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.

I have been sharing my top 10 for many years on my old blog, this year is no different. If you want to see them on the old blog, that can be found HERE. But I also wanted to post them on steem so here they are, 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"

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"

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"

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"

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"

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 intense. The little bit of wildfire smoke in the air mixed with perfect sunset clouds and created this incredible scene.

"Sunset at Lake Tahoe 43"

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"

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"

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"

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".

There you have it, my top 10 Tahoe area photos for 2018. I'm curious which one is your favorite? 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...

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

Scott Thompson
Scott Shots Photography