Happy Labor Day 2015

Some Fireworks over Lake Tahoe as shot from lower Kingsbury this Labor Day.



And check out my Still Gallery of 4th of July Fireworks on Google+.

4th of July 2014 Fireworks in Tahoe

Lake Tahoe drew over 100,000 spectators to our 4th of July celebrations around the lake, but thanks to my photography buddy +John Cocores I was able to photograph and film the display from a private beach in the exclusive Tahoe Meadows development as an invited guest.




+Tahoe South's Fireworks display "Lights on the Lake" is famously synchronized to music, usually stuff I couldn't possibly licence.  This year they decided to feature local artist +Jesse Kalin so I actually got to use a piece of music that was really featured in the show.  (I don't know if this is where it was, I didn't have a radio with me when I was filming; but this is where I imagine I would put it if I was designing the fireworks display.) You can buy all of Jesse's music at his website JesseKalin.com.

See all 20 images in my 4th of July 2014 still pictures gallery on Google+

New Year's Eve 2014 in Stateline

New Year's Eve crowd in front of Harrah's (Photo by +Joe V )

Every New Year's weekend the population of South Lake Tahoe temporarily triples to over 60,000.  With both #SnowGlobe2013 and Swat Soundscape and a full slate of parties on the schedule  in town that night and an unusually warm 24F low temperature turnout for the traditional Stateline celebration was exceptionally high.

I started the evening at Heavenly Village's 9PM "New York New Year's" celebration, which counts down to the new year in New York by sending a lighted gondola car from the top of the mountain to the last pole by midnight, when they set off a pretty spectacular 10 minute fireworks display



After finishing what locals call "Skim Milk New Year's" I went home and grabbed my buddy Joe, who had never been to a New Year's Eve in Lake Tahoe before and we set off on foot at 11:20 on a mission to get to California by midnight and make a video on the way.

We didn't quite make it to California, but we met a lot of interesting people along the way before they had to clear all the tourists out of the street with a snow plow.

4th of July Fireworks in Lake Tahoe

Check out my gallery of the 4th of July Fireworks on Google+

How to Photograph Fireworks on 4th of July

 4th of July is coming up and everybody's been asking me: "How do you photograph fireworks?"

Equipment

Well, first of all, you have to make sure that your camera is capable of photographing fireworks. You guys know me, you know that I take most all of my photography with my camera phone, but, let me tell you, a camera phone is not sufficient to photograph fireworks. To be able to photograph fireworks you don't necessarily need an expensive SLR like the one I have in the video, but you do need a camera that has a good manual mode where you can set both the aperature and the shutter together.

Now, to be able to film fireworks effectively, you're going to need a tripod. Your first and most primary piece of equipment is a tripod. You can get them for about $20 at Amazon, you can get nicer ones more expensively. You want to make sure that your tipod is in a good position with a good view of where the fireworks are going to be. You want to be up against the rail if you can be. Either that or be way in the back up a hill where you're going to be over top of people's heads.

You set up your tripod there and make sure your tripod is nice and level. Figure out where the fireworks are going to be shot off from and point your camera that way. Like, in Tahoe we shoot off our fireworks from Nevada Beach so I'm pointint my camera towards Nevada Beach. You square up a nice, level shot of where the fireworks are and zoom in so that the fireworks area is framed nicely in your camera.

Camera Settings:

Now you want to set your camera to manual mode. Set your aperature to f8, set your ISO to 200, and then you want to be varying your shutter speed as you take the pictures. Now, how long your shutter speed goes for is going to determine what your picture looks like. If you do a shutter speed of half a second that's going to capture one, or maybe a couple of bursts of fireworks in a nice clear single frame. If you extend your exposure to 1 second, 2 seconds, all the way up to 5 seconds (you may need to stop down to a smaller aperature if you're filming for 5 seconds); you're going to get more and more bursts of fireworks in any single frame.

So, if you're looking to get a bunch of fireworks like the climax of a fireworks display, go with a 3-5 second exposure with an aperature of f10-14;

if you want to get a single firework or a couple of fireworks go with a half second exposure with an aperature of f8.

Make sure that you either have a cable relase, or if you are doing it just with the camera's shutter button that you push your camera button quickly and release it as quickly as you can because if your hand shakes while it's on the button you're going to ruin whichever picture you're taking. Take lots of pictures over the course of the fireworks display. You can adjust your zoom to zoom out to get a large shot, say if the fireworks are high; or you can zoom in to just a single firework and take a quick exposure to get that single firework in the sky look.

