POY - Picture of the Year / 2009

[jpo3136b]

<p>Pentax 645.<br /> I had a good year. I went out to California and Indiana, made many pictures in the mountains, worked on my book, helped my friend with his web series, had a few photos shown in smaller spots. I was fortunate to get that grant. I picked this picture just because it was among those events.</p>

<p>What would be best would be a tough call because I had a lot of small adventures and learned a bunch of stuff.</p><div></div>

[shots worth sharing]

<p>Oh, I remember that shot, Camus, from the PF competition I judged--how wonderful to see it again here!</p>

<p>I could agonize over this forever but I think I'll choose this one from the Eastern Shore trip--odd perhaps since I do relatively few landscapes. I had passed this house several times on that excursion , making a mental note each time and, finally stopped to take a set of shots on my way back home. Once again, it strikes me as having that 'painterly' feel which seems to emerge--somewhat mysteriously--in my pp at times.</p><div></div>

[johnmarsden]

<p >I love Ian's dog looking into the distance. And Donnie's 'gator is a great composition and sends shivers down my spine. And Javier your street stuff is stunning.

</p>

<p >This has been a year playing with off camera flash – I may have posted this already – the significance is that Dougal is having a haircut tomorrow – it is too warm in Brisbane just now, so he will become a scraggy messy short haired thing that bundles around and has much more energy – giving me little chance of taking his photo lying still -</p>

<p >This one with flash through brolleys both ends of the couch, and gold reflector camera left – Pentax K20 1/125 f5.6 DA 16-50 at 50mm (iso 400 for some reason – must have forgotten to change it to 200!)</p>

<p > </p>

<p >John</p><div></div>

[bobbuck19]

<p>Took a friend and fellow photographer to my super secret waterfall on windy run, a steep little creek that has lots of cascades and waterfalls but is inaccessible to any sane human beings! Had a great day crawling through rhododendron thickets, over boulder piles, and up steep hills, the photo's nothing great but the day was the typical day of a wannabe appalachian nature photographer and reminds me of why I love my little slice of america, so thats my photo of the year!</p><div></div>

[sigmar_dau]

<p>After acquiring my first DSLR this year (a K200D), still I have to say that I like this one the best. Scan of a wet darkroom print, shot with my Pentax Program Plus, Kodak Tmax 100 film, Soligor 75-150 manual focus zoom. ...Sometimes things just "click". Unfortunately, the small size doesn't do justice to the sharpness of my lucky shot. Thanks to my student nephew who temporarily set up a dark room in my basement last year.<br />Great stuff everyone!</p><div></div>

[wtlwdwgn]

<p>I like the idea of a POY. It pits your best work against others who, at least in my case, may be much better. With the caliber of talent here, I would hate to be the one who has to choose which image is the best. Well anyway, here's one I like from 2009.<br>

<img src="http://wtlwdwgn.smugmug.com/Animals/Big-Horn-Sheep/Bighorn-4-800-220166/496759565_89KzJ-L.jpg" alt="" width="777" height="600" /></p>

[miserere_mei]

<p>Well...after scratching my head a while, I think this is my favourite photo of 2009. Despite its technical flaws (improperly exposed and showing shake blur), I still produced a final image that transmits emotion...or at least it does to me :-) I still remember the exhilaration I felt when I spotted the scene, took a knee and made the shot. It was over immediately and I had no time to reset the camera and take a better exposure.</p>

<p> </p>

<p align="center"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_i6tc3TCyOTA/StFr_CwNVlI/AAAAAAAACoI/3bsLYFemFko/s800/IMGP6078-small%20fixed.jpg" alt="" /></p>

 

[miserere_mei]

<p>As for other people's shots, I am finding the choices interesting. I am familiar with most of your photography, and in many cases I would have picked other photographs as your <em>Best of 2009.</em> It's curious how our choices can contradict those of our viewers, and I imagine some of you who have seen more of my shots might be surprised I chose the one I did.</p>

<p>That said, I love Bob's opening photo. Javier's has been one of my favourites since I first saw it ages ago, and I think it's one of his Top 3. I'm surprised at Peter's choice, but I do like it. While I also like Robert and Camus's photos, I would have chosen others from them as <em>my</em> favourites of 2009.</p>

<p>Hmmm...the more I look at them, the more I like Somanna's radioactive lichen trees... :-)</p>

[jgredline]

<p>Would it be fair to say?... This is my Favorite P.net thread of the year!<br>

The little stories have added so much to the viewing pleasure....</p>

[marty_schoo]

<p>Well like others have said there are many great shots here, and a great variety of subjects and styles too. Its good to see and I'll be watching this thread with interest.<br>

I have so many shots from this year having been lucky enough to have taken some time out and travelled for 9 months of it, and I have many favourites. I guess of all my shots this is one that keeps on jumping out at me but its probably not my best either. Just flying into a warm sunset sets off emotions I guess? <br>

The shot was taken over Darwin, NT, Australia, with my K20D (300mm f16, 1/500sec, ISO100, curves adjustment, and crop in post)<br>

<img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/10464091-md.jpg" alt="" width="678" height="353" /></p>

[ahanna]

<p>I was torn between a lot of different photos. In the end I think I like this one best. It was taken about 11PM near Glenn Allen Alaska on our epic motor home trip this summer. It is an HDR but I tried hard to not make it look like one.</p><div></div>

[miserere_mei]

<p>Marty, you pic makes me want to go on vacation!!!! :-)</p>

<p>Andrew, you have found the true purpose of HDR photography: To squeeze wide dynamic range into a narrow receptacle (you camera's sensor) so the picture looks as it would to somebody who was there seeing it with his/her own eyes. Very nicely done, too.</p>

[JTG1]

<p>Not having the camera but two days at the time of this shot, this shot yields from my 2nd outing with it.<br />K110d, 18-55mm lens kit, some post production.</p>

<p>~Jack</p><div></div>

[todd_phillips3]

<p>A lot to enjoy in this thread.... Incredible work by everyone! I don't have any super faves from this year, but my favorite outing of the year by far was a vacation taken in July to Carefree AZ. Man what an awesome place. I was blown away by the beauty of it. A lot of my stuff from the trip was HDR, but here is a non HDR that is probably my favorite non-hdr from the trip..<br>

Model - PENTAX K100D + Kit lens<br /> Software - GIMP 2.7.0<br /> ExposureTime - 1/40 seconds<br /> FNumber - 13.00<br /> ExposureProgram - Manual control<br /> ISOSpeedRatings - 200<br /> DateTimeOriginal - 2009:07:23 05:31:29<br /> MeteringMode - Multi-segment<br /> FocalLength - 43 mm<br /> ExposureMode - Manual<br /> White Balance - Auto</p><div></div>

[michael_elenko]

<p>Todd, that's a lovely picture and one of the best captions too!</p>

<p>ME</p>

[melissa_cramer]

<p><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3627/3595654088_65a2d45299.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="310" /><br>

The Eiffel Tower from beneath. <br>

Pentax K20D - Manual Pentax 50mm 1.4 - f/4 at 1/10 - handheld, no tripod</p>

 

[marty_schoo]

<p>Nice one todd. Yours has my vote so far. well done</p>

[bob-c]

<p>Andrea, that is awesome! </p>

[jgredline]

<p>I gots to say, while all the images are fantastic, Misrererers. makes me stop every single time to look at and admire and with I took it......One of the best street images I have ever seen anyplace....Bravo!</p>

[marius_mirea]

<p>We spent the New Year's Eve in Bucharest and we entered this club, no one was there and I just snapped a photo which now I like very much. Pentax K-x, kit zoom, iso 3200 and I believe it was on High Contrast digital filter.</p><div></div>

[dawsonjm]

<p>This is an incredible collection of photos, displaying an immense range of subjects and treatments. The ones that stand out for me are the frozen corn by Seaain, the gator by Donnie, the maple, the portrait by Dorus, and the Eiffel Tower by Andrea. Bravos to all.</p>

<p>I picked this photo from April along the John Day river in north central Oregon. This is near the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. The colors in the rock are fascinating to me, and the spring grass compliments the other colors.</p>

<p>K10D, kit lens, 45mm, f9.0, 1/250, iso 100.</p><div></div>

[hagar]

<p>One of my favorite shots from last year at a lavender farm near Seattle</p><div></div>

[johnw436]

<p>This is my favorite for 2009 because it was so hard to get. Professional Armwrestling matches can be over in less than a second. I snapped this one just as the ref gave the "GO" command.</p>

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<td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/aBa_J57U9ylnl7ZrkqTyzQ?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_OoQ7VkErqWQ/SvhiHUK0PwI/AAAAAAAAFCo/WGeyFYQ5sw4/s800/Selearis%20vs%20Chaffee%20Left.jpg" alt="" /></a></td>

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<td >From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/john.jwphoto/2009Armwrestling_SEACNov7?feat=embedwebsite">2009 Armwrestling_SEAC Nov 7</a></td>

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<p>K20d<br>

DA 40mm/2.4 LTD</p>

[jgredline]

<p>I remember that photo John and I agree, it needs to be here. The emotion on the guys face is amazing and the exposer and color is perfect.</p>

[dawsonjm]

<p>Friends, I hate to renege, but although the John Day photo is fine, my real favorite photo, though not technically great, it one I took of my wife. She is teaching third grade in Amargosa Valley, Nevada, shown here just before the kids started coming in for the morning.</p>

<p>I love this because it really reflects her personality, her vitality, and love of what she is doing.</p>

<p>K20D, kit lens, 35mm, f5.6, 1/50, iso 400, 540 flash.</p><div></div>