Tag Archives: best of

Best of 2023: My Year in 12 Photos

A few years back I got annoyed at the way that Instagram selected my “best 9” photos of the year and created a practice for myself of selecting my own “best” photos of the year. This year I have continued this tradition of taking time to look through my daily photos (it’s a rare day when I don’t take a photo) in order to find a subset that I will call the “Best of 2023.” The forced choice of picking a best for each month pushes me to think about what makes a photo best. Is it the subject matter? The experience that accompanied the photo? The actual photo itself? Other’s reactions to the photo? I think the answer may be a combination of all of the above!

My January 2023 photo captures my wonder when watching pelicans. I marvel at how they get low and skim the waves, seemingly almost running their wings along the edge of the swell. In this photo I love the way the squadron of pelicans in formation demonstrates this “surfing” behavior while also capturing the energy and movement of the waves and the range of colors of the water as the sun does its magical work. If I could change anything about this photo I would want to get closer (that would require a stronger zoom lens)…and I think a sunset version would be magnificent.

There is something so compelling about this tiny lifeguard tower in Solana Beach that perches on the cliff, jutting out into the sea. I’ve taken many version of this photo–and this is my favorite direction to shoot from. I love the low tide exposure, showing the rocks that are oftentimes covered with the sea. This unfiltered photo shows the February light on an afterwork walk, capturing the ordinary beauty of this less-than-ordinary, but functional building. I’d love to know more about the history of the building, who decided it needed to be here, why this design…and even when the decision was made to make lifeguard towers less permanent and more portable.

March shows off the playful aspects of daily photos. I’m constantly trying to capture movement in still photos. This was a windy day and the palms were showing their flexibility. To make the photo more dramatic and interesting, I did some filter play, enhancing the colors and showing the interplay of sun, sky, clouds, and wind (through the movement of the trees). I go with the adage that the best camera is the one that you have with you…and you’ll notice that many of my photos are taken with my phone.

April meant Spring Break, and in 2023 our break included a road trip to Zion National Park in Utah. In spite of that fact that it was “Spring” break, the weather was unseasonably cold…and while you’ll notice bright sun in this photo, we experienced snow, ice, wind, and rain on this trip. None of that kept us from hiking and taking photos. I love the contrast in this image of the white of the cliffs and the blue of the sky along with the long, sharp icicles hanging down. Angles and light and shadow keep drawing me back to this image…along with the brilliant blue of the April sky.

Lucky for me, I don’t have to go far from home to find interesting subjects to photograph. In May, a trip to the local lagoon brought me up close to this teeny tiny hummingbird. A colder than usual spring meant that the trees were still relatively bare, allowing a good view of this tiny gem against the steel gray sky.

But in June, I did travel a long way to find some different, interesting subjects to photograph. And inclement weather was a theme all year. With our school year ending earlier than usual (on June 2nd!), we hopped on a plane and headed to Maine to explore Acadia National Park. While it rained almost every day we were there, we didn’t let it dampen our adventurous spirits. We were lucky to get a short reprieve from stormy seas to head off on a boat to see puffins (which we did) and also get some spectacular views of lighthouses like this one. This composition reminds me of a postcard, filling the space both side to side and up and down. If only the light were illuminated! (Unfortunately, this was not a working lighthouse.)

Back in California, in July we took another roadtrip to explore the mountains in the middle of the state. Mammoth Mountain includes snowy peaks, gorgeous lakes and geologic phenomenon as well as interesting flora and fauna. While exploring Convict Lake I found myself mesmerized by the swallowtail butterflies fluttering, flitting, and feeding on the local flowers. They were everywhere and in constant motion. This time I was trying to capture the stillness of these pollinators rather than action!

In spite of the fact that school now begins in early August, this is truly the heart of the summer. I love to watch surfing competitions and lucky for me, there are often quite a few to choose from at our local beaches. This longboard contest also included something they called a paddle out relay where surfers organized themselves into teams that raced (with long surfboards under their arms) to the water, paddled out and around a designated buoy and then returned to shore to tag a teammate and continue the race. I love the way this photo captures the action, the length of the board, and even the muscle definition of the surfer.

UCSD is the home of the San Diego Area Writing Project and the end of September was the date of our annual Fall Conference. Early Saturday mornings on a college campus are quiet, offering opportunities for photos that do not feature students. I love to take photos of the iconic Geisel library…and in this shot you can see Fallen Star (a Stuart Collection art installation) perched on the engineering building in the distance. I love the light and clouds reflected in the many windows of the library. I definitely have fonder memories of photographing this library than studying in it!

No, this isn’t night photography. This is a photo of the partial solar eclipse we experienced in October. Using an app called Solar Snap and a special sun filter to protect my eyes, I was able to enjoy this not-too-common event and capture this image of the moon passing in front of the sun giving the illusion of a crescent moon when what you are actually seeing is the sun with the moon in front of it. This is one of those images where the experience was an interesting part of the photography process.

I don’t think I could do a “best of” set of photos without at least one of my favorite bird to photograph! I take many photos of snowy egrets, some better than others. I love this one from November where the reflection is so mirror-like. One of the benefits of the early dark after daylight saving time ends is that sunsets and my daily walk often coincide. My photos show the magic of the “golden hour,” where the light is perfect and photos have that magical quality that is otherwise so hard to obtain.

Somehow in December, between holiday celebrations and visits to and from family, we managed to squeeze in a trip to Yosemite. I’m not sure there is a bad day in this very special place. This late afternoon light was perfect for capturing the reflection of El Capitan and Bridalveil Falls in the Merced river.

Even as I write about these twelve photos as my “best of,” I find myself questioning my choices. There isn’t a single sunset photo featured although I have taken many. I didn’t include any of the many selfies we use to document adventures (for good reason!). I tried to pick photos that represented a range of subjects and maybe even some photography techniques. I notice how I often use rule of thirds to my advantage and how I am drawn to natural frames and reflection. I’ve been working hard to capture action and I think that shows in some of these selection too.

Do you have a favorite of these twelve? How do you select your own “best of” photos? What makes one photo better than another?

Best of 2021: A Year in 12 Photos

3 Replies

I probably take thousands of photos in a year (I take photos every day–and some days I know I take hundreds of photos). Even though I post one each day, the photos build up in my camera roll, on my computer, and get a bit muddled in my mind. It’s sometimes hard to remember photos from last week, let alone last month. Last year after a battle with Instagram’s best 9, I curated a photo from each month of the year and wrote a “best of” post featuring 13 favorites from 2020.

So as 2021 was coming to an end, I sorted through my camera roll and picked out a favorite from each month. Some months this was an excruciatingly hard process–I had more than one that was my favorite. Other months it was a struggle to find a photo that I loved enough to be called favorite. But with some help from my hubby and some pretty strict criteria that I self-imposed, I narrowed my choices down to 12.

I probably could have done a best of in 12 birds or a best of in 12 seascapes, but I tried to include images from a variety of contexts–although you will notice that my images are heavily influenced by the Pacific Ocean.

Like 2020, last year was also heavily influenced by the worldwide pandemic. The year began with most of us hunkered down, staying close to home. Vaccines were not yet available, we were still masked most of the time, and travel was limited (if it existed at all).

Finding interesting places to walk is an ongoing quest for us. Some days the tides at the beach simply don’t cooperate and there is no beach to walk at all. In January 2021 we found ourselves at our alma mater, UCSD, exploring old haunts and new construction, including the vending machines with COVID test kits that you swipe with your ID card to access. While we walked I couldn’t help but notice this gorgeous red leaf hanging on for dear life. Fall colors are neither dramatic nor timely in these parts, so this January gem seemed special and made for a beautiful harbinger for a new year.

Valentine’s Day happened to fall on the first weekend of our February break in 2021, so to celebrate we decided to be tourists in our own town! We drove downtown, masked up, and took the ferry across the bay to Coronado. The Coronado Bay Bridge is an iconic landmark here and I couldn’t resist photographing from below, especially since the third graders in my class happened to be studying bridges at that time. I love the perspective that shows some of the under-supports along with the sweeping curve of the roadway with the boats, bay, and clouds on view too.

Giant kelp, macrocystis pyrifera, is a common sight on our beaches. But bull kelp, with enormous floats the size of softballs or larger is less common. This amber algae is native to our shoreline and is home to many fish and other sea life. And when it washes up on the shore, it becomes a favorite subject for a still life photo. There are no bad months for beach walking and March just happened to be the month when I came across a bull kelp still life opportunity on my favorite walking beach.

Art takes all forms and can take you back in time. In April a short road trip to Palm Springs took us back to the time of the dinosaurs and brought us face-to-face with a life sized T-Rex. The Cabazon dinosaurs is a throwback roadside attraction with huge cement dinosaurs–some realistic like the one above and some less so, like the pepto-pink brontosaurus that also houses a gift shop. Sometimes photos feel like art and at other times they are a documentation of life experiences. What funky roadside attractions can you find nearby?

In May I headed up, climbing the stairs of another nearby beach. This place offers a vantage to watch seabirds above sea level. From this perch, pelicans come close, soaring by at eye level, bringing details into focus. The challenge is clicking that shutter at just the right time to freeze the image in sharp focus. I continue to work to achieve that ideal photo of a pelican in flight!

To celebrate our wedding anniversary in June we headed up the coast to San Clemente. If you know Southern CA, you know that June can be spectacular–sunny, clear and warm–or plagued with the infamous “June gloom” that grays out the coast, washing away color and cooling temperatures. Watching the Surfliner emerge from the foggy gloom around the bend with lights on created a mystical image. I love when the light is right and my camera is poised. You never know what may come out of the gloom!

As I write and reflect, I realize that 2021 was a year of many short road trips. July was a rough month for me and my family. After my dad died mid-month, I needed to get away. So we headed to Santa Barbara, three hours up the coast. We walked beach after beach, not thinking or planning, just feeling cool sea air, watching sherbet colored sunsets, and noticing… This family of ducks caught my eye. Mama mallard and her ducklings out for a swim in the surf was fascinating to watch. Mama urged her babies out, they tumbled in the white water then regained their footing and tried it again. I don’t know if this is normal duck behavior, but it was fun to watch and photograph.

In August we made that long, seemingly endless trek up I-5 through the central valley to visit family in the Bay Area. In the summer tomato trucks are a usual sight. These trucks always remind me of my dad–a person who loved big equipment, driving, agriculture and farming, and had this weird wish to drive tomato trucks. I have gotten in the habit of taking photos of these trucks through the window as we drive up the 5, sometimes sending them to my dad, just for fun. This year, just a few weeks after his death, taking these photos made me feel close to my dad. I would notice the rich red of the tomato haul visible in the northbound trucks, bring them into focus as we approached, and then try again as we passed truck after truck after truck. Southbound trucks were empty, heading back to pick up another load and make that round trip again.

September meant back to school and fewer crowds on our local beaches. September is a perfect month for Southern CA beach going–and I think the shore birds agree. The skies are clear, the weather and the water warm, and the parking–while not exactly plentiful–is not like searching for a needle in a haystack! I like to station myself close to the birds, waiting quietly and creeping close to capture an interesting and (hopefully) different image. If you look closely, you’ll notice this bird is standing on one leg.

A Halloween birthday means my husband has spent much of his life celebrating with costumes and trick or treaters. This year we decided to make a trip to the Channel Islands on Halloween. We boarded a boat in Ventura and were treated to an amazing play session with a humpback whale on our way out and to hundreds and hundreds of dolphins dancing around our boat on our way back near sunset. While photos do not even begin to represent the phenomenal experience, this image does capture some of the beauty and grace of these amazing mammals and takes me back to my memories of the day.

You’ve probably noticed that I seldom take photos of people, instead focusing mostly on nature with my photography. This November shot is a rare exception to my posting habit. I do take photos of some people–mostly family members and often my grandsons. But I tend not to post those on social media. We were lucky enough to have family gather with us during Thanksgiving week in 2021 and the week ended with a sunset visit to my favorite beach. I couldn’t resist this shot of my grandson mesmerized by the colorful sky as the sun sank into the sea.

And could I really tell the tale of a year without including a photo of an egret? This shot features an egret in flight above the sun cracked waters on a cloudy December day. You have to look closely to notice the egret in silhouette in the distance. I love their distinctive shape, both in flight and when they are standing.

Twelve months, twelve photos, a year in review. I selected the photos before Christmas–before we explored the redwoods at the John Muir Forest and before we visited the monarchs wintering in Santa Cruz. But I’ll still stick to these twelve–they are my “best of” for the time frame when I did the selecting.

How might you go about selecting a best of collection to represent last year or last month or even last week? I’d love to know about your curation process.

Best of 2017, Photo Style

9 Replies

I’ve been taking at least one photo a day for many years now (I think I started in 2012), which adds up to quite a collection of photos over the course of a year. I do like to take the time to pick out some “best of” photos from the year, based on my own criteria of course! (Here’s a link to last year’s collection.) Instagram, where I post my daily photos, offers a #bestnine each year where the nine are determined by the photos that get the most likes. (You can see mine for 2017 on my Instagram account @kd0602) For me, those are not my best photos. Instead they are often related to an event that creates some traffic rather than images that stand out for their photographic merit.

It was hard to pick nine “best” photos for 2017. Initially I came up with eleven–but after some careful consideration I narrowed it down and I am sticking with nine! I went all the way back to the beginning of last year and found myself drawn to this photo of the ocean lighted by winter’s low sun angles and muted by the clouds, creating a colorful sky. I love the pensive mood it creates on the delightfully empty beach.

moody ocean bo18

My annual trip to Washington D.C in 2017 happened to correspond with the blossoming of cherry trees. I absolutely love the delicate pinks against the brilliant blue sky. While I wasn’t there at peak bloom, this was close enough for some beautiful photos.

cherry blossom bo18

Some days my photo choices are limited to something in my house or yard. Imagine my surprise and pleasure when I took this shot of the lavender plant in my back yard with the bee in action. The macro effect erases the background, creating a watercolor of greens and browns.

