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| "Icy Tree at Lake Tahoe" - This ice and icicle covered tree was photographed in the early morning at Sand Harbor, Lake Tahoe. |
2012 was another great year for viewing beautiful scenery in the Tahoe area. Really, what year isn't? It was also another great year for Scott Shots Photography. I was fortunate to be very busy with commercial work and I was lucky to capture many great photos of the area that I love and call home.
The ice around Tahoe and Truckee seemed to be particular interesting this year. The snow was a bit late and it wasn't the best year for our snow pack. But, this made parking around the area much easier than usual and the snow didn't cover up the frozen smaller lakes and streams until later than usual. Here's a few of my favorite ice photos that I captured:
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| "Frozen Creek in Martis Valley" - This small frozen creek was photographed at sunset in Truckee's Martis Valley. |
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| "Rock on Prosser Reservoir Sunset" - Sunset photograph of a rock sitting on top of an icy frozen Prosser Reservoir in Truckee, CA. |
I went shooting a bunch this year with my photographer friend Tony Spiker of SpikerPhotography.com. This one below was a full moon setting over Lake Tahoe at sunrise that we shot together from Sand Harbor. He got some great photos as well.
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| "Full Moon Setting Over Tahoe 1" - Photograph shot from Sand Harbor of a full moon setting in the early morning over Lake Tahoe, Nevada. |
Donner Lake in Truckee provided some great sunrise and sunset photos for me this year. This one below of boulders in the foreground with a fiery sunset and a silhouette of Donner Summit in the background was my favorite.
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| "Donner Lake Sunset 5" - Photograph of rocks and an intense sunset on the South shore of Donner Lake in Truckee, California. |
Squaw Valley's Cushing Classic was a blast to photograph. I brought my camera for pure fun and to maybe catch a couple photos but I ended shooting during the whole event. Tons of fun photo opportunities, the one below was my favorite. More from this shoot can be found on this blog post: bit.ly/IIvpy6
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| "Cushing Classic at Squaw Valley 23" - Photograph of a skier crossing a pond during the Cushing Classic at Squaw Valley, USA. |
I also had a ton of fun this summer backpacking in Tahoe's Desolation Wilderness with my son and friends and then again with Tony Spiker. I traveled light on photo gear but still got many incredible images. This one below was my favorite, more can be see here: bit.ly/TYew62 and here: bit.ly/TYeCuw .
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| "Tree at Lake Aloha 2" - This tree was photographed at Lake Aloha in the Tahoe Desolation Wilderness. |
Perhaps my favorite photo shoot of the year was photographing the 2012 Great Reno Balloon Race's Dawn Patrol from a hot air balloon, what an incredible experience. I wanted to add more photos from the shoot to this top 10 list but I narrowed it down to these two below. More from the shoot and a bit of the story can be found on this blog post: bit.ly/Uyx3qP
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| "Dawn Patrol 6" - Photograph of the Dawn Patrol hot air balloons at the 2012 Great Reno Balloon Race. Photographed from a hot air balloon. |
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| "Dawn Patrol 15" - Photograph of a glowing hot air balloon flying for the Dawn Patrol at the 2012 Great Reno Balloon Race. Photographed from a hot air balloon. |
The fall colors were great in the Tahoe area this year, my favorite photo of them is below. Also, this year I was invited to blog for my town on their TruckeePhotogBlog.com site. Here is a post I wrote there with many other 2012 Tahoe fall color photos: bit.ly/TqVUOT
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| "Truckee River in Autumn 6" - Photograph of the Truckee River in Autumn near Downtown Truckee, California. |
Well, there you have it. I'd love to know what you think about the images I chose. Please feel free to leave a comment below or ask any questions you may have about the photos. Thank you, and cheers to another great year for photography!
-Scott Thompson
The photos above are available as fine art prints, photo gift items, or as stock photography. Click on an image for more info and a larger view of the photo.
