POTY 2012

[jemal.yarbrough]

<p>I am surprised that no one has started this off yet. So, it falls to me to carry the flag up the hill, so to speak. <br>

I literally reviewed every photo that I took on a Pentax camera in 2012, the thing that struck me most was how many of my photos were mediocre. I promise to spend more time with my camera and practicing photography in 2013. What also jumped out at me was that some of my favorite photos were private photos of loved ones. What really surprised me was that my photo of the year was a snapshot. There is nothing particularly stunning about the photo, no neat photographic trick. Nope, it is the sentiment of the photo that made me stop and say, "This one."<br>

Well...I would have posted it, but I can't figure out how to do it from the Photo.net gallery? Help please...</p>

<p> </p>

[michael_elenko]

<p>Jemal,<br>

Thanks for kicking his off. I'll contribute when I get back to my desktop. If your shot is on your Flickr site, you can copy the link. Then in the Pnet response box, just click on the picture icon and paste your link into the dialog box. You can put text above or below the artwork. </p>

<p>ME</p>

[hinman]

<p>@Jemal, please don't be modest yourself. You have many beautiful portraits and landscape pictures that I secretly admire. And I do wish you are one of the many Pentax friends who can live next door for me to ask questions.</p>

<p>I am a bit puzzled that I don't see your pictures in Flickr any more. I am one of your Flickr contact and I only see 4 pictures in your Flickr stream. I am guessing that you have setup the strictest private setting. Are you concerned with privacy? This day, I don't blame you with the <a href="http://thomashawk.com/2012/12/photographers-upset-by-instagrams-change-in-terms-of-service.html">on-going saga with Instagram</a> and Facebook. I pride in my flickr account and that I work for Yahoo which doesn't go out of its way to con its users with spurious rights over user photos. Things can change any minute as any company may change direction subject to leadership and economical reasons. A quote from Thomas Hawk in the article linked above<br /><br /></p>

<blockquote>

<p>Flickr takes it even one step further actually dedicating a specific blog post to this issue last year titled “<a href="http://blog.flickr.net/en/2011/05/13/at-flickr-your-photos-are-always-yours/">At Flickr Your Photos are Always Yours.</a>”<br /><br /></p>

</blockquote>

<p>2012 is an odd year for me and I have the least number of pictures taken in the year. Jemal, though your claim may be valid that some of our shots happen to be snapshots. As naive as it may sound, some of those snapshots of mine are those much treasured by me as they record the important moments with simplicity and the very essence and beauty in capturing vision as we see it.</p>

[stemked]

<p>POTY, eh?<br>

I really had a great year myself. With a University trip to Costa Rica, a family trip to France, a visit up to see family in Ontario, and even some pretty decent wildlife even here in little ol' Indiana. </p>

<p>Yes, thank you, Jemal, for getting this started. I guess I'll be the first 'Penguin in the water' (unless someone beats me to the punch). This is a toothy friend near our boat in Costa Rica.<img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/15790144-lg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="425" /></p>

<p> </p>

[patrickwells]

<p>2012 was a pretty good year for me. I had a photo published, and an offer to purchase another. Things I never expected given my shooting.<br>

After looking at what I shot this year I had the same feelings as Jemal. My shots are so average, or of family and not going onto the internet. I did have a few that I like The one I chose has nothing exceptional about it. I was just out with a friend walking around the town square. I just like this one<br>

Jemal <br>

I am with Hin Man. I also enjoy the shots you post tho I only see the ones here.</p><div></div>

[bobbuck19]

<p>Nothing really stands out in my photos either, what did stand out to me was that my photos are pretty much all the same, will have to make an effort to shoot a little differently, then again cricks, flowers, and trees are kinda my thing. My offering is one of my typical crick photos (yes crick not creek, if you don't know the difference check out some Pat McManus stories)</p><div></div>

[hinman]

<p>I love this photo of mine taken in Thanksgiving time while visiting the Lawrence Hall Of Science in Berkley of California. The shot brings us the vision to story telling with loved ones. Picture link to my flickr page.</p>

<p><a href=" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8339/8214783110_ac9fface2a_z.jpg" alt="" /></a></p>

[jemal.yarbrough]

<p>Thank you all for the kind words regarding my photography. I have been shooting for nearly 4 years now, if not longer, and I am beginning to think that I have just earned the proverbial black belt. Not the mythical mastery of a subject, but mastery of the most rudimentary basics so that I can truly start to learn the craft. The photos of my fellow Photo.net Pentaxians continue to inspire me. You all inspire me to do better and be better with this hobby we love on equipment that we enjoy using. Thank you all. </p>

<p>The reason that my photo is still not posted is that I decided to upload it to photo.net's gallery feature hoping to link to it from there instead of my flickr account. One reason is that I cannot get lightroom to reupload it to flickr (duh, just occurred to me that I can do it outside of lightroom), and the second is that my flickr is, well, empty. The other was that the photo would remain in this stream should I decide to clear out my flickr next year and delete the original photo.</p>

<p>Sorry to disappoint you Hin man, my flickr stream is not empty due to security or fear of stolen pictures. I emptied it because I always tend to do so at the end of the year. Out with the old and in with the new and all of that. The other reason was that my flickr stream views have been dominated with photos taken in 2011 or so of porn stars. Those photos were constantly searched for on the internet, not because of artistic merit, but because of who (or is it whom) was in the photos. I always kept them in flickr because of the exposure, but I am trying to do things differently this year so away they went. </p>

<p>Without further ado...here is my best photo of the year... 2012 was a hard year for me. It was filled with struggle and loss. But it was also filled with incredible kindness and love. </p>

