Leon Turnbull Photography

Since we got back from Alaska, I had not been out photographing at all. I just had to get out this weekend. So up to Lake Tahoe I went for sunset on Friday night.

Bonsai Rock at Lake Tahoe was first made famous by photographer Elizabeth Carmel. Since her photo, everyone and their dog has attempted to photograph this semi-interesting rock sitting out in the waters of Lake Tahoe (very much like Eagle Falls overlooking Emerald Bay, which was first made famous by the late Galen Rowell). Bonsai Rock, however, is not marked on any map and thus, some have troubles finding it. Well, I found it easily enough, but to be perfectly honest, up until now, I have had no desire to go photograph Bonsai Rock. Probably, I have seen too many photos of it, and none of them (including Carmel’s) have given me an impression that this is an overwhelmingly interesting location. Certainly, Carmel’s is an excellent photograph (and others I have seen as well). But it does not have a “WOW” factor for me, as in “I absolutely must go see this place.” About the only thing that would make it a “WOW” for me would be if there were some amazingly spectacular sunset clouds hanging over the rock. Well …

As I arrived in Lake Tahoe a couple hours before sunset, I had no firm plan on where I wanted to shoot sunset. I had ideas, but they would depend on the weather situation once I arrived. Well, the weather situation was all stormy and overcast as I started to drive down from the summit towards the lake (this was not mentioned in the weather forecast, by the way). I quickly ruled out shooting sunset at Eagle Falls because of the overcast conditions (in hindsight, it actually might have been quite nice there). There was a bit of light over on the west side of the lake, though, so I decided to try to find a spot across the state line, on the east side looking across the lake. Thus, I came to Bonsai Rock. It didn’t seem horribly interesting after I scrambled down to the lake from the road. It is really just a big jumble of rocks all over the place. And it sure didn’t look like I would see any amazing sunset clouds either. The stormy overcast clouds had mysteriously vanished, and it was now completely clear. There were just a few light clouds across the lake. I thought it would be just an okay sunset, nothing spectacular. There was one other photographer down there, and he set up a couple hundred feet away from me, not shooting Bonsai Rock. By the time the sun sank behind the mountains, more clouds had appeared, just as mysteriously as when they initially vanished. Where did they come from? The sky lit up in color above Bonsai Rock, and for a full thirty minutes and more after the sun had set, we were treated to an absolutely incredible show, courtesy of God Almighty himself. The sky just kept getting redder and redder, and I thought the color would never dissipate. I just kept on clicking the shutter button. Finally, after 30 minutes, I could see the best of the show was done and the color faded away. But even after I packed up and started driving back towards South Lake Tahoe, it still remained very beautiful over the lake. It was an amazing evening.

Wow, what a great day we had. My wife’s aunt in Homer is very good friends of a couple that owns a boat that they use to charter for halibut fishing. The first night we were in Homer we stayed at their place because my wife’s aunt had not yet arrived from Nome. On the 4th day we were there, they were very gracious to take us all on a boat ride across Kachemak Bay to Gull Island and Halibut Cove. This little day tour would normally cost you plenty of dollars (for each person) if you were a regular tourist and wanted to go across the bay. But we were not regular tourists. For us, all we had to do was pay a little for the fuel. What a deal! And it was fabulous!

Gull Island is an incredibly cool little rock island that is home to thousands of birds. We saw plenty of seagulls there of course, as well as hundreds of common murres, and many other birds as well, including pelagic cormorants, pigeon guillemot, and even one single tufted puffin! I was very excited to see a puffin. It was something that I really wanted to see on our trip to Alaska, but I was not expecting to see one. Unfortunately, if was slightly far away and the photo did not turn out too great. In addition to seeing all these birds, we got up very close to this sea otter, which was just hanging out in the water. They are such curious little animals. It was very awesome to see one so close.

After visiting Gull Island, we went on to Halibut Cove, which is a very scenic little (private) cove. They let you dock there only if you eat at their (very expensive) restaurant. We knew that our kids would not really like what would be offered at the restaurant, so I was able to pack a lunch for them and myself, and we snuck away to a little spot after docking, while the rest of our crew ate lunch at the restaurant. After eating our picnic lunch, we went down to a little beach and waited for everyone, watching the tide rise. It is interesting to watch the tide in Alaska, because it rises incredibly fast and very high as well. We had to keep moving back from the shore a number of times as the tide kept rising and rising and rising. I was relaxing on the beach with my eyes closed, and had the kids watch the tide. I told them, “when the tide gets past such and such rock, tell me, okay”. Fortunately, they always told me in time so I didn’t get wet. ha ha.

