I've shot Emerald Bay many times from the ground, but only twice from the air. This was from an incredible flight around Lake Tahoe in a tiny Kitfox seaplane with the door removed. Shortly after this, we touched down in the Bay, where we skimmed across the water for a bit then took off again. It was quite exhilarating and the memory was forever burned into my mind.
I actually captured many other photos of Emerald Bay from this location without the plane in the shot. (In fact I just licensed one of those images yesterday to a gift shop supplier, it is going to be used for a magnet/photo souvenir.) But this image with the wing and pontoon is my favorite of the bunch. I'm not sure if it is because it tells more of a story, or if it's just because of personal reasons and it reminds me of the fun times. Either way, I thought I'd post this one for 's 7 World's Continents Photo Challenge - North America.
Photographed on a Canon 5D MarkII with a 17-40mm lens set at 17mm. The ISO was 800, the aperture was f8, and the shutter speed was 1/1250, nice and fast in order to deal with the moving and vibrating plane.
Above is the photo that I licensed yesterday with no plane in the shot.
I'm curious, which of the two photos do you prefer and why?
Thank you for looking and reading!
Scott Thompson
Scott Shots Photography