Last Gasp Of Winter Assignment Winner Scott Thompson

Congratulations to Scott Thompson for winning the recent Last Gasp Of Winter Assignment with his image, “Snowy Sagehen Meadows 2.”

“A couple hours before sunrise on May 19, 2016, a couple pro photographer friends, Tony Spiker and Abe Blair and I headed down the bumpy dirt road to Sagehen Meadows, a bit north of Truckee, California, in the Tahoe area. I had scouted the area the day before, so I knew we were all in for a treat. The purple Camas wildflowers at Sagehen Meadows were in full bloom, and the bloom was bigger than I had seen at that spot in years. We were lucky to photograph a great sunrise with the Camas field as a foreground and we all ended up with some really nice photos. When we were finishing up, we talked about how cool it would be if it snowed there like the forecast said it might. Well… the next day it did snow.

“I was at my house on May 20, 2016, about 30 minutes from Sagehen Meadows when my wife noticed it had started snowing. I grabbed my photo gear, hopped in the SUV and took off! I felt a bit bad for not calling my photog friends who had just been at the location too, but I knew that they wouldn’t make it in time and I didn’t have time to deal with it (sorry again, guys). Just at the snowstorm really started picking up, I arrived, ran out into the meadow, set up my gear and started manically shooting the scene. After a while, I had enough of being wet and cold, so I packed my gear and happily headed back down the road, excited to view the photos on a big monitor.

“Posts by other photographers on social media let me know that by later that day, the camas flowers were crushed and blanketed in snow. I ended up with a unique photo that I’m very happy with. The soft whimsical feel of the snow mixed with the spring wildflowers created what I feel is a magical photograph that I love.”

Canon 5D Mark II, EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM @ 102mm, ISO 400, f/9.0, 1/320 sec., tripod, no filters or flash. Lightly edited in Adobe Photoshop Camera Raw.

See more of Scott Thompson’s photography at www.ScottShotsPhoto.com and follow him on Facebook and Instagram.