Here’s another shot of some more otters we saw:

One of the shots that I really really wanted to get while I was in Alaska was a shot of Mt. Redoubt at sunset. Mt. Redoubt is a towering active volcano that erupted earlier this year in March (as you can see, it is still spewing a lot of ash). At the time, we were wondering if we would even be able to go to Alaska if it continued erupting (or if we’d have to wear gas masks the entire time we were up there). Mt. Redoubt is visible all along the west side of the Kenai Peninsula from many spots, including Anchor Point (which was about 5 miles from where we were staying in Homer). However, the weather did not co-operate for us the first part of the week while we were in Homer. It was rainy and overcast for much of the week. If it wasn’t overcast, then the mountain was still not visible because of cloud cover across the Cook Inlet.

On this particular evening, although the weather was pleasant in Homer, the volcano was still not visible due to cloud cover across the ocean as I headed out for sunset. I decided to go down to the Homer Spit for sunset. A big mistake in many respects. For one thing, as I drove into Homer, I was not paying attention to my speed and got pulled over by a police officer. Argh! The first speeding ticket I’ve ever gotten in my life, and I wasn’t even going all that fast. If I had been going 5mph slower, he probably wouldn’t even have stopped me. It made me very mad at myself, and it ruined my evening for sure. I went down to the beach in Homer, and I did manage to get a nice sunset shot of the mountains, however, the light wasn’t really all that great. I was disappointed.

On the way back to the cabin, I arrived at the top of a hill and saw for the first time Mt. Redoubt. And it was bathed in glorious sunset light. The sun had already set and I thought, “Crap! I’m too late!” and also, “Crap! I went to the wrong place for sunset!” I continued onto the cabin, and the light was still holding over the mountain. I decided to drive past the cabin, and continue on another 5 miles to Anchor Point, where I figured would be the best place to see the mountain. It was a long 5 miles (and I didn’t want to speed!). But the light was still holding when I finally arrived at Anchor Point. In fact, the color was completely amazing. I quickly got out my camera and took my photo of Redoubt. I did not enhance the color of this photo at all. This is how the scene really looked. Very shortly after taking the photo, the color dissipated. I only took this one shot. I am sure that God was holding the light longer for me, so I had time to get out there and take this photo. The next night, my wife and I went back to Anchor Point for the sunset, and we saw another beautiful sunset behind Mt. Redoubt, but the colors were not nearly as red as this and the light did not hold nearly as long after the sun had set behind the volcano (I will be posting that photo later).

By the way, the bald eagle on the beach in this shot was totally a bonus. I didn’t have time to compose the shot too well because I was in such a hurry to catch the light, and I had no idea the eagle was in my composition until after I arrived back home in California. Cool.

This is from Bishop’s Beach in Homer. The view across Kachemak Bay of the mountains and glaciers is definitely stunning. Dang, it’d be nice to live in Homer … if I could get a job there, and if it weren’t so darn expensive. My wife would like to move there, that’s for sure.

My father-in-law bought a (very small) cabin there, and he goes to Homer for about 1 or 2 weeks every year. My wife’s brother and his family were staying with him for the week. No room for us in that small cabin, though, so we stayed with my wife’s aunt, who also owns a summer cabin there (she lives in Nome for most of the year). Her cabin is incredibly nice, and she even has her very own private lake, with large open windows looking out onto the lake. There is a duck family that lives on the lake (they have their own private lake too). She says moose frequently come by her lake and cabin, but unfortunately we did not see any while we were there. I spent a lot of time just looking out onto the lake from the living room (and hoping to see a moose come by). I did see plenty of moose around other areas of Homer, though. My wife’s aunt is quite the adventurer and has many interesting stories to tell of her travels. She was the very first woman to cross the Northwest Passage in a yacht (I think I have that fact, correct). She said once that she wanted to kill herself because of the horrible sea-sickness. Sounds like a great trip to me. ha ha.

Bald Eagles are rather common in Homer, Alaska. In the winter, Homer is home to hundreds of bald eagles. It is illegal to feed them now, but there used to be a lady (the Eagle Lady) there who fed the eagles in the winter (she has since died). In the summer, there are still a large number of the birds. It is impossible to drive through Homer in the summer without seeing at least 20 eagles or more. To the Alaskan, they are very common birds. Almost as common as seagulls (there are plenty of seagulls there too). For those of us who don’t see bald eagles very often (such as here in California), it is a very big deal to see one. But to Alaskans, not so much. My 4 year old daughter, Nekoda, came up with the most perfect quote about this. Near the end of our trip, we were outside eating ice cream, and my wife said “Oh look, there’s an eagle. Oh, never mind, it’s just a seagull.” Nekoda responded, “Eagles … Seagulls … Whatever.” I think she hit the nail on the head with that one.

I have always loved bald eagles. They are easily my most favourite bird, and I was very much excited to go to Homer and photograph them. They are MUCH easier to photograph in the winter because there are so many more of them. But in the summer, it is still possible to get some nice, good, close-up shots.

I probably took well over a hundred different eagle photos, but here are some more of my favourites from the week: