Photos From Lake Tahoe & Rancharrah

I’m not going to lie – the life of a photo journalist definitely can have its perks.  Going to company sponsored events, meeting celebrities, and having once-in-a-lifetime experiences while on assignment is fantastic.  But it can also be dangerous.  Among the many events I’ve covered, I’ve been to just about every kind of race you can imagine and know that racing anything is inherently dangerous for both the competitors and spectators.  As a photographer, I have to get far closer to the action than do most people, which adds to the risk factor.  I’ve been fortunate to never had any really close calls over the past roughly ten years photographing such racing events.

I say all of this because this past weekend, I attended the 2011 Reno Air Races as a guest of the Breitling Watch Company (the race’s main sponsor).  By now, I’m sure anyone reading this will know of the unfortunate and terrible accident which took place on Friday at approximately 4:30pm at the Air Races.  I was very, very blessed to not have been at the Races during the time of the accident, as my friend and I who attended with me decided to back to the hotel at 3:30pm to prepare for the dinner and evening events which Breitling had planned for us – one hour before the crash.

I did get some nice photographs from Friday (the Air Races closed following the accident) which I will post at some future point when it is more appropriate to do so.   Due to the Air Races being closed after Friday’s tragic crash, on Saturday Breitling took their guests to Lake Tahoe and I got some nice photos during a lake cruise we took:

The cruise ship was a river boat style vessel which took us from one end of Lake Tahoe to the other:

A photo of yours truly on the cruise, enjoying Lake Tahoe:

As you can see in the above photo, I’m wearing a Breitling Navitmer.  Here’s a wrist shot of this classic timepiece:

One of the VIP guests which Breitling invited to the event was Astronaut Mark Kelly – a real American hero.    You may recall that his wife, Representative Gabrielle Giffords was shot earlier this year in another terrible tragedy.   I had the opportunity spend quite a bit of time with Mark Kelly during the weekend, discussing everything from the space program to Breitling watches – he’s the nicest guy you’d ever want to meet.  Here’s a photo of myself and Mark Kelly on the cruise:

Here’s some photos of the fantastic scenery we took in during the Lake Tahoe cruise:

Later that evening we were taken to Rancharrah  (owned by former casino owner John Harrah) for a dinner party.  Here’s John Harrah’s fabulous home at Rancharrah:

The outdoor dinner tent:

A picture of me in front of the Harrah home:

Here’s some video footage I took with my iPhone 4 during our Lake Tahoe excursion, and the Rancharrah property:

As always, let me know what you think of these photos and video!