Summer After Hours

Throughout July and early August, my husband Sage and I traveled through the Eastern Sierras, Northern California, and Oregon capturing the light. From golden hours to midnights to sunrises, it’s amazing what happens when most people call it a day or head to bed. The quiet, the beauty, everything shifts. I often wonder why people miss the best shows of the day.

First up, the Eastern Sierras:

Milky Way core at Mono Lake, CA, one of the darkest places in the U.S.

Mono Lake tufas under the Milky Way with a hint of Northern Lights.

Mono Lake tufas with the Milky Way and Northern Lights.

Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest. The oldest living things on earth, at 10,000+ feet elevation.

Hiking back to the car in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine forest, a composition caught my eye.

 Only a few hours of sleep? No problem. Nothing wakes you up faster than the smell of sulfur in the morning. (we took lots of naps)

Pre-sunrise at Hot Creek Geological Site, Mammoth Lakes, CA.

Road trip to Oregon.

The hope was to capture the night skies in Lassen National Park, a place I've visited several times for the Perseids Meteor shower, but a storm rolled in and we had a lot of cloud coverage. So we continued the journey north to Crater Lake, Oregon. It was a cloudy day and evening, and we knew sunset would either be epic or a dud...

Crater Lake after sunset

Crater Lake showing off after sunset

On the trek back from Crater Lake, a storm was rolling in fast and lightning was lighting up the sky in the distance. It was close to 11 p.m. and pitch black. We pulled over on a country road next to cows grazing (we could see the landscape lit up with every strike) and captured the most amazing lightning show I've ever seen. The sky was on fire.

I've never been able to capture lightning with a camera before so this was an unexpected treat. We had maybe fifteen minutes before the rain came in heavy.

Lightning selfies? Yes.

One of my favorite images I’ve ever taken happened that same night. We were driving back in the pouring rain. From the passenger seat, going 60 mph, I timed the wiper blade perfectly and somehow caught a lightning strike through the windshield.

We drove back along the Oregon Coast. Several trails and miles later, we found the right spot for golden hour and sunset.

Oregon Coast a few minutes before sunset

Oregon Coast sunset