Snow Snow and More Snow, New Photos

It's been snowing a bit in my area. Ok, it's been snowing a ton! We aren't having the biggest year yet since I've lived here in Truckee, however we are getting close...

I was planning on taking Quill dog for a snowshoe hike yesterday afternoon, but after trying it in the backyard before I left, I decided not to bring him. It was just too deep. I was ok with my snowshoes so I walked down the street to Alder Creek for a little photography fun.

As you can see in the photos, Alder Creek is buried in areas and was a bit sketchy to walk near. I didn't want to fall through the snow into the creek. It was great exercise and I ended up with a few keeper photos:

These were all shot with a Canon 5DS R and a 24-105mm lens, handheld with no tripod or filters. I was trying to keep things simple and not add a bunch of weight, it was a tough enough hike as is. Fortunately, someone had already broken trail so some areas of my hike were a bit easier than others.

We've been getting some surprise colorful sunsets lately that were not in the forecast, so since I had some free time, I thought I'd cross my fingers and go for it. Nope... It was a dud sunset. There was a touch of warmth to the sky as you can see below, but not what I was hoping for. Oh, well, it was fun to get out.

Thank you for looking and I hope you are all having a great day!

Scott Thompson
Scott Shots Photography
www.ScottShotsPhoto.com

New Prints at Gallery 5830' in Downtown Truckee

It was a very busy holiday season at Gallery 5830' in Downtown Truckee, California. And lately, I have been busy creating more prints, canvasses, and ordering more metal prints (My studio is not set up to print on metal). It's been great, new work is up on the walls at the gallery, so I thought I'd share a few photos.

Part of my canvas print process is coating the prints with a UV and water resistant glossy coating. I can also produce non-coated glossy prints, but they get damaged easily at galleries and by moving them around a lot so I have found that a nice protective coating is best.

You can see both of the prints above on the wall at the gallery now, along with many other new pieces. Nice and full again, ready to view, enjoy, and hopefully buy...

If you ever find yourself in Truckee, please feel free to contact me and I'll do my best to meet up with you at the gallery. There have been lots of little events and exhibit openings there lately. This current exhibit below is by Ryno of www.rynoart.com They are digitally manipulated photos, something I'm not always a fan of, but these all look great! It's a fun look when done well and printed up large.

Thanks for looking and I hope you all have a great weekend. Cheers!

Scott Thompson
Scott Shots Photography
www.ScottShotsPhoto.com

New Snowy Truckee Photos

I took a couple short drives into town with the camera yesterday. It was dumping snow but there weren't many other vehicles on the roads so it was actually quite enjoyable. I have a 4 wheel drive vehicle and proper studded snow tires so traction on snow and ice is not a problem for me, it's those other drivers that cause problems...

Because of all the fresh snow, there are hardly any places to park along the roads. Eventually, I found a little pullover along Donner Lake and stopped for a few quick photos of some snowy docks along the shore. This one below was my favorite.

Shot on a Canon 5DS R and a 24-105mm lens. This ISO was 400, the lens aperture was f/8, and it was a quick 1/320 second shot. I wanted to make sure I was able to freeze the frozen snow flakes in the shot.

After getting a few dock photos and not much else, I went home thinking I was done. Quill was glad I was back as it was play time for him:

Later in the day, the sky started to clear and it was looking like it was lining up for a surprise nice sunset. So I grabbed the gear and headed back into town, this time to the Truckee River. Again, parking issues... but I was able to find a business's parking lot near the river so I parked for a few minutes and captured this scene.

Another handheld shot. It's hard to use the tripod and lens filters when it's dumping snow so simple handheld shots are usually best.

Sunset ended up being a bust. It started dumping snow again and the color in the sky did not happen. So, I took a walk in historic Downtown Truckee and ended up with these two keeper images below. I couldn't resist shooting the leg lamp! As a Christmas Story movie fan, I would totally put this up in my living room for a couple weeks out of every year. Wouldn't you???

