My Top 10 Tahoe Area Photos of 2018

It's that wonderful time of year again where I get to look back on my photos from this last year and decide which 10 shots were my favorite. It was a difficult year for choosing the best as I got out a ton this year and added many new photos to the archive.

Thank you everyone for your continued support, likes, loves, shares, upvotes, and print purchases.  You all make it possible for me to continue doing what I love to do.

Here are my top 10 Tahoe area photos, in the order that they were shot (click on the images to view them larger on my website)


1. Last winter, I shot a bunch of new snowy Downtown Truckee scenes that were very popular on social media. This image ended up being popular with traditional media too and was licensed for use in the Wall Street Journal. The article is HERE.

"Downtown Truckee 41" - Photograph of historic Downtown Truckee, California shot during a snow storm.

2. I've shot this awesome wavy shoreline on Lake Tahoe's east shore before. I had an idea for shooting it at night and I finally executed it! I love how the lights from the cars highlight the wavy shoreline even more. 

"Tahoe East Shore At Night 1" - Photograph of the wavy shoreline along Lake Tahoe's east shore, shot at night while cars were driving along the road.

3. It's hard to go wrong at Eagle Falls above Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe, especially when you get a nice sunset in the background with the falls flowing strong in spring.

"Eagle Falls At Emerald Bay 7" - Stitched panoramic photograph of Eagle Falls above Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe flowing strong. Shot at sunset.

4. I had a lot of fun this year "light painting". The lights from the Casinos on Tahoe's north shore and south shore made for some really fun subject matter. This was my favorite of the bunch, the Crystal Bay Club on the north shore. 

"Tahoe Lights 7" - Photograph taken at the Lake Tahoe northern state line casinos. The look was achieved by shooting a handheld long exposure and zooming the lens during the exposure.

5. I was lucky to get out backpacking a few times this summer. My favorite place to backpack to and camp at is Paradise Lake. You can probably see why it's my favorite spot in the photo below. This shot made it onto the cover of Tahoe Weekly magazine.

"Wildflowers at Paradise Lake 3" - Photograph of wildflowers and puffy clouds in the early morning at Paradise Lake.

6. One of the best sunsets I have ever seen! My photographer friend Tony Spiker shot it with me and we were saying that nobody would believe our photos because the sunset was so itense. The little bit of wildfire smoke in the air mixed with perfect sunset clouds and created this incredible scene.

"Sunset at Lake Tahoe 43" - Stitched panoramic photograph of a vibrant smokey sunset at Lake Tahoe, just north of Sand Harbor.

7. My underwater housing for my camera was used a bunch this year. I shot this arch at Whale Beach, Lake Tahoe while swimming around with the camera. So much fun!

"Boulders at Lake Tahoe 54" - Photography of a keyhole like boulder formation at Whale Beach, Lake Tahoe. Shot shortly before sunset while swimming with an underwater housing for the camera.

8. Again, I got out with my photographer friend Tony Spiker and we had some fun at an aspen grove above Lake Tahoe. We used headlamps to light up the aspen, and the Milky Way can be seen above the lake. This one will look incredible as a large print.

"Milky Way Over Lake Tahoe 5" - Night time photograph of stars and the Milky Way above an aspen grove and Lake Tahoe.

9. Over/Under shots! Like I said, that underwater housing was used a bunch this year and I had some fun getting shots of Kokanee Salmon spawning with yellow fall colors in the background. An incredible experience.

"Kokanee in the Little Truckee River 3" - Over/under photograph of Kokanee Salmon spawning in the Little Truckee River near Stampede Reservoir.

10.  Last but not least, Secret Cove! My favorite spot on Lake Tahoe for photography. Add in some fall colors on a nice sunny calm day and you get perfection! I could spend every day at this cove if I had the time...

"Secret Cove in Autumn 5" - Photograph of fall foliage along the shore at Secret Cove, Lake Tahoe.

There you have it, my top 10 Tahoe area photos for 2018. Many more photos were shot and those can be found on my website here:  Recent Work  It's been a great year of getting out there and getting the shot. I hope I can get even more photos in 2019...

If you'd like to follow along throughout the year, please follow me on these social medias: Facebook, Instagram, Steemit, Dtube.

Large canvas prints, metal prints, gift items, and image licensing available at www.ScottShotsPhoto.com

Happy Holidays! Happy New Year! Cheers! And thank you for looking and reading!

-Scott Thompson

My 10 Best Tahoe Photos of 2014

For the last few years, photographer Jim Goldstein has challenged other photographers to blog about their top photos of the year. He posts links to the blog posts of participating photographers on his blog (Click Here for his blog). It's a fun project I look forward to every year, where I get to reminisce about my adventures. 

2014 was another great year for beautiful scenes in the Tahoe area. Really, I don't think Tahoe has ever had an un-photogenic year. Below are my favorite ten Tahoe photos of the year. I hope you enjoy them!

-Scott Thompson

1)  Perhaps my favorite photo I shot this year. The sky above Donner Lake just exploded with color that evening. 

"Donner Lake Sunset 21" - Photograph of a colorful sunset above Donner Lake in Truckee, California.

2)  Just another beautiful sunset at Donner Lake. Yes, the sky really was that color.

"Kayak on Donner Lake Sunset" - Photograph of a kayaker fishing on Donner Lake at sunset, shot from the East end of Donner. 

3)  Truckee, California sure does look good in white. Photographed from the hillside near Cottonwood Restaurant.

"Downtown Truckee 14" - Photograph of a snowy Downtown Truckee in the morning.

4)  You can't go wrong with a classic view of the Truckee River in Downtown Truckee, California. However some mornings are more photogenic than others. 

"Snowy Truckee River 3" - Photograph of a snowy Truckee River shot in Downtown Truckee, California.

5)  I drove all over town this spring day, looking for the perfect snow covered flower. It turned out my favorite was a daffodil in my front yard. 

"Snowy Daffodil 1" - This snow covered Daffodil or Narcissus flower was photographed in Truckee, California in the spring.

6)  I shoot this shack just about every year in the Fall. This year, I decided to use my tilt-shift lens to do something different. The tilt-shift is how the soft focus effect is achieved. 

"Shack in the Aspens 7" - This old shack and yellow aspen trees were photographed in the Fall near Brockway Summit in Tahoe. 

7)  Finally! I've been trying to get a good bear shot for years. I finally got a cool shot of a black bear eating a Kokanee Salmon. 

"Black Bear at Taylor Creek 1" - This brown colored black bear was photographed with a Kokanee Salmon in it's mouth at Taylor Creek in South Lake Tahoe.

8)  This amazing sunset above Lake Tahoe was shot on a fun evening shooting with my friend Tony Spiker of www.SpikerPhotography.com 

"Sunset at Lake Tahoe 30" - Photograph of a orange and yellow sunset at Lake Tahoe, shot from near the fire lookout above Crystal Bay.

9)  Kings Beach, Lake Tahoe has been providing photographers with some unique opportunities this year. Visitors have been creating tons of cairns, or rock piles, giving the shoreline a fun look. Mix that with a beautiful sunset and magic happens.

"Cairn at Lake Tahoe 1" - This cairn or man made stack of rocks, was photographed at sunset in Kings Beach, Lake Tahoe.

10)  The grand finale of this years top ten Tahoe photos, a fireworks show above Donner Lake in Truckee, California. Bonus, my wife and son were with me for this one. 

"Fireworks at Donner Lake" - This fireworks display at the West end of Donner Lake was photographed from a mountainside on July 4th.

The photos above are all available to purchase as fine art prints. Click on an image for more details. Digital downloads, and photo gift items are also available.