Your favorite three images from the past year?

[theantiquetiger]

I figured on getting this one started, always one of my favorite threads.

Here are my three favorite. The reason I picked these is mostly because of a couple thing, all three are pretty much 100% frame (minus a little for leveling), the work I put into the first and second image, and just the expressions on my daughters' faces in the last:

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2875/9793721424_024ce57186_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/theantiquetiger/9793721424/)
New Orleans Royal St (http://www.flickr.com/photos/theantiquetiger/9793721424/) by Theantiquetiger (http://www.flickr.com/people/theantiquetiger/), on Flickr

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2808/9069017950_a3c6ce6f60_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/theantiquetiger/9069017950/)
chimes hdr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/theantiquetiger/9069017950/) by Theantiquetiger (http://www.flickr.com/people/theantiquetiger/), on Flickr

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8117/8708847804_0f05f46365_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/theantiquetiger/8708847804/)
paintwall (http://www.flickr.com/photos/theantiquetiger/8708847804/) by Theantiquetiger (http://www.flickr.com/people/theantiquetiger/), on Flickr

[jude01]

Face Off.......My first photo was taken in the spring. As I walked along the shore line I heard blows and looked up to see Orcas! This is a female transient 'mammal eating" Orca. She was feeding her young calf and took down this harbor seal.This is the harbor seal's last moments before she killed it....looking into the face of its killer

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5521/11467461224_bf84c68cee_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/selena_rhodes_scofield_photography/11467461224/)
Face off...transient orca vs harbor seal (http://www.flickr.com/photos/selena_rhodes_scofield_photography/11467461224/) by Selena Rhodes Scofield Photography (http://www.flickr.com/people/selena_rhodes_scofield_photography/), on Flickr

The second shot is of a loon. I picked this one because I have spent hours on the shore of this lake, trying to get a decent shot of the loon family that lives there. The end of my last day and suddenly the loon pops up in front of me!!!

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7357/8765668181_53a4f9eeca_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/selena_rhodes_scofield_photography/8765668181/)
loon 01 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/selena_rhodes_scofield_photography/8765668181/) by Selena Rhodes Scofield Photography (http://www.flickr.com/people/selena_rhodes_scofield_photography/), on Flickr

And my fav shot of last year was during a whale watch trip. This photo was taken on the west side of San Juan Island in Washington. This is known as one of the best land based whale watching sights in the world. I love the guy on the hill with his arms raised chearing for the Orca!!

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3677/9001833664_30b9c31276_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/selena_rhodes_scofield_photography/9001833664/)
orca DSC_5724.5 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/selena_rhodes_scofield_photography/9001833664/) by Selena Rhodes Scofield Photography (http://www.flickr.com/people/selena_rhodes_scofield_photography/), on Flickr

[Marko]

Nice choices AT and really like your set as well Jude01

[Iguanasan]

Hmmm... I had a feeling that I didn't get any decent shots this year, it's been a bit of a "down" year from me but going back to find three of my favourite shots from the year made me realize that I did get a few decent shots. Actually, it found it hard to only pick three - there was something very uplifting about that.

The first one came on January 1st! I love this shot of the Polar Bear Dip jumper.

18537

It was a challenge but I have to go with this very relaxed looking sheep. I just love the relaxed feeling of this snoozing creature.

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The last one would have been different until yesterday. I've been doing a lot of walking lately and I put on my backpack and my camera bag and walked the 3km to the Northwest Arm just before sunrise yesterday morning. After a bit I managed to capture the following image which I call Solstice Fire II.

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[JAS_Photo]

Cool idea, A.T. and I like all the shots chosen so far.


This first shot was all about presentation. I took a few photos of my sister's garden in May. Her son, a landscaper/musician put a lot of work into it for her. It was also the last time I saw her alive.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8538/8850700502_a7a6a29cd7_b.jpg

This started out as a different idea that was failing miserably, but then I tried layering two photos one of which was zoomed out in camera to get the movement I was looking for.

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3684/9528988334_ce22ec4c82_b.jpg

This one is entirely about technique and patience.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7324/9644376924_933e4ca4af_b.jpg

[Runmonty]

Loving this thread so far. A lot of the shots I have seen and liked this year are already included.

I narrowed it down to approx 12, but as it is "favourite" vs "best" here are my 3. Favourites for differing reasons.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7053/8688713638_7dddb34df4_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/56001877@N04/8688713638/)
union-lane-2 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/56001877@N04/8688713638/) by runmonty (http://www.flickr.com/people/56001877@N04/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7337/11476158896_a6e26f3c7d_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/56001877@N04/11476158896/)
Untitled (http://www.flickr.com/photos/56001877@N04/11476158896/) by runmonty (http://www.flickr.com/people/56001877@N04/), on Flickr

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3740/9115370002_176ea1002c_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/56001877@N04/9115370002/)
Mortlock Library (http://www.flickr.com/photos/56001877@N04/9115370002/) by runmonty (http://www.flickr.com/people/56001877@N04/), on Flickr

[casil403]

OK I'll bite...
I love this one of my dog Bear...the processing seemed to add some life to the image:
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8368/8526378274_f61de16a1e_b.jpg
I was fortunate to go on 2 photo tours with Darwin Wiggett this year to the rockies so I will go with this from the last one....a Mountain goat..the second time I've seen one in my lifetimes so it was such a treat! Located along the Icefield Parkway on our way to Jasper.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7409/10819314143_c6e0055811_c.jpg

The last one is from the first trip I did with Darwin Back in February. I was at the Columbia Icefields doing an assignment on in camera BW shots. I loved these mated pair of ravens that let me get very close when I started calling to them...the dubbed me the "Raven Whisperer" on the trip as I could mimic their calls enough to peak their curiosity and then get very close.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8515/8474291345_1833849ff4_c.jpg

[QuietOne]

I'm swapping stuff to a new (dedicated) computer, so I'll draw off of photos I can find easily. Even then, it's a tough choice.

