3 Minutes on the Fourth of July
Here’s an interesting post from the Tahoe Divers Conservancy. They are alarmed at the growth they are witnessing in the shallows of Emerald Bay.
Scientists believe the growth being found in the near shore areas of Emerald Bay are the same algae found in the streams, and not the invasive species found near the marinas. Due to the warm drought conditions this year, algal growth is on the increase.
Boat Rack. Homewood, California.
This winter, concerns over effects of 130 years of invasive species in Lake Tahoe heated up when concern over the pervasive quagga mussle led to an agreement that all boats must be cleaned before being launched into Tahoe’s crystal clear waters. Restrictions on boat launches have been put in place. Please support the League to Save Lake Tahoe’s more comprehensive measures.
Information on Lake Tahoe’s invasive aquatic species can be found at the Tahoe Environmental Research Center, the League To Save Lake Tahoe, and this presentation by University of Nevada’s Sudeep Chandra.
This issue of invasive species is by no means unique to Lake Tahoe, but Tahoe is a natural point of convergence and, once again, a microcosm of environmental concerns elsewhere. Boats from as far away as Idaho and Texas are regularly put into Tahoe. The April 2009 issue of National Geographic Magazine makes two references to California’s Sierra Nevada, one in this article on effects of invasive species and disease on amphibians.
Lake Tahoe boat launch information can be found at Tahoe Resource Conservation District.
New Construction. Carson City, Nevada.
In Lake Tahoe: A Fragile Beauty, I’ve included Mark Twain’s account of his adventures at Lake Tahoe from his book Roughing It. This offers a singular account of Lake Tahoe in the 1860’s, immediately on the heels of the California Gold Rush and soon after Tahoe began facing the stresses of settler, mining, and lumber interests. When I first came across this tale, I could not help from laughing out loud. With poignancy and humor, Twain captures a mindset that persists to this day. This time we are on the heels of the Internet and real estate bubbles – our modern-day gold rush. Better informed, we understand our impacts and, hopefully, will be better stewards of Lake Tahoe and the land.
For more detail on Twain’s time in Tahoe I suggest David Antonucci’s research, Mark Twain’s Route to Lake Tahoe, published in the Nevada Historical Society Quarterly. Antonucci explores the routes and camp locales Twain would have considered on his journey from Carson City to Lake Tahoe. Aside from this interesting background, we also glimpse the circumstances facing travelers to Lake Tahoe in those early days.
Twain’s unique and entertaining look at Tahoe and the landscape not long after settler contact, offers an insightful counterpoint to Dr. Goldman’s contemporary and studied examination as detailed in the introduction (see earlier post). These two personal accounts offer notable bookends to our modern culture’s encounter with Lake Tahoe.
Silver Lake along the crest of the Sierra Nevada. California.
I feel fortunate that Dr. Charles Goldman of the Tahoe Research Group and the Tahoe Environmental Research Center agreed to write the introduction to Lake Tahoe: A Fragile Beauty. Dr. Goldman’s 50 years of study and advocacy on behalf of Tahoe has spawned a generation of scientists researching all aspects of the Lake Tahoe watershed. His work has been instrumental in the founding of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, a California-Nevada bi-state agency that oversees all development in the Tahoe Basin. His team at UC Davis has laid the foundation for much of the public policy addressing Tahoe’s challenges and has been at the heart of a model for environmental stewardship emulated the world over.
As with other contributions to Lake Tahoe: A Fragile Beauty, Dr. Goldman’s introduction is written in the first person and comes to the reader on a very personal level. This element of individual contribution is how change is brought to our world. If we wait for the group to act, the important work will not get done. We all have a responsibility to pursue our passions and create the world we wish to see
Fifty years ago a man came west to study fresh water lakes and fell in love with Lake Tahoe. Today, agencies, universities, non-profits, and countless individuals have joined the effort to save Lake Tahoe. The government has pledged $1 billion towards the cause.
Winter Dawn. Tahoe Keys. Lake Tahoe, California.
Every time I set up the camera, my goal is to create a photograph worthy of a patron’s wall. To attract an audience the work must first be beautiful. To persevere, it must be insightful and create awareness. Photographing in the large format tradition with normal perspective lenses subtly conveys the historical perspective. It was the view of many early 19th Century photographers that wide angle lenses distorted reality. To paraphrase Michael Carey Lea in his Manual of Photography from 1871, gardens should not appear as parks.
Lake Tahoe: A Fragile Beauty begins with the beautiful and often subdued images of land, light, and shape. So much of our affection for Tahoe comes from a sense of awe and wonder upon seeing its shores. Slowly the imagery shifts toward, what I term, the intersecting landscape. To quote the Forward: “While Tahoe’s sublime vistas always capture me, it is upon closer contemplation that I inevitably find myself at those intersecting landscapes, those brought on by our industriousness, dreams, and ambitions.”
Parking Lot. Vikingsholm. Emerald Bay State Park. Lake Tahoe. Calif
It is a common fiction that the photograph is a neutral witness. Yet, every author has a bias which will find its way into the work. As such, my book of contemporary landscape photography, Lake Tahoe: A Fragile Beauty, is my story. Often discounted is the photographer’s palette, composed of such tools as lighting, camera position, camera format, lens selection, film type, and exposure, not to mention the many variables controlled after capture, during image processing and printing. Less tangible is the photographer’s worldview, psychology, and culture. More useful to the viewer than an explanation of how I take a photograph, may be a consideration of those artists to whom I have found inspiration.
In general, I find my work influenced by the historical and I see my photography as a small step in a larger continuum. More specifically, Lake Tahoe: A Fragile Beauty builds upon a number of artists. Eugene Atget, an early French photographer, made “documents for artists,” or, rather, reference photographs primarily for painters. His approach to photography was that of a utilitarian. I find a fresh, unencumbered naiveté in his work, an artist practiced with a new technology. Carleton Watkins is another historical photographer whose work I admire. As part of the United States westward migration, his work has an element of reportage, where he describes the West to eastern audiences. When I first picked up a camera, like many, I was inspired by Ansel Adams. Adams’ approach was a conscious departure from those before. Through his mastery of photographic technique, he was able to stretch the medium – manipulating film, exposure, and development to precisely achieve a desired result. I also frequently find inspiration in artists outside of photography. One such example is painter Mark Rothko, whose use of the color field draws my eye. Richard Misrach’s open skies carry this style into photography. Finally, I would like to acknowledge Larry Sultan, whom I consider a cultural anthropologist. Sultan can take a widely familiar subject, such as that of parents, and through the images of his parents we come to better understand our own parents, families, and our aging culture.
Outwardly, I worked with a large-format camera and middle-distance lenses to approximate the historical perspective of Atget and Watkins. On a subtle level this makes a visual connection between past and present. Inwardly, I approach every subject as if it is posing for both a present and future audience. What is the story behind this small slice of the landscape? What am I choosing to include and what do I discard? What is this present moment? Can I be the unbiased, empty witness?
The challenge of the Lake Tahoe: A Fragile Beauty photography book project, was to utilize the photographic vocabulary to capture not only Lake Tahoe’s breathtaking grandeur, but also the ecological issues facing the basin and the historical context from which they arise. We wanted a book that would build upon earlier works of photography on Tahoe and remain relevant for years to come.
Lake Tahoe is revealed through images of both the majestic landscape and our interactions with the natural world. With an introduction by preeminent Tahoe research scientist Dr. Charles Goldman, poetry by former US Poet Laureate and 2008 Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Hass, and historical content by literary icon Mark Twain and 19th Century photographer Carleton Watkins, this important work not only expresses the beauty of Lake Tahoe but examines it as a microcosm of the environmental challenges confronting our time. Supporters include the Tahoe Environmental Research Center, the Oakland Museum, the Phoebe Hearst Museum, Adobe, and Hasselblad.
Since publication, I have found that this multifaceted approach is bridging disparate audiences and broadening the conversation – in terms of both the environment and photography.
Thanks to Douglas Taylor of the Vista Gallery and Deborah Lane of the Bookshelf for hosting a wonderful gallery reception and book signing. Making a surprise appearance were two college friends I haven’t seen in over 25 years! Both the Vista Gallery and Bookshelf make important contributions to the Tahoe community. The Vista Gallery has the most comprehensive photography collection in the Lake Tahoe Basin. The Bookshelf is Lake Tahoe’s most prominent bookseller with locations in Tahoe City and Truckee. I encourage everyone to drop by their wonderful establishments and keep abreast of their many interesting events.
If you were unable to attend, signed copies of Lake Tahoe: A Fragile Beauty are on hand at the below locations.
Vista Gallery
7081 North Lake Blvd. (hwy. 28)
Tahoe Vista, California [map]
tl: (530) 546-7794
Bookshelf Bookstores
Tahoe City at the Boatworks [directions] and
Truckee at Hooligan Rocks [directions]
tl: (530) 581-1900
Northern California. San Francisco Bay to Lake Tahoe. True color MODIS-Aqua image, acquired July 3, 2007, 2:40 pm PDT.
Today, our travels to Lake Tahoe are not as carefree or adventurous as they once were. Bay Area suburbia stretches to Fairfield with few breaks in the urban landscape. Vacaville, Dixon, and Davis have all grown up to be commuter communities strategically situated between the Bay Area and Sacramento. Sacramento’s outlying bedroom communities with their big-box stores and mega-churches stretch well into the Sierra foothills. Auburn, Grass Valley, and Nevada City are slowly coming together. Truckee has taken advantage of Tahoe’s development restrictions and has become a destination unto itself. (Northstar is officially part of Truckee. Who knew?) Congestion in the Bay Area, Napa, Sacramento, and Stockton, require those driving to and from the Sierra to implore deft scheduling. With the 24-hour news cycle, the Internet, cell phones, SUVs, and DVD players, the trip has become safer, yet also more insular. As we carry more of our world with us, we become less discerning of the new environs we find ourselves.
In 1844, John C. Fremont took a little over two weeks to travel from Carson Pass to Sutter’s Fort in Sacramento. Today it’s a two-hour drive. Time travel has arrived; distance is relative. How much do we miss the in-between? Is it so hard to imagine that air pollution from the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento area is adversely affecting the water quality of remote Sierra lakes?
Image courtesy of Todd Steissberg, PhD. Civil and Environmental Engineering. University of California, Davis.
http://pacrim.terc.ucdavis.edu/people/tsteissberg
Image processing source code courtesy of:
Liam Gumley, Space Science and Engineering Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Jacques Descloitres and Jeffrey Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Source code, sample data, and a tutorial are available at:
ftp://ftp.ssec.wisc.edu/pub/IMAPP/MODIS/TrueColor/
Thanks to all who came out on a beautiful Saturday afternoon to hear me speak about my book Lake Tahoe: A Fragile Beauty at Rakestraw Books in Danville. One attendee was in the area two hours before the event began and chose to wait next door at Peet’s until the appointed hour! It is gratifying to see this work appreciated and I am flattered that people take such time to support and follow it. If you missed the event, Rakestraw has signed copies of the book on hand.
Special acknowledgment to Michael Barnard at Rakestraw for hosting the event. Making an independent bookstore work is no easy task these days. Mike has a great store and puts together a continuing series of interesting speakers. He is an important member of the Danville community. I encourage everyone to drop by and, if you’re further afield, check out his web site and newsletter.
While I’m on the subject of independent booksellers, an interesting film was aired on KQED’s Truly CA this weekend. Paperback Dreams by filmmaker Alex Beckstead chronicles the history of such notable Bay Area booksellers as Kepler’s and Cody’s, and the difficulties they face in today’s marketplace – despite the important part they play in our communities. While large Internet retailers are able to pass along their savings as virtual retailers, big box stores often sell books as a loss leader. Many smaller booksellers are finding success on the Internet targting special interests or rare and out-of-print books
Yet, the Internet and the big retailers are doing more than changing the way we purchase books. Reading a 400 page book is quite different than trolling for information on the Internet. Information begets knowledge and knowledge begets wisdom. Hopefully we’re not moving in the opposite direction. More on this phenomenon can be found in the July issue of the Atlantic in Is Google Making Us Stoopid?.
When you support your local bookstore you support good local jobs, community, intellectual vigor, and ideas.