Top 10 photos of 2024

2024 has been a busy, productive, and great year! I purchased a new camera and a variety of lenses a few months ago, a Canon R5 Mark II. I've really been enjoying the new gear, both for commercial photography work, and for the landscape photography that is my true passion. The images are incredibly sharp, and I really like the reduced digital noise at higher ISOs.

Quite a few new landscape photos were shot. I just went through them all and decided that these are my top 10 favorites of the year. Not necessarily the most popular shots, but images that I personally like best. Let me know what one is your favorite!

Top 10 Photos of 2024, In the order they were shot:

"Icy Donner Lake 3" - Photograph of a ice and frost along the shoreline of Donner Lake in Truckee, California.

"Snowy Truckee River 14" - Snowy morning photograph of the Truckee River, in Downtown Truckee, California.

"Milky Way Above Donner Lake 7" - Nighttime photograph of the Milky Way above Rainbow Bridge and Donner Lake, in Truckee, California.

"Downtown Truckee 109" - Spring photograph after a storm of a snowy Downtown Truckee, California.

"Northern Lights Over Truckee 1" - Photograph of the aurora borealis, or Norther Lights, over Donner Lake and Truckee, California.

"Sunset at Boca Reservoir 10" - Sunset photograph of a beautiful sunset and it's reflection at Boca Reservoir in Truckee, California.

"Aspens Above Lake Tahoe 20" - Sunset photograph of yellow and orange aspen trees in the Fall at a grove above Lake Tahoe.

"Black Bear at Taylor Creek 6" - This black bear was photographed with a Kokanee Salmon in it's mouth at Taylor Creek in South Lake Tahoe.

"Downtown Truckee 117" - Photograph of a Christmas Tree and the Train Depot in Downtown Truckee, California.

"Donner Lake Morning 25" - Early morning photograph of fog in the trees and it's reflection at Donner Lake in Truckee, California.

There you have it. Many more photos were shot that I loved, but these were my favorite. Again, which one is your favorite? Thank you for looking and cheers to 2025!

Scott Thompson
Scott Shots Photography
www.TruckeeTahoePhotos.com

All of these are available as fine art prints, gift items, or to license as stock photography.

Abstract Photos Of Awesome Ice

It was foggy yesterday morning here at Donner Lake in Truckee, California. But after a while, it started to clear up so I grabbed my camera and walked across the street to see if I could get any cool photos of the lake with a bit of the fog on it. When I got to the shoreline, I noticed something even cooler...

There was a bit of ice, but it wasn't your normal frozen surface. There was wild unusual triangular patterns all over it. The fog was nice, but I spent most of my time shooting icy abstracts instead.

These were all shot with the Canon 5DS R, which is a 50.6 megapixel DSLR. If desired, I could print these up huge. I kind of think these first three images would look very nice on a big wall somewhere...

These next two wider angle photos of the ice aren't bad either. I just like those first three a bit better.

And here's what I originally had in mind. The lake's surface was very still, the early morning sun made the color of the boulders look very warm, and the fog brought it all together to make a very calming serene shot.

Another beautiful morning in Truckee!!! I hope you are all haveing a great weekend too.

Scott Thompson
Scott Shots Photography
www.ScottShotsPhoto.com

Pyramid Lake Fishing Photos

Yesterday was a good day! My budddy Blake of Pisces Outdoors invited me and another buddy out for the opening day of fishing at Pyramid Lake in Nevada (Northeast of Reno a bit, near the Black Rock Desert, where Burning Man takes place). Blake makes and sells fishing lures, he also recently obtained his fishing guide license and can now bring clients out for fishing adventures on his bad-ass boat.

The day started out rough. The waves were big and scary. But again, Blake's boat is bad-ass and handled the waves with no problems. I, however, ended up seasick and the first couple of hours of fishing were rough for me. Eventually, the awful feeling went away and I was having a blast! Many fish were caught, they were all Lahontan Cutthroat Trout. All of them were big, one was a very large one, probably about 12 pounds.

Here's one that I caught:

Here's Blake's "winner" of the day. We were quick to release the fish so they could live to be caught another day. This meant we did not have time to weigh the fish, but again, the three of us experienced fishermen agreed, about 12 pounds for this one. Yes, that's a GoPro in the shot. Blake has a YouTube channel and I was also helping a bit with video camera work. Here's Blake's channel: Pisces Outdoors on YouTube The video will be released soon...

This is Blake's boat, at the boat launch. We did not start at sunrise because the wind was supposed to die down mid-day, which means the waves should have started to lay down a bit at launch time.

NOPE! The wind and waves did not mellow out for another couple hours. And again, I ended up getting seasick...

Our buddy Paul and his dog Bubba were both BEASTS on this trip. Bubba handled the rough water like a champ, he is a very experienced dog when it comes to fishing adventures. Paul was incredible when it came to gearing up the rods with tackle and landing the most fish. He's not very patient and would change the lures out often with new ones. But this was a great technique because he was quickly able to figure out what was working and again, we caught tons of fish!

Here's a few more happy fishermen photos:

And here's a look at some of the lures we were using. Blake makes and sells the "spoons". Plugs also worked for us, as well as a few other types. Many many fish were caught, we were out there almost all day, so many types of lures were used. On "opening day" the fish haven't seen lures for a few months so they aren't cautious and bite a lot. So much fun!

We had one double hook-up, when two fish bite at the same time (different rods and lures). It's always fun even though it creates a bit of chaos on the boat. I actually caught that fish Blake is holding on the right... But as the photographer on the boat, it was my duty to get the photo, lol.

