The Old Dam and Spillway

Shaver Lake, Minus the Lake

For the past year, Southern California Edison was draining Shaver Lake so that contractors could add a liner to the dam. I guess it’s supposed to cut back on erosion and leakage. I recently saw some pictures of some of the ruins from the lake bed so I drove up Monday afternoon to hope to capture some cool pictures. Having a longer lens will help because the public is not allowed access to the lake bottom.

Once I finally got there (long story), I set up my tripod, camera, 300mm and 1.4 tele-converter and took some photos. Decided to switch lenses (17-40mm) so I could get a few photos of the whole lake….just because. Didn’t realize until I got home that my big lens developed a focus problem. All of them are slightly out of focus. Can’t really see it until I zoom in at 100%, so I decided to at least post them here so others can enjoy them. As far as printing them large, forget about it.

Here’s Shaver Lake showing the dam and the new liner.

Empty Shaver Lake
Empty Shaver Lake and Dam

You can see the old dam that was built in the 1920s on the bottom of the photo. When it’s re-filled, you won’t see it.

Empty Shaver Lake
An Empty Shaver Lake

Using my larger lens I shot a few photos of the old spillway, dam and some of the ruins including an old water wheel. I converted these to Sepia for the antique-look.

The Old Dam and Spillway
The Old Dam and Spillway
The Old Dam and Spillway
The Old Dam and Spillway

Mike is a Central Valley California landscape and nature photographer whose subjects include scenes from Merced County, Yosemite, SeKi, and the eastern Sierra. He is currently living in Atwater, CA.

The text and photographs are © Copyright Mike Matenkosky (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Mike Matenkosky.



Posted

in

by

Tags:

Comments

2 responses to “Shaver Lake, Minus the Lake”

  1. Dave Avatar

    Cool images! Better head back up with a lens that will focus properly!
    Either that or photoshop them so they look even older and more beat up

    1. Mike Avatar

      One of the reasons I converted the last two was because of focus problem. Thought it would add to the old-style look…LOL!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *