2011 Picture of the Year

[bob_marz]

<p>Well, the POW doesn't seem to be as appealing to contributors as in the past, so I'm not sure how a Picture of the Year will go. Justin used to start this thread and I started it the last couple of years so I will give it a try once more. Unlike the POW please submit only 1 image. Sometimes people have trouble thinking what image was their best of the year when with the digital age and high capacity cards we all take tens of thousands of images per year. On a two week vacation alone I probably acquire at least 1000 images. My contribution was taken last winter on a hike up Black Mt in the Adirondack Park overlooking the great Lake George a major tourist destination which has some really nice hiking possibilities.We had stopped just below the submit. With the snow covered ground, the stark foreground brush, dark clouds, and my hiking companions/subjects it made for a nice shot. Thanks in advance to anyone who contributes. I admire ALL of your work and know all of you have many great images.</p><div></div>

[patrickwells]

<p>July 9 2011 Uncle Dave Macon days<br>

Sorry this one posted to soon</p>

[patrickwells]

<p>July 9 2011 Uncle Dave Macon days . It is a local celebration this is one of my favorites of the year</p><div></div>

[john_behrends]

<p><a title="Shangri La by John Behrends, on Flickr" href=" src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6133/5976534755_69c6a2b15a_z.jpg" alt="Shangri La" width="640" height="409" /></a><br>

My favorite for the year, simply because it was such a pure NW day<br>

Pentax 200d with 12-24 Pentax</p>

[markus maurer]

<p>I took way to many different photos last year to choose a single best one, but when I took this image I knew I was in love with my new Pentax-FA 77mm limited F1.8 tele and the Pentax K-5 limited :-)</p><div></div>

[ukhov]

<p>.</p><div></div>

[michael_elenko]

<p>Thank you Bob M. for stepping up once again and showing the light. I like the color, textures, and energy of everyone's best.<br>

Sorting down one's best is a healthy undertaking because it forced me to examine the good shots more closely and pick up flaws I may have overlooked in the passion of the taking and processing. I sifted and sifted until I found my <a href="http://www.eyeinthetriangle.com/Galleries/Best-of-2011/20936225_4JQLGT">26 best shots of 2011</a>. <br /><br />It’s also interesting to see what degree of sci-fi processing (HDR and over-and-under saturation tricks) I’m comfortable with as each year goes by. <br /><br />One exercise that helped me distill the best images was printing them. It’s very common to have two pictures look great on the screen. After printing however, one picture prevails. Those made the cut this year. This practice reflects my judgment that a good printed image is more worthy than a good online image, both financially and aesthetically.<br>

<br />I keep coming back to this one because it captures patterns of nature nicely.</p>

<p><strong>Mowich Lake, Mt. Rainier National Park</strong><br>

<img src="http://www.eyeinthetriangle.com/Galleries/Best-of-2011/i-HVLqKCQ/0/XL/Mowich-Lake-Mt-Rainier-XL.jpg" alt="" /><br>

K20D, DA Ltd. 15mm, f8, ISO 400, Stitched Pano+HDR</p>

<p>ME<br>

<br /></p>

[dshombert]

<p>I think the rules allow the posting of photos not taken with Pentax gear, I hope I'm right about that. If I had to pick a favorite shot for this year, it'd be this one; taken in Antelope Canyon near Page, AZ, with my Panasonic GH1 & 20mm lens. Sand was blowing in from the top openings, so it was like being in a sandstorm while in a phone booth. When I took this, I had already clawed my contact lenses from my eyes, so composition was difficult. The sand trashed my lens. It was totally worth it.</p><div></div>

[htarragon]

<p>I pick this shot because a) the wonderful face and expression b) the complete serendipity and fortuitousness of my finding him there having gone downtown for a class that was scheduled for the next day. Even though I was amazed and happy that several minutes later I was treated to a stream of redheads being backlit by the warm light of the setting sun, this was my portrait catch of the year.</p>

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

[hagar]

<p>Well, picking one is always a tough choice. But I finally ended up doing what ME had done.. looked at the ones I had printed, and then chose one of them.<br />This is the wreck of the Peter Iredale on an Oregon beach, dating back to 1906.<br />Pentax k-5 and the sigma 10-20 @ 11mm. BW conversion using Lightroom and Nik software.</p>

[hagar]

<p>And now for the picture! LOL</p><div></div>

[ian s. forsyth]

<p><br />It’s an easy decision for me, it would be the photography<br />that took weeks to capture. My Belted Kingfisher taken in Alberta Canada Wolfcreek river valley early morning before<br />sunrise<br />Equipment used<br />Pentax K7 300mm F2.8 @ F4.0 1/4sec. iso 400<br />Tripod, cable release, MLU, rice bag and hunting tent<br>

<img src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6158/6190915462_1faa2e3128_z.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="427" /></p>

[steve_t.1]

<p>An absolutely lucky shot. Posted back in July, I was driving on I-35W into downtown Minneapolis just at sunset. I love this scene/viewpoint, but the only way to ever see it is to be driving across this bridge (what a shame). I was traveling around the posted speed limit of 55mph, one hand on the wheel while looking ahead out the windshield, the other hand blindly holding the camera, pointing it out the passenger window at the skyline. Click-click-click... 5-6 shots and this was one of them. Cropped just a little, but pretty heavily edited otherwise because the camera metered for the sun, but I was able to rescue the overall view with almost a water color painting look. Looks terrific on paper.</p>

<p><img src="http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p26/stevet_010/_IGP1565blackborder.jpg" alt="" /><br>

<strong>Pentax K-5, Pentax DA 21mm Limited, F/8, 1/60 sec., ISO 100.</strong></p>

 

