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!

Many New Tahoe Aera Photos On The Website!

It was a busy spring, summer, and fall for taking photos in the Truckee / Tahoe area this year! I have finally added many new images to my website www.ScottShotsPhoto.com. These images are all available as large fine art prints, photo gift items, and to license, download, and use in publications, advertisements, and websites.

Here is a screenshot of my "Recent Work" gallery. If you want to see more photos from this year, please follow this link below. Click on an image then click "add to cart" and the price lists will pop up.

https://scottshotsphoto.photoshelter.com/gallery/Recent-Work/G0000CWVA3mDd9tE/

If you don't feel like going to another website right now... here are a few of my personal favorite new photos: 

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

"Downtown Truckee 72" - Autumn photograph Historic Downtown Truckee, California.

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

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

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

"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.

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

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

Thank you for looking! If you have any questions about ordering prints or products, please email me personally at info@scottshotsphoto.com.

 Scott Thompson
 Scott Shots Photography

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

New Rainbow Bridge Sunrise Photograph - And A Behind The Scenes Video

A few days ago, I got out to one of my favorite "go-to" spots for sunrise photography. It's a fairly easy spot to get to when I don't have a lot of time to spend hiking or driving further. Rainbow Bridge above Donner Lake and Truckee, California has provided many cool photos for me over the years. Although I was hoping for more explosive sunrise colors that were also higher in the sky, I really can't complain as the vibrant pinks were beautiful looking.

"Sunrise at Rainbow Bridge 4"

Photographed with a Canon 5DS R and a 16-35mm lens set at 28mm. A graduated neutral density filter was used on the lens in order to darken the sky above the bridge a bit. The ISO was 400, the aperture was f11, and it was a 30 second exposure. The scene actually looked darker to the naked eye but the long exposure helped lighten the scene and also bring out more color to the lights of Truckee and Hwy 80 in the background. The RAW image was worked on in Photoshop's Camera RAW feature where I lightened the shadow areas quite a bit.

The making of this photo can be seen on a recent dtube video:





 As always, fine art prints of this image are available through my website. Canvas prints, prints on metal, and photo gift items.

Thank you for looking, reading, and watching!

-Scott Thompson