If you’re getting married in Tahoe in late summer or early fall, fire has probably crossed your mind. It should. It’s part of living up here now.
In 2021 the Caldor Fire came over the Sierra crest and the entire city of South Lake Tahoe, about 22,000 people, was ordered to evacuate on August 30. It burned more than 221,000 acres before it was done. Highway 50 was a parking lot. Most summers since, there have been days where smoke settles into the basin from a fire somewhere in California or Nevada.
Sometimes the fire is close. A lot of the time it’s hundreds of miles away and all we get is haze. Couples call me worried either way. This is what I tell them.
Safety comes first. Every time.
If a fire is close, nothing else in this post matters. Follow the evacuation orders. Listen to the county and to your venue. If you have to move the date, move it. A wedding can be rescheduled.
The week before, check air quality on AirNow.gov. Have a covered or indoor backup if you can. Keep extra water out, and think about your older guests, the kids and anyone with asthma.
Everything below is about the other kind of smoke day. The fire is far away, the air is okay, and the sky is just hazy.
Smoke is a giant softbox.
Photographers spend a lot of money trying to make light soft. Smoke does it for free. The haze sits between you and the sun and spreads the light out. Hard midday shadows go away. Nobody is squinting. Skin looks better. Everything evens out.
The color warms up.
Smoke filters out a lot of the blue in the light. The sun turns orange, sometimes a deep red ball, and the whole afternoon can look like the last half hour before sunset. Instead of 20 minutes of good light you might get three hours of it.
The mountains turn into layers.
On a clear day the ridges around Lake Tahoe can look flat in a photo. Add a little haze and every ridge gets lighter the farther back it is. Suddenly there’s depth. It looks painted.
A real one.
Taylor and Marie got married in a backyard at an estate in Truckee with about 50 people. Smoke filled the air that day and everyone was worried about the fires. Marie was already nervous. It worked out great.
The light under the pines went soft and hazy and stayed that way all day. Those are still some of my favorite photos. You can see the whole thing in Taylor and Marie’s gallery.
Brigette and Eric’s wedding in Cooke City, Montana had smoke in the air too. Look at the mountains behind them. Every ridge is a little lighter than the one in front of it, and the light stayed warm and soft all day. See their Montana wedding here.
What I do on a smoky day.
- I don’t edit the haze out. Making a smoky day look like a clear blue one never looks right, and it isn’t what your day looked like.
- I shoot toward the sun more. Backlight through haze glows.
- I watch the sun. When it turns into that red ball, we go get portraits, even if it’s earlier than planned.
- I keep an eye on people. If the air gets bad, portraits get shorter and we go inside.
So should you worry?
About the fire, yes. Plan for it and take it seriously. About your photos, no. As long as the fire isn’t too close, smoke usually makes them better. Some of the best light I’ve ever had in Tahoe was on a smoky day.
If you’re getting married up here and want to talk it through, send me your date.
Keep reading: Lake Tahoe Wedding Light: What Your Photographer Should Know, How I Time Golden Hour at Lake Tahoe Weddings, All my venue guides and The full portfolio.