Shooting Fireworks on Video

Now, if you're going to be filming video of fireworks, video can actually be a lot easier. Again, you need a good video camera to be able to shoot fireworks effectively. Most any consumer HD camcorder will work. Set the camera either to fireworks mode if it has a dedicated fireworks mode (check your camera manual) because if your camera has a dedicated fireworks mode that will do all the settings for you. Otherwise have your camcorder on night mode on a tripod and just set up your camcorder to look at the fireworks: set it, turn it on, run it for the whole fireworks display, turn it off at the end. Just make sure that nobody bumps your tripod, because, really, the best fireworks display on video is the one that doesn't have bumps in the middle that you have to take out.



If you want stills from your video, you can take your video into an editing suite like Adobe Premiere and capture stills: Just import the video into Premiere, put the video on the timeline, play through to the frame you want, pause, and click on the little camera icon under the editing screen.

They won't look as smooth as stills from an SLR, but you will at least be able to get nice clear stills, and because it's video you'll be able to choose what frame rather than have to put up with whatever your camera happened to capture when you were pressing the button.

Labor Day weekend 2012 in Tahoe South

Labor Day weekend is the last of the big summer holidays in Lake Tahoe, and we have a lot of great public events from concerts to parties to boat races to help you end the summer season in Tahoe in style.

Shows that last all Weekend:

• Heavenly Village Labor Day Car show featuring classic cars and trucks on display at Heavenly Village
• Arts and Crafts fairs at the Horizon, South Tahoe Middle School, and in Truckee and across the region.

SATURDAY 9/1:

Firehouse pancake Breakfast 8-10AM

The Douglas county fire department will be hosting their annual all-you-can eat pancake breakfast at the firehouse on 9/1; all proceeds go to benefit the Tahoe-Douglas fire protection district. Great way to come out and meet the community while raising money for fire safety and defensible space in Lake Tahoe... Only $5.00 and kids eat free.

20th Annual Great Lake Tahoe Sternwheeler Race: 10:30-12:30AM

Every Labor Day weekend since I was a kid the Tahoe Queen has raced the M.S. Dixie II along the south Shore of Lake Tahoe. You can see it from any of the beaches along the south shore from Stateline all the way to El Dorado beach, though the best shore views are usually from Ski Beach where you can watch the Tahoe Queen leave and return, though you may find it hard to get a space there.
Lakeview commons also offers an excelent view of the race and has a much larger crowd capacity because of the big stone ampetheatre there. Of course, the best place When I was a kid my Grandpa used to take us out on his boat every year to watch the sternwheeler races, and I can highly reccomend the view from a boat since you can see way more than anyone on shore can. Check out my video of the 2010 Sternwheeler races if you're interested in seeing what it looks like from a boat.

By far the most exciting place to watch the races from is the deck of one of the two boats, and it's really a pretty good deal if you think about how rare the opportunity to be on the deck of a race boat is. If you go to ZephyrCove.com you can get tickets for as little as $25. I'm going to be filming it from the deck of the Tahoe Queen this year; so if you're on the Queen come say Hi and you can be in my video.

Sammy Hagar - The Red Rocker: 8:00PM

Also September 1st former Van Halen frontman and multi-platnum solo artist Sammy Hagar will be finishing off the season at Harvey's Outdoor Ampetheatre with his band the Wabos and special guests from Montrose, Chickenfoot, and Van Halen will be doing music from all across Sammy's long career. Better yet, according to Sammy's website RedRocker.com there will be an afterparty with ALL the artists at Sammy's basement bar in Harvey's Cabo Wabo.

LABOR DAY SUNDAY 9/2:

Montbleu end-of-season pool party:

Labor Day marks the unofficial end of the outdoor pool season in Lake Tahoe, so the Montbleu will be having an end-of-season pool party at their pool on Labor Day. There'll be a DJ, discounted drinks, and lots of people in swimsuits on display.

Sample the Sierra: 1:00-5:00 PM

Down at Ski Run on Labor Day there will be an all day Sample the Sierra organic food and wine event going on where you can sample wines from a dozen different wineries as well as food from Freshies, Lakeside Inn, the Blue Angel Cafe. There will also be an arts and crafts fair and a farmer's market where you can buy locally grown and organic produce from across the region. Tickets are $30.

Labor Day Fireworks: 8:30PM

As always, Lake Tahoe will be having another one of our amazing fireworks displays from Pyro Spectacular's Inc. on Labor Day. The show begins at 8:30PM and will be visible from most of the beaches on the South shore with synchronized music on KOWL 1600AM and KRLT 93.9FM. Check out my 4th of July weekend Planner for more information about Tahoe fireworks and where to watch them. For a sample of the fireworks themselves watch my video here

4th of July Parade and Fireworks in South Lake Tahoe

I went out to the 1st Annual 4th of July Parade in South Lake Tahoe (parade gallery) as well as Lights on the Lake fireworks later that night... This is what I saw.

More information about things to do in Lake Tahoe on 4th of July Week - Longer (better) fireworks display.

4th of July Fireworks

I went out on my neighbor's porch to shoot the 4th of July fireworks in Tahoe and caught this amazing shot of the moon exploding.  The original soundtrack is by Donnie Sanders from the funkywhitesoulman blog. It's from a piece he did in 2005, and he played every note himself.

4th of July 2011 in Tahoe

(My video is FINALLY DONE! I shot from 11am to 6pm, edited from 6pm past midnight, rendered 'till 3am and passed out before the upload was finished... Please click through to YouTube and thumbs-up for all the hard work.)

Cave rock: Boat launching, rules, locations, boat inspections & Fees

Zephyr Cove: MS Dixie / Tahoe Queen, concert @ Zephyr Cove beach, fireworks there, alcohol bans http://www.zephyrcove.com/ for more info.

Edgewood: Edgewood $195 golf/fireworks deal, 4th of july gala $79 beach access SOLD OUT

http://www.edgewoodtahoe.com/dining/brooks-bar-a-deck/4th-of-july-tickets.html

Stateline : Events @ stateline:

ABBA cover band,

Jo Koy 7/2,

Masters of Magic,

clubs 4th: Altitude, Vex, 19 Kitchen/Bar (find a spot to point)

The Garage Boys 7/3

Improv @ Harvey's: Tommy Savitt and Erin Foley; intro for Horizon guy

Horizon (tonight): Stand up with entertainment director, Bethany Owen?

KRLT booth: Lights on the Lake, South Lake Tahoe’s spectacular Fourth of July fireworks event is a display of light among the best you’ll see on Independence Day.

The show begins at approx. 9:45 p.m.. Be sure to arrive early as the area fills up with spectators hours earlier.

Tune into KRLT-FM 93.9 or KOWL-AM 1490 to listen to a synchronized musical broadcast.



Heavenly Village: 4th of July skiing (Squaw, Alpine Meadows, and Kirkwood are open with fresh snow above 7500ft that fell the 29th),

Squaw Valley has a festival with live music every day and a fine arts and crafts festival going all 4th of July weekend with a concert by

"Big Head Todd and the Monsters" and a fireworks show on 7/3

Alpine Meadows will have live music every day with

The Alternates on July 2,

Monophonics on July 3 and

Tracorum on 7/4.





HV2: Duck Boats, McP's, arts/crafts fair, art walk, car/truck/motorcycle cruise 7/1

Tahoe-Bykal Fuynbdraiser at the top of the heavenly tram on 7/1 $60

Ski Run / Marina: Tahoe Queen, Riva Grill, fireworks from ski run

El Dorado Beach: Beach/boat launch closures, road construction report, campground, camping tips, banners

CalTrans and NDOT have stopped road work from July 1 through July 5th: all lanes at Echo Summit and from Trout creek to Ski Run will be open. Construction continues at Lakeview Commons and El Dorado beach will be closed. The El Dorado and Douglas county sherrifs will be holding DUI checkpoints in the basin ALL weekend, not just 4th of July so remember that though it's never a good idea to drink and drive, it's an especially bad idea to drink and drive up here on a holiday weekend because you WILL get caught.



Whisky Dicks: "Pukey's American Throwdown" featuring:

Dernnis Johnson and the Mississippi Ramblers,

The Cowbelleros, and the Drift Alley Lobos ($8 door 7/3),

American Legion crafts fair (footage?)

Fire Station / Smoky Bear: Private fireworks prohibited, fire safety rules: No fireworks, Campfires in approved grills only,

-- Just because the sign says "LOW" fire danger dosn't mean you can ignore fire safety. See http://www.livingwithfire.info/Tahoe/ for more information.

Tallac Historic Site: Valhalla arts/jazz festival events, what's going on @ Camp Richardson, fireworks from Kiva,

dog friendly places for the 4th, "Life and History of the Washoe Rribe" @ Camp Richardson 7/2-3

VALLHALLA:

Carolyn Dolyn and Big Red (Texas Blues)@ boathouse theatre 7/1

Summer Jazz in the park 7/3 : Sam Rudin "Boogie, Blues, & Jazz"

Old Fashoined 4th of July

Tahoe Improv Players 7/5

http://www.valhallatahoe.com/events.html



north shore events: Kings Beach 7/3 fireworks, Tahoe City Commons Beach concert / fireworks, incline village red white and blue 4th (10AM Saturday 7/2 parade down Hwy 28 in Incline village, helecopter rescue demonstration, 1PM; Shakespeare festival benefit breakfast on Sunday 7/3 ), etc... South shore beach with view of the north shore maybe?)

Super Diamond @ Crown Room in Crystal Bay 7/2

Yo Mamma's Big Fat Booty band 7/3

Mark Sexton Band at Commons Beach, Tahoe City 7/3