[sketch_tbhotmail.com]

<p>Great photos so far everyone, I can definitely see why they're your favorites. Mine is a snapshot I took of my wife and son playing in the leaves this fall, I fired off 5-6 shots in a row and this one had the best expressions.</p><div></div>

[shots worth sharing]

<p>Man, this is hard! I took a lot of photos in 2011 and I'm pretty happy with some of them: a serious effort to select my absolute best would send me into a total melt-down. Since the China trip was the highlight of the year and also because I've spent a lot of effort to cull them (down to a select 245 ;~) I figure I have to go with one of those and this one is definitely in the top 10 of that lot. I might take another crack at the pp with my new Topaz tools but at least this won't be a serious embarrassment in what's turning out to be an impressive collection here. </p>

<p>Guangzhou at Dusk (K-5 & DA 15/4)<br>

<img src="http://dadipentak.smugmug.com/photos/i-Hr54T2Q/1/XL/i-Hr54T2Q-XL.jpg" alt="" /></p>

[osamu]

<p>my best street shot of 2011 ...</p><div></div>

[mountainvisions]

<p>Oddly, I was waiting on you to start the thread, Bob. You took over the mantle a few years ago and I figured it was fitting you continue it. I actually was gonna post a "Did I miss the Bob Marz photo of the year" thread a week ago.<br>

<br /><br />Anyway, if you hadn't put it up this week I was going to jump in and do it.</p>

<p>Glad yo see you got it going.</p>

[mountainvisions]

<p>It's a tough call for me. It came down to two shots of Colvin for 2011. He is Mr. February in the 2012 Adirondack Life calendar, and I like that shot a lot. However, this shot of Colvin on the northern ridge of Basin Mountain was probably my favorite shot of the year.</p>

<p>I like the shot not only on it's own photographic merits, but also because it was an awesome day in the mountains with my K9 companion. It was probably Colvin's hardest non winter technical day up till that point. Not too many dogs complete the 16 mile circuit of Basin, Saddleback via the southern approach (actually many humans who don't like scrambling split Basin and Saddleback into two trips to avoid the terrain behind Colvin). 20+ft vertical ladders, steep slabs, and class 4 terrain made for a fun day. And we didn't see another human on the range to boot. We tossed in a jog up and down the steep cables on Gothics for good measure before descending down my nemesis, the Orebed.</p>

<p><a title="Colvin above west face on the north ridge of Basin Mountain - Adirondacks, NY by Mountain Visions, on Flickr" href=" src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2651/5847097443_9fc2a51932_z.jpg" alt="Colvin above west face on the north ridge of Basin Mountain - Adirondacks, NY" width="640" height="480" /></a><br>

Colvin over looking the west face of the north ridge of Basin Mountain.</p>

[anirbanbanerjee]

<p>One of my first attempts at zone focus and shooting from the hip (my ancient camera doesn't have liveview, so approx. 5% of the images pass as photos and the rest can be called art).</p>

 

<p>Tokina 20-35 f/3.5-4.5 Mark II<br>

Kolkata, India. November 2011.<br>

<br /> <a href=" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7141/6394381913_a28d006727_z.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="427" /></a></p>

[MattB.Net]

<p>Great stuff you guys. I'm proud to call myself a member of this group!<br>

I also have a tough time picking a single favorite of anything. But I have a shot that I have probably gotten the most positive feedback on, and sold a few of so I'm going with this one from a frosty morning last January. I've edited this more since this version so this it's lighter, but this is the shot.<br>

<a title="2011-01-16 Frost hdr1.jpg by MattB.net, on Flickr" href=" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5244/5376659351_21765ee6e7_b.jpg" alt="2011-01-16 Frost hdr1.jpg" width="800" height="531" /></a></p>

[dorus]

<p>An impossible task, to choose one, and call it picture of the year.<br>

I picked this one out of the series about the harvest.<br>

Because it is actually a snapshot, the last one I took as I walked away from the fields.</p>

<p><img src="http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss151/dorus/700/IMGP4878s.jpg" alt="" /></p>

 

[snik75]

<p>Lovely, dorus... I hope to take such snapshots.</p>

<p>I tried a little "studio" shot for my wife's birthday, with my daughters' help. They painted my backdrop, picked their own outfits, brushed their own hair for a change. Still, getting both of them to look nice and natural in the same frame was a challenge. This one turned out best (and the wife likes it!):</p>

<div></div>

[jemal.yarbrough]

<p>There were other photos better than this one, but this is the one where I used the most technique. <br>

<a title="Traveling the light stream to California by Jemal Y., on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/blackfist2k2/6288084630/"><img src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6232/6288084630_552d20aeeb.jpg" alt="Traveling the light stream to California" width="500" height="331" /></a></p>

[hinman]

<p><a href="http://www.techtheman.com/2011/11/ricoh-love-with-ricoh-xr-p.html"><img src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6096/6351176784_079db6dfd3_z.jpg" alt="" width="429" height="640" /></a><br>

<br />I pick this picture as it reminds me what simple photo walk with a 24mm prime can do. I shot the kodak bw400cn roll thinking it was about time to dump my 35mm film format and this roll changed my plan. The lens with Vivitar 24mm f/2.8 was gone but I keep the camera and I look for ways to help scanning at home with a flat bed, will look for ANR glass next. Picture linked to <a href="http://www.techtheman.com/2011/11/ricoh-love-with-ricoh-xr-p.html">The Ricoh Love</a>.</p>

[bob_marz]

<p>Thanks to everyone who contributed. A lot of you had the same thoughts on what is my best of the yaer. It is impossible, but, everyone of these images are special.</p>

<p>Thanks,</p>

<p>Bob</p>