Almost all of the fish were released. We did keep a couple and I now have half of one fish in my freezer, the other half is in the refrigerator and is going to be my dinner tonight, woohoo! Pyramid Lake has very strict rules about what size fish you can keep, and how many. The lake is on on an Indian Reservation and the Paiute Tribe does an incredible job with managing the fish population there. It's not that uncommon for fishermen to land a 20 pound trout there. And there are SO MANY fish in that lake, you are really doing something wrong if you walk away empty handed.

We had to stop for a minute along the shore, in order to let Bubba the dog go pee. While there, I ended up with this cool shoreline landscape photo. I was happy with it and it is now available to order as prints on my website: "Fall Colors at Pyramid Lake".

I also got Blake a nice photo of his boat. I always make sure to get some good photos for his website, that way I get invited back out again!

Thanks for looking and I hope you all had a great weekend too. FISH ON!

Scott Thompson
Scott Shots Photography
www.ScottShotsPhoto.com

Icy Alder Creek Photo Adventure With Quill Dog

Quill dog and I got out for a nice big walk recently where Alder Creek flows into Prosser Reservoir, here in Truckee, California. Snowshoes were needed, I also brought my camera and tripod in hopes of having some icy abstract photo fun. Success! I found some interesting ice and little scenes that made for some nice shots. A video of the adventure is above, the "keeper" photos are below.

All of these were taken with the Canon 5DS R and a 24-105mm lens. A tripod was used so I could use a somewhat long exposure, about an 1/8 to 1/2 of second. The ISO was 50 for all of them and the lens aperture was nice and small at f/22. A polarizing filter was used on some of the photos in order to allow me to use a longer exposure than the shots without the filter.

At one spot, I saw that the water was moving in a circle, like a little whirlpool or eddy, and I knew that it might make for a cool look with a longer exposure. Yup! I like the little circular smears that the little bubbles in the swirling water made.

I'll admit, I increased the contrast quite a bit when editing these next two. But I love how the ice was looking spikey, and getting the blacks a bit darker made the ice stand out a bit more.

Thanks for looking and I hope you are all having a cool day!

Scott Thompson
Scott Shots Photography
www.ScottShotsPhoto.com

Scott Shots Photo NFTs Now Available!

 I've been busy lately, shooting lots of new photos, printing prints, and now minting NFTs! I have photo NFTs now available on three different sites. OpenSea, Rarible, and Lensy. I had created some NFTs a while ago but a recent sale motivated me to create more. 

Some of these NFTs are static images, some have motion added to the photo. They can all be downloaded as high resolution images after purchasing and they can be displayed on computer monitors, televisions, tablets, or phones. 

Here are screenshots and links to the websites where the NFTs are available:

OpenSea NFTs Link

Rarible NFTs Link

Lensy NFTs Link

If you have any questions about the NFT photos available, please feel free to email me at info@scottshotsphoto.com. 

Also, many new photos have been added to my website recently. They are all available as limited edition large fine art prints. Here is a link to my Recent Work Gallery on my website.

Thank you for looking!

-Scott Thompson

My Top 10 Tahoe Area Photos of 2019

It's that time of year again! Always an interesting time of year for me, when I look back on all the Tahoe area photos I've shot in the last year and I choose my favorite 10. I shot many photos this year and I had a tough time narrowing it down to 10, a good problem to have.


Here they are, in order that they were shot:

1. "Eagle Falls At Emerald Bay 10" - Sunrise photograph at an icy Eagle Falls above Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe. 

Please click on the images for a larger view and click "add to cart" for a print price list.

2. "Sagehen Meadows Sunset 4" - Photograph of a vibrant sunset above Camas wildflowers and Stampede Reservoir at Sagehen Meadows.

3. "Sunset at Lake Tahoe 45" - Photograph of an orange sunset above Lake Tahoe and tiny white wildflowers growing among the boulders at Sand Harbor. 

4. "Lightning at Lake Tahoe 1" - Photograph of a lightning strike at Lake Tahoe, shot from the lifeguard chair at Sand Harbor, shortly after sunset.

5. "Fireworks at Donner Lake 5" - Photograph of the July 4th, 2019 fireworks show above Donner Lake in Truckee, California.

6. "Old Hwy 40 At Night" - Stitched panoramic photograph of Truckee, California and traffic on Old Hwy 40. Shot during the mass exodus after the 4th of July fireworks. The Milky Way can be seen in the sky above Donner Summit.

This photo above is my favorite photo of the year. I love how the heavy traffic lit up the road and mountainside and how Donner Summit almost looks like a volcano with the Milky Way shooting out of it. It was an unplanned shot but I'm glad I was there at the right place and right time.

7. "Downtown Truckee 67" Photograph of Historic Downtown Truckee shot at sunset from near the Cottonwood restaurant.

8. "Spawning Kokanee Salmon 1" - Underwater photograph of red Kokanee Salmon spawning in a Tahoe area river.

9. "Sunrise at Rainbow Bridge 5" - This fiery sunrise was photographed at Rainbow Bridge, also called Donner Summit Bridge, above Donner Lake and Truckee, California.

10. "Emerald Bay in Autumn 2" - Sunrise photograph of fall foliage above Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe.

Thank you for checking out my favorite Tahoe area photos of the year. I hope to have many more for you to check out in 2020. Cheers to the New Year!!!

Scott Thompson
Scott Shots Photography
www.ScottShotsPhoto.com


Large prints of the above images are available for ordering at www.ScottShotsPhoto.com. Simply click on an image and then click "add to cart" on an image, the print price list will pop up. Thank you!