Sagehen Meadows Wildflowers - SteemitPhotoChallenge 3 Entries - Flowers

So I've read the rules for this challenge and I know that going and getting fresh photos for the challenge is encouraged... But it's dumping snow outside my house right now! What to do? Post a snowy flower photo of course!

This was shot in the spring of 2016 at a favorite location about a 30 minute drive from my house (about half of that is down a dirt road in 4WD). Sagehen Meadows is a bit north of Truckee, California in the Tahoe area. I'll tag the location on @steemitworldmap, look for the link in the comments below. I visit the location pretty much every spring, it is also a beautiful area in the fall. The Camas wildflowers can create a "lake" of purple in the meadow on good years. This particular year, I had photographed the meadow the day before so I knew the Camas were in full bloom. When it started snowing at my house, I quickly grabbed my gear and rushed to the meadow. The dumping snow mixed with spring flowers created what I feel is an incredible and unique photo. I was also incredibly lucky because shortly after I shot a bunch of photos, the Camas started getting crushed under the weight of the snow and became un-photogenic.

"Snowy Sagehen Meadows 2" Canon 5D MkII

We're allowed to post three images for this contest so here are a couple more. This next one was actually shot the day before the photo above, at the same location. It was a little before sunrise and I got to enjoy shooting the meadow with a couple photographer friends of mine, Abe Blair and Tony Spiker. We all were "light painting" the Camas wildflowers with headlamps during long exposures. The light on the clouds sadly comes from a bit of "light pollution" in the distance, but this time I'm not complaining about it. All of us ended up with some pretty cool night photos, sunrise wasn't bad either.

"Sagehen Meadow at Night 1" Canon 5D MkII

Hey, why not one more flower photo from the same location? Only yellow Buttercup flowers instead of the Camas this time. The Buttercups bloom a bit before the Camas. I will often go scout this location soon after the snow in the area melts. I find that if the Buttercups are doing well, there is a good chance for a big Camas bloom. You can usually see the Camas sprouts popping out of the ground this time of year too. This photo was shot last spring, 2017. Again, it started snowing at my house so I rushed out and got another fun snowy Sagehen Meadows wildflower shot.

"Snowy Sagehen Meadows 4" Canon 5D SR

Thanks for looking! This meadow is definitely one of my favorite lesser known locations in the Tahoe area. I'm happy to share it with the steemit community!

More of my Sagehen Meadows photos here.

Scott Thompson
Scott Shots Photography

For the #Flowers #SteemitPhotoChallenge hosted by @jamtaylor.