the Hirschdale Road Exit. So much snow right?

Here is a photo of the bridge and a bridge for walking (not too sure what the right bridge is for) at the Hirschdale Road Exit. 

Tree covered in snow.

Then I proceeded to Truckee, CA and circled Donner Lake. This is not Point Drive yet, just some other residential area near the lake. 

More houses covered in snow! 

I think this might be Donner Creek? Not too sure though. Photo taken on the bridge on the east side of Donner Lake facing east. At approximately +39° 19' 25.31", -120° 14' 13.41" (Thanks Google Maps!). On the mountain in the distance is the Abandoned Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) Tunnels.

Photography Tip: Try to use lead in lines in your photos to guide the viewer's eyes to your subject. In the photo above, the creek acts as a lead in line. 

Same location above, just facing west this time. Donner Creek (again not too sure) flowing into Donner Lake. Donner Lake off in the distance. 

Now here are the photos I took on Point Drive (a small residential road near Donner Lake). The whole road was covered in snow! In fact, the hill was so slippery, I asked my parents to park the car on the side of the main road and I just walked down there. The hill is too hard to drive down on, might get stuck, in fact as I was going up hill, I saw a guy's car just slide half way downhill! Lucky he didn't hit anyone. 

Another shot of the snow covered roads. The area sure got a lot of snow fall this year. 

The reason I circled Donner Lake was to find a wide open area where I can get some landscape shots. Didn't really find one. Most of the parks and decks had too much snow piled up to access. Here is another shot in that residential area with a small view of Donner Lake. The snowy landscapes was beautiful too, but I wanted the lake. 

These are all the photos for today. I hope you have enjoyed them! Next time I got more snowy landscapes from residential areas and also some photos from Donner Memorial State Park. Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Google+. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

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