Well, it's been a wonderful summer. I've been paddling almost every day. I've written a lot and taken a lot of photos. I launched tahoeclarity.com. I ate watermelon. I fished. I swam. I surfed. I dove. But all good things must end. My hope is the good things of the last few months will transition to more good things throughout this semester. And homework. SMH.
Photographer & Writer
Tahoeclarity.com is up!
Wow. That took a while. I finally got tahoeclarity.com published and running. Visitors to the site can check out two years of Lake Tahoe water photography and order prints. I built the website using Squarespace, which is a pretty good platform (also used on this site). I wish they'd build in some protection for photographers, who don't want their images stolen, though. Nonetheless, I'm happy to have a new project and a place to put my work from the lake.
Another Tahoe Quarterly cover
I had no idea Tahoe Quarterly was even considering this shot for the cover until I got the email telling me they'd picked it. I took this photo last summer when the lupine bloom near the Upper Truckee River was exploding. You could see the purple from way out in the lake. I spent an evening just wandering through the flowers, snapping pictures with different lenses and settings. I got a few really great ones, but this was one of the standouts for sure. Thank you Tahoe Quarterly!!
Surfing photography in Nicaragua
For the last two weeks, I've been sleeping on the top bunk above a guy named Meatball at a surf camp in Punta Miramar, Nicaragua. The town is a burgeoning surf haven with a couple of excellent waves nearby. A friend invited me to shoot photos for Surf Tours Nicaragua, which has an amazing facility right in front of one of the best breaks. If you're searching for barrels, give this places a try. Warm water. Excellent food. Wonderful company.
Introducing tahoeclarity.com
I'm working on a new website to house my underwater photos of Lake Tahoe. I made a short video introducing and explaining the idea.
Measuring Lake Tahoe's algae
Spring is Lake Tahoe's algae season. The attached algae is at its highest this time of year. I went out with some researchers from the Tahoe Environmental Research Center to check out how they monitor the growth. We motored the TERC boat to 10 different sites to check out what's happening beneath the surface. The researchers use a drysuit to do their monitoring. All I had was a wetsuit. I can relate to Katie's last quote in the video.
Journalist on the road
I've been on and off the road for a few days at a time for almost a year. I don't think I've spent a full week at home in Lake Tahoe since I started school in August, 2015. It's nice to be able to pick up and move around easily. But there are downfalls. Every once in a while I crave a full kitchen, especially an oven. On a recent trip to Point Reyes, we made up for some of our hasty travel cooking by getting a plate of grilled oysters at one of the homey shops by Drakes Bay.
Gary, my van, on Highway 1, near the Marshall Store.
What's at the bottom of Lake Tahoe?
I love swimming, but I haven't always. When I was a toddler, I ran around the edge of the pool and refused to jump in. I've been that way with Lake Tahoe lately— but for different reasons. I'm not scared of the water. I'm scared of the cold. I recently invested in a new 9mm Xcel dive suit. This helped. A lot. I doggy paddled around Sand Harbor in a snow storm last weekend. It was fun. I felt like a kid again.