18544
From the trip back home, during Baycon. The start of the year was rough, with old friends and acquaintances seriously ill, injured, or in a couple of cases, dying. One friend, with stage 4 prostate cancer that had made it to the bones, made a miraculous recovery - his doctors' words. People were happy to see us, and laughed and played during the con.

18545
Happenstance - the right time of day, a floor that reflected an interesting color cast and strong light. I just liked the results.

18546
Because how can you not like a picture of a charge for the crackers I was carrying, led by a coot?

[mbrager]

Nostalgia time, looking back over the last year's photos.
This photo of the peloton of the Tour of Alberta took a bit of planning to figure out they would be coming over this bridge and making a right turn at the end of the bridge. What I didn't anticipate is that they would all be in the left lane, ruining my planning. Turned out for the better.

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5508/9707599586_b67845a6b6_c.jpg

This photo of a bee covered in pollen from the sunflowers I grew was a highlight of the whole year.

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3719/9848768805_8d8256ecb8_c.jpg

This 5 image stitched HDR photo of the Glenmore Dam was exciting when I realized there were fishermen in the water, as well as a nice sunset color.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7295/10049441746_0ef9e3c17c_c.jpg

[Barefoot]

We Yanks:

http://i781.photobucket.com/albums/yy94/CircleOfConfussion/WeYanks_zps9e0cc35e.jpg (http://s781.photobucket.com/user/CircleOfConfussion/media/WeYanks_zps9e0cc35e.jpg.html)

Elephants Memory:

http://i781.photobucket.com/albums/yy94/CircleOfConfussion/ElephantsMemoryBampW_zpsac9b9f23.jpg (http://s781.photobucket.com/user/CircleOfConfussion/media/ElephantsMemoryBampW_zpsac9b9f23.jpg.html)

Ancient Ocean:

http://i781.photobucket.com/albums/yy94/CircleOfConfussion/_RDC7730bx950_zps6f919a9f.jpg (http://s781.photobucket.com/user/CircleOfConfussion/media/_RDC7730bx950_zps6f919a9f.jpg.html)

[lindsayb]

Hmmm, this was an interesting exercise as I could see how much I really began to improve when I got my new camera. There's been so much going on for us this year that I never got around to sharing my excitement, but I upgraded from my poor beat up Pentax K100D to a Nikon D7000, skipped the kit lens and got myself a Tamron 28-75mm 2.8 lens. Spent a good deal of time getting to know my new camera and figuring out the focusing. The tamron lens isn't stabilized so it's forcing me to think more and use better technique. Though I will opt for stabilized lenses later as I want to shoot families and experience shooting my 4 year tells me that little extra will definitely help when they are on the move!

In any case, here are my three picks out of a dozen or so:

My daughter was diagnosed with autism this year and she's always been hard to get good pictures of unless they are candid:
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Love this of my many botanical images for the luscious petals and lovely bokeh:
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We had the fortune of spending holidays on the Isle of Arran. Amazing place!! So many more photos from there I'll share, but here's one fav:
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[Marko]

such a wonderful thread! Lovely to see everyone's choices.

I always have trouble with threads like this...but after I process a few images from last week (I think I have 1 fave from that lot), I'll try to remember to post them.

[tomoscott]

That Polar Bear Jumper is terrific!

[Mike Bons]

These are not necessarily my best images of 2013, but they are among my favorites and I will do my best to describe why.

This image although maybe not the most dynamic image I got of bluebirds this year, it was the culmination of our efforts that started in early April. I told my wife that my son and I were off to the hardware store to buy some lumbar to build a bluebird box. Her response was "Mike, that's a waste of time. We never see bluebirds around here". To which I replied, "if nothing else, it will be a good time building it with Grayden (my 3 year old son)." Well later that month we would see the bluebirds move into the box and subsequently go on to have 2 broods, to which we fed over 60,000 live mealworms to. This image is from the first brood in which there was 5. I was only able to get 1 image with all 5 juveniles in it as well as the mother.

http://www.mikebons.com/img/s9/v91/p1819512338-4.jpg

This image is one of my favorite landscape images from the year. It was taken in Ft. Myers Beach where we went on a family vacation at the end of October. I'm not a fan of the commercialism of Orlando but this, Southwest area, of Florida is beautiful. Every morning I would walk down to the beach and take pictures of shorebirds and often had dolphins swimming past me.

http://www.mikebons.com/img/s5/v130/p511719478-4.jpg

I took so many pictures of my youngest child Walker who was born this year it is hard to pick a fav. However this picture of him just minutes after his birth with him laying on my wife's chest, so exhausted by the childbirth but so content in the moment, was very special for me.

http://www.mikebons.com/img/s10/v111/p915874118-4.jpg