The Milky Way shoot Saturday morning was successful. But I also stuck around for sunrise, and that was a successful shoot too! The Milky Way shot is in my last post, and the sunrise photos are below. But first... I put together a little behind the scenes YouTube video, so you can have a bit of a look at the fun involved with this type of shoot. Also, I shot an Instagram Live video. I can't seem to download and share that, so if you're bored and would like to see the sunrise with me, here is a link to that: Instagram Live Video Okay, this first photo is actually of the sliver mo ..read more

WOW!!! I was incredibly lucky to get this shot recently! I woke up at 2:30am on Saturday, 4-6-24, was at this spot a bit after 3:30am, and shot this photo just before 4am. Shortly after I got this "keeper" the clouds rolled in and the Milky Way was no longer visible. If I would have gotten up a little later, I would have missed the shot. Bonus, there was a cloud above Truckee and the lights of Truckee lit it up beautifully. Also, a car drove over Rainbow Bridge during the exposure which lit up the railing. The snow was reflective enough to become visible during the 20 second exposure. Everythi ..read more

Gotta love Springtime! Yesterday, I was able to get down to Reno, Nevada and after running a couple errands, I headed to Downtown Reno with the camera. The trees are blossoming down there right now, and everything is looking incredible, everywhere you look. Shooting the Reno Arches with blossoms in the foreground has been on my to-do list for many many years. However, the blossoms don't last very long at all, and I always seem to miss the peak of the show. Not this year! My timing worked out perfectly, and I was able to get these two "keeper" shots. Both of these were shot handheld with the ..read more

I finally put together the little video that I shot while out photographing the Milky Way a few days ago. I already shared the photo HERE, but this video gives you a behind the scenes look and few tips from the shoot. Thank you for watching, and I hope you are all having a great day! Scott Thompson Scott Shots Photography www.TruckeeTahoePhotos.com ..read more

I went out for a short stroll with the camera and some turmeric tea this morning. The camera was almost left at home... But I'm glad I decided to grab it at the last minute, because of this cool scene! There was a thin layer of ice on Donner Lake here in Truckee, California. But in this small area, the ice had broken up and piled up, creating sharp looking, jagged pieces of ice that looked rather photogenic to me. So I set down the hot tea and went to work getting some cool photos! Shot with the Canon 5DR R and a 16-35mm lens, set at 16mm. The camera's ISO was 200, the shutter speed was 1/200 ..read more

I'm super excited about this... I officially launched my new website today!!!! www.TruckeeTahoePhotos.com It has been a lot of work, and I'll probably still work on the website more as I fine tune things. But it is live! It is functioning! And the shopping cart works! A test order has been delivered to my mother, who ordered a jigsaw puzzle a few days ago. The puzzle was delivered today, everything went smooth! The puzzle was delivered to Los Angeles, but prints can be delivered anywhere in the world! Above is a screenshot of the website. Everything seems to be working great on my end ..read more

Yes... I got out yet again on the cross-country skis recently at Donner Lake, here in Truckee, California. I try to get out a few times a week for exercise and to enjoy the Great OutDoors. And of course, I almost always bring the Canon camera with me. I wasn't really expecting to shoot much. There was some strong winds with the snowstorm the night before, so most of the snow wasn't looking perfect in the trees, the wind tends to knock it off of the pine needles, it falls onto the soft snow on the ground, and it leaves a less than perfect look. However, out at the lake shore, away from the tree ..read more

I was lucky to get out again recently on the cross-country skis for a little exercise at Donner Lake, here in Truckee, California. While out, I decided to ski over to Coldstream Pond, to see what I could see. There were some interesting cracks in the ice that that had frozen back over. I really liked the look of this scene on the pond. I know what I think it looks like, but what do you think it looks like??? Shot with the Canon 5DS R and a 24-105mm lens. The ISO was 160, the lens aperture was f/18, and it was a fast 1/200 of a second exposure. When I shoot handheld, I like to have a nice fast ..read more

There was a break in a big snowstorm recently. It had been dumping all day, a decent amount of snow piled up fast. I took the opportunity to make some tea, grab the camera, and walk across the street to Donner Lake in order to enjoy a little outdoor time. When I got to the lake, I was surprised and pleased to see these cone shaped snow covered rocks! The cone look made them a bit unique compared to most snow covered rocks. Also, the lake was coated with a slushy slurpy layer of snow. The whole scene looked kind of surreal so I fired off many photos and even waited around until sunset, with hop ..read more

New YouTube Video! Sunrise over Donner Lake photography, followed by ice fishing up above Truckee, California.  Here's the photo I got at sunrise: Thanks for watching. Have a great day! -Scott Thompson  ScottShotsPhoto.com ..read more