Since we were fortunate enough to be attending a wonderful family wedding in Galena yesterday afternoon, it only made sense to make the short trip over the mountains to Lake Tahoe for sunset. As we came into Incline Village, I wasn’t sure whether to try something along the east shore like Bonsai Rock or Sand Harbor or head over to Emerald Bay. After driving by both locations on the east shore and seeing the thousands of people, my decision was already made.

When we arrived at Emerald Bay, the sky was very overcast and there were still way too many people way too close to me. I felt like someone was going to bump me or my tripod into the water. I really had doubts about being able to get a nice photo with some color at sunset. As sunset got closer, a few breaks in the clouds began to form and the crowds really died down. As my optimism grew, the sky just lit on fire and the foreground got noticeable brighter from the clouds reflecting the orange/pink light.

I haven’t done many shots at 14mm lately, but at such a beautiful location with this sunset it just kept getting better and better the wider I went. I had been using filters earlier in the sunset, but this one is no filters and very little post processing. Sometimes nature does all the work for you.