lavenderandbee bo18

All the lifeguard towers that we see during the summer, winter near the jetty not too far from my house. This composition begged for black and white, a cluster of white towers against the dark of sky and sand. I feel like there is a whole story in this one image.

lifeguardtowers bo18

A spring trip to Joshua Tree National Park offered amazing opportunities to experience the desert in bloom. Everything that is ordinarily dry and brown was exploding in color. And the sky at sunset was up to the challenge, silhouetting the distinctive Joshua tree in its colorful descending light.

joshuatreesunset bo18

A local man is a regular at the beach near sunset creating enormous, soapy bubbles that reflect the setting sun. I love this particular bubble because of the swirl of color radiating in front of the light from the sun. This guy encourages kids to run in the bubbles, seeing how long they can stay in before the bubble pops. I have taken tons of photos of his bubbles, but only a few are this spectacular.

colorfulbubble bo18

As you can tell from the previous six images, many of my photographs are of nature. But on the 4th of July I found myself captivated by the action of the volleyball players. I kept creeping closer, working to time the snap of my shutter with the ball centered over the top of the net. I am in love with the action of this shot…all the way down to the sand puffs under the players’ feet!

volleyball bo18

November took me to the National Writing Project Annual Meeting in St. Louis, Missouri. In spite of full days of conference sessions and meetings, no trip to St. Louis is complete without an opportunity to get close to the Gateway Arch. Night photography is always challenging for me, I love that I had just enough light to catch the arch as a frame for the cityscape in the background. Look closely, you can see the American flag off to the right!

stlouisarch bo18

And number nine was taken on New Year’s Eve, just a couple of days ago during a walk on the beach. I love when the tide is low and the beach is wide. Obviously, my friend the egret feels the same. I love the light and color in this image, showing off the vivid greens and reds of the sea grass and algae and the bright white of the egret’s feathers. If you lean in you might be able to see the brilliant yellow feet of this snowy egret.

egret bo18

I hope you enjoy my best nine of 2017, I’d love to hear your thoughts about my choices…and suggestions as I go into 2018. And I’d love to see your best of images for the year…feel free to leave a link to your post so I can enjoy your best of 2017! (Or even best of today!)

Weekly Photo Challenge: Best Of

1 Reply

Since our Weekly Photo Challenge corresponds with New Year’s this week, what more perfect prompt than taking the time to pick a few of your photos from 2015 for a “best of” gallery to usher in 2016?

I went all the way back to the beginning of 2015 and after a lot of looking picked a few of my favorites. These first three include a shot of the brilliantly colored produce at the Grand Central Market in downtown Los Angeles, a winter beach scene with kites flying from behind the lifeguard tower, and a dying tulip in the light on my dining room table.

These next three move to the beginning of summer. The first is one example of my ongoing experimentation with night photography this year, the San Diego County Fair at dusk. Then there is a sunset photo taken on the summer solstice and a shot taken from a sailboat out on the ocean off San Diego of a sailboat on the ocean off San Diego.

A trip to Chicago created many new memories for my husband and me. I conquered (or at least faced) a fear of heights with a trip up Sears Tower, viewed the magnificence of the city skyline from another high perch in the Signature Lounge in the Hancock building, and appreciated the natural beauty of a bee at work in Millennium Park.

The beach continues to inspire my photography, my writing, and allows me to reflect and relax. I take photo after a photo there. Sometimes I travel to other beaches. Dog beach offered a view that I don’t see at home. A trip to Catalina island brought me up close and personal to this friendly pelican. And my local beach is always changing. I found this tractor in the early fall building a berm on the beach to protect against the winter storms.

There is always inspiration at museums…like the reflective lights from the Kusama exhibit at the Broad Museum. I’m learning to find ways to get beyond simply being annoyed by traffic and long road trips. Some “out the window” photography allowed me to appreciate electrical towers in Los Angeles. And there is so much to photograph in December. I love the red of these tree stands in a Christmas tree lot near Walnut Creek.

So, take some time to take a walk through your photos and assemble a best of collection to share with the rest of us. (Or, of course, you can shoot a few new ones to create this week’s best of!)

You can post your photo alone or along with some words: commentary, a story, a poem…maybe even a song! I love to study the photographs that others’ take and think about how I can use a technique, an angle, or their inspiration to try something new in my own photography. (I love a great mentor text…or mentor photo, in this case!) I share my photography and writing on social media. You can find me on Instagram and Twitter using @kd0602. If you share your photos and writing on social media too, please let me know so I can follow and see what you are doing. To help our Weekly Photo community find each other, use the hashtag #onthestreet for this week and include @nwpianthology in your post.

So take a walk down memory lane and pick a few of your favorite photos to share with us. What constitutes your best of? What will you learn about yourself and your photography as a result? I can’t wait to see your Best Of!