And a nice scene of one our best restaurants in town, in my opinion. Great food and a great atmosphere there. This is usually a fairly busy corner, but not many people out yesterday.

It's snowing again today. It's that time of year, and fortunately we've been having a big winter. All of our reservoirs should fill up nicely and fingers crossed, the spring wildflowers should bloom big in a few months.

Thank you for looking and I hope you are all having a great day. Cheers!

Scott Thompson
Scott Shots Photography
www.ScottShotsPhoto.com

Happy New Year! My Top 10 Photos Of 2022

It's been a busy busy year. For landscape photography, art sales, and with the commercial photography side of my business. It's been great!

It's also been a couple years since I've done a top 10 post. But so many new images were shot this year, I was feeling inspired. These aren't necessarily my best performing images on social media, or my new best sellers. These are my personal favorites that bring the biggest smile to my face when I look at them.

The photos are numbered, I'm curious, which one is your favorite?

1. "Boca Reservoir Ice 2" - Sunrise photograph of ice on a frozen over Boca Reservoir in Truckee, California. This one was a bit sketchy. The ice was thick enough but it sure didn't look like it as it had broken up then refroze.

2. "Icy Eagle Falls 8" - Photograph of frozen and flowing water at Eagle Falls above Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe in the winter. Another sketchy photography adventure. I needed my ice crampons to get down to the bottom of of these falls. Not an easy shot but I loved the results!

3. "Donner Lake Sunrise 31" - Sunrise photograph of sheets of ice piled up along the shoreline of Donner Lake in Truckee, California. More ice! But a lot safer. It was slippery but at least I didn't have to worry about falling down a icy waterfall.

4. "Sunset at Lake Tahoe 48" - Wide angle panoramic photograph of a colorful pink sunset and a bench above Lake Tahoe. I was so happy I decided to stop and hike to this bench after a real estate photography shoot. Not bad for an unplanned shoot!

5. "Lupine Sunset 9" Photograph of a large lupine wildflower field and an incredible sunset in Tahoe City, California. Ah, the lupine. When lake water levels are low, the lupine around the shorelines can bloom big. This year was a very BIG year for them. And I was lucky to catch this big pink cloud at sunset with the purple lupine. All the other photographers who where there left very happy that evening.

 6. "Lupine at Prosser Reservoir 5" - Sunset photograph of lupine wildflowers along the shoreline and in the water at Prosser Reservoir, near Truckee, California.
A smaller different type of lupine at a smaller nearby lake. The water had risen after they bloomed, creating a very cool look to the flowers at sunset.

7. "Fireworks at Donner Lake 6" - Panoramic photograph of Independence Day fireworks at Donner Lake in Truckee, California. A favorite spot at a favorite time of year. Donner Lake fireworks shows are always great! And usually quite photogenic too.

 8. "Donner Lake Sunset 63" - Sunset photograph of boulders and plants above Donner Lake and Truckee, California. Quill dog was with me for this little photo adventure. It was a beautiful sunset and some little flowers blooming made it a little better.

9. "Full Moon Over Star Lake" - Panoramic photograph of the full moon and stars above Star Lake, located on the Tahoe Rim Trail near South Lake Tahoe. What a fun adventure this trip was! Shot during an overnight backpacking adventure with a couple friends. 25 miles with the backpack and camera gear was tough, but totally worth it.

10. "Downtown Truckee 90" - Sunrise photograph of historic Downtown Truckee covered in snow during the holidays. Many new snowy Christmasy photos were shot this year. Here's a favorite, but if you like more Christmas lights and decorations, check some out some of my other recent blog posts...

Unfortunately, I can not embed one of my slideshows here. However, if you would like to see these images full screen, please follow this Scott Shots Photography top 10 slideshow link. All the images above can be purchased as prints and as gift items through my website, just follow the link under the images, the click "add to cart" for info.

As always, thank you for looking! I hope you have enjoyed seeing my photos and adventures this past year. I hope to share many many more in 2023. CHEERS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Scott Thompson
Scott Shots Photography
www.ScottShotsPhoto.com