Musing at the end of the year
It's been a long while since I've written a post. I've been busy traveling, working, and taking photos. I've been working on getting the final images set for my 52 week challenges with Andre Gallant and also posting images to my at least one Photo-A-Day galleries.
As I re-look at the photos that I've taken this year, they bring back many great memories. Places visited; beauty seen; Experiences captured; Memories Made.
As I was trying to select my ONE favorite shot from 2015 for the weekly challenge, I discovered that I had a hundred. Selecting just one was tough. I did get it down to five. Then spent the night sleeping on it and hoping incubation would help me select the one photo that was my favorite in 2015.
It turned out that the favorite that I posted to Andre's Weekly Challenge is that of Lilies of the Valley in my backyard on a rainy day. Lilies of the Valley are special to me because they always seemed to bloom right before my birthday in May. I looked forward to seeing them when I was growing up. This particular photo was captured in my backyard amidst a bed of green leaves and lots of shade.
I loved the way the white flowers were dangling down and the raindrops that were visible not only on the flowers, but the leaves surrounding the delicate Lily of the Valley. To me, it seems like selecting this for my favorite was a bit of the past favorable memories as well as the present compositional aspects of raindrops on flowers and leaves, lovely green bokeh in background, and the lower leaf that seems to be catching the raindrops from the flowers. Plus, I took this shot with one of my favorite lenses, my 100 macro lens.
I also want to share with you my runners up and what I liked about them....
In October I had the good fortune of taking a workshop from Freeman Patterson and Andre Gallant on the Kingston Peninsula in New Brunswick. I stayed in a cabin that was built by the former owner and was heated with wood only. My cabin mates did a great job to make sure that the fireplace always had a roaring fire. The warmth within the cabin was amazing. So, I decided to take a shot and warm it up a bit.
I loved the original, but thought I would add some glow using Topaz plug-ins. When I look at this image, I can feel the heat of the fire and the wonderful warmth in the cabin all over again. This was very close to being my favorite image of the year.
Another contender for my favorite image was taken at the end point of a hike outside of Bend Oregon. It starts out as the Green Lake Trail, but we had a little problem trying to get across one of the small log bridges (with no siderail) that leads to Green Lake. So, we circled back, found the Moraine Lake Trail. This image was captured at the lake's edge. I was completely alone there with winds howling and a snowstorm brewing.
I loved the lone tree in the Moraine with the subtle lines above and below the tree. Normally there are some backpackers around the lake, but with the looming snowstorm they had all left. I was alone with this lone tree and the very simple Moraine area. After I took this photo and spent some time appreciating the view, my husband joined me. He surprised me a bit because he said he was going to wait for me below....We stood there a bit longer and then the snow started. We headed down the trail and the snow continued and was beginning to accumulate. Finally we got to a lower elevation and the snow just stopped.
Another image that I really liked was taken on a day when I was driving my little green Miata with the top down and enjoying the fall color. I was not the only photographer out that day. There were many that were trying to capture the colors before the leaves fell.
I love the color and the simplicity of the statue against the color. I felt fortunate that I was able to find such a wonderful background. I drove by just a few days later and most of the leaves had fallen to the ground.
And, to round out my top five....
My first workshop with Freeman Patterson and Andre Gallant was in 2008. It also was at the Kingston Peninsula in New Brunswick. Actually it was at the same location as my workshop this year. In 2008, I was given the assignment of "Passionate Embrace". At the 2008 workshop, I had a lot of fun with that topic and had many laughs as I was putting my story together. Since that time, I subconsciously (and often consciously) look for compositions that might suggest a passionate embrace. I am taking photos at High Cliff State Park and found this wonderful suggestion of an embrace. The red in the background accentuates this image for me.
If you want to see more of my possible choices, just visit my home page. The slideshow shows these five and many more!
Have a great New Year!