Favorites of the Year: 2010 Edition

The year is winding down.  It is time for me to start thinking about my favorite photos of the year.  I have a few more this year than I did last year.  There are a few reasons for that.  The main reason is simply I made more pictures.  I have a larger body of junk from which to select the few pictures to represent.  Also, I feel that I did better this year than last year.  I learned a bit.  I gained a lot more confidence.  Also, shooting more, as I did, simply helps.



This first one is my absolute favorite from the year.  I think I did okay on the lighting.  But more importantly I managed to take a picture of my wife that actually shows how she looks, and not some awkward photographic caricature that only shows up in my pictures.  I don't have this issue with anyone else.  But, at least we managed to do it right this time.



This was made to celebrate Kathryn's new bike.  For me, the most important event for her this year was  learning to ride.  She put aside whatever fear she was holding onto and rode.  It was great to see her do that!  It made her nervous for me to watch her try, so I peeked out the window.  She still doesn't know I saw her.  She also doesn't know I almost cried.



This one makes me smile.  I'm still not sure why Tobias decided to pick flowers.  Maybe it was because it was Easter.  More than likely, it was probably simply because they were there.



We added a new family member this year.  This sleepy shot is the first night we had the puppy home.  She is a funny, fluffy, and sweet girl.  She is also a pain in the butt.



Some close friends also added a family member this year.  This wasn't the first night they had him home.  But it is still very cute, no?  He wasn't quite ready to sit up completely on his own for these.  It was a bit of a challenge to capture him before he started to topple.  He loved the "game" of catch that Mommy was playing though.







These 3 come from the HS Senior portrait sessions I did this year. These were a lot of fun for me. I am not sure how these guys thought about the sessions. I know in high school I ranked visiting a photographer right up there with visiting a dentist.  I think I did better than that though. At least I didn't introduce any awkwardness by pretending to be a teenager.  I did stoop to telling elephant jokes though, so that may be worse.





These two pictures represent my attempts to make some landscape style pictures. Most of those I tried to make last year largely failed. I don't think these compare favorably to what a real landscape photographer can make, but its the best I can do right now and don't seem like total failures.



This is my favorite picture that fell out of my cell phone this year. I think I like it because of all the curves, and the red against the blue-ish sky.  It amazes me that if I use that little camera on the proper subject, and aim for the proper aesthetic, I can make 8x10 prints from it that work really well.



I am not sure why, but this picture always draws me in. Something about it really appeals to me. I'm also a little sad it didn't win it's category in the community show this year. [ But not much, I really like anyway. ]



I spent some effort this year making pictures of as many different people I could.  This one is the result of about 3 minutes with this individual.  This picture is interesting to me because it looks like a studio shot, but its not. It was made in a cafeteria. The background is a portable wooden "wall", and the main light is coming from what is essentially a big glass wall.



This final picture was taken at the dress rehearsal for COA's spring production. That night was final polishing before months of effort got tested in performance. It was nice for me to peek behind the curtains a little bit. It is rare you are made aware of the hours an artist puts into their work.

If you have gotten this far, thank you for looking!