<p><a title="2012:365:8:Love by Jemal Y., on Flickr" href=" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8352/8352347334_0630b1e76c.jpg" alt="2012:365:8:Love" width="500" height="331" /></a></p>

[htarragon]

<p>All in all, I think I was disappointed in this years pictures, but looking through them again there were some good skies and flowers and the last virtually black and and whites that I posted recently, were pretty pleasing to me.<br>

My favorites, however, were from a workshop involving two models on the sidewalks on NYC. Capturing and framing an expression and a face well is a shot of adrenaline. I've picked the more dramatic of my two favorites from those shots.<br>

Jemal, sorry you've had a tough year, hope it all gets better for you.</p><div></div>

[michael_elenko]

<p>This is my favorite shot taken with a Pentax camera during 2012. It's not that easy to find autumn colors in western Washington state so I was happy simply for that. Plus the relatively broad dynamic range in the scene made for some enjoyable post-processing challenges.</p>

<p><strong>Upper Trail, Shinglemill Creek, Vashon Island</strong><br>

<img title=" " src="http://www.smugmug.com/photos/i-sxB7vzL/0/XL/i-sxB7vzL-XL.jpg" alt="" /><br>

K20D, DA Ltd. 21mm, 1/90 @ f6.7 ISO 400</p>

<p>During 2013 I'll be transitioning off my K20D which is assuredly being claimed by my teenage daughter. The ergonomics of that model are so excellent that it only took about 20 minutes to orient her about its use (she knows the SLR SuperProgram) and I'm super pleased that she is so engaged. Right now she is in a "bokeh" phase with a 50mm f1.7 "A" lens.</p>

<p>The K-5IIs looks very attractive right now. I also await the arrival of a Pentax Q. The $200 Groupon deal with the f1.9 8.5mm lens seems like a low-risk way to have some photo fun just about anywhere.</p>

<p>I appreciate everyone here posting their favorite shots and invite more to join.</p>

<p>ME</p>

[markus maurer]

<p>My kind of photography in 2012 was influenced a lot by my change to a vegan diet the year before and I took over 300 photos of my own cooking and lots of photos at vegan events but I will spare you another food shot. The photos I love the most from last year are also personal and not to be published. I choose the photo of the dormouse because I never had the chance to capture such an animal in the wild so far and I love the expression in the face and I was really lucky to be there just in time with a short tele only.</p><div></div>

[jemal.yarbrough]

<p>Howard T. - Nice model shot. Once you get bitten by the "shot pretty lady/model on street" bug it is hard to get cured. <br>

ME - The K-5 IIs, from what I hear, is a beast. Based on the fact that my K20D sits unused replaced by the K-5, I think you'll be very happy with the upgrade. </p>

[htarragon]

<p>@Jemal- I'm way too far gone with that bug to be cured. Having two beautiful models to shoot was definitely a high point. The other model has been on the cover of Vogue magazine since that shoot - out of my range now! The model in the picture has since been in other high profile shoots, as well. But being in NYC gives me plenty of other opportunities to capture beautiful women with my camera.</p>

[ukhov]

<p>Going thru files of many ,like any one of us, the chance to be fare on past year practices very slim. Good ,productive year and I catch my self ,by pic been selected... status - "trap in the wood"</p>

<div></div>

[dorus]

<p>what an impossible mission, having to choose just one !<br />I thought I had a poor year, but in retrospect this harvest is plenty for me.<br />Decided on this one, not because it is best, but because it represents my desire to shoot ambient images : <br /><img src="http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss151/dorus/sized_IMGP5881_zps72b61c1f.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="495" /></p>

[george_loepfe]

<p>I have this image framed and hung on the wall of our condo, so I see it every day. The drought here last summer really limited the butterfly and wild flower photo opportunities, and I felt lucky to have captured this one. Today I'm watching the freezing rain ice over my deck, so maybe I'm also longing for warmer weather!</p><div></div>

[snik75]

<p>In looking back through the years shots, I feel like I did okay in 2012. Still plenty of junk, but more consistent good ones. Have felt a little disinterested in the last month or so, since we've been buried in snow - looking forward to spring!<br /><br />I had a few choices, but this one I like a lot.</p><div></div>

[bob_marz]

<p>Very nice images everyone. It appears we are all almost in concensus about not being happy with our 2012 images. I agree. Not a lot for me to choose from either. Here is one I posted this fall from northern Vermont. View from Camel's Hump Mt.</p><div></div>

[frank_b._baiamonte]

<p>Here's one from an evening walk around Charleston, SC last June. K-5, DA40.</p>

<p><img src="http://frankbaiamonte.smugmug.com/Travel/Fly-Drive-Road-Trip-Southeast/Charleston-SC-June-2012/i-gHQWRL6/0/L/51FB2352-L.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="600" /></p>

[MattB.Net]

<p>Nice work you guys.<br>

I feel like 2012 was a pretty good year for my photography. I had more commercial success than ever before, but I'm still not quitting my day job.<br>

I always have a tough time picking the best of the day let alone the best of the year!<br>

I think I'll go with this one of my friend on Augusta Peak last March. Last year was a lean ski season and this day was probably my best ski day of that season. It was also a beautiful day with a good friend in the spectacular Crested Butte backcountry. We had just been climbing for several hours, starting in the dark so this summit and the ski back down was well-earned. Hard to go wrong with that formula!<br>

K-5 & da40<br>

<a title="IMGP2433.jpg by MattB.net, on Flickr" href=" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7184/6989836349_9e2a249b83_z.jpg" alt="IMGP2433.jpg" width="640" height="424" /></a></p>

[osamu]

<p>here is my personal favorite from 2012. i took the same photograph the day before with 31mm and i did not like the result. i went back the next morning with 50mm. i got the result i wanted.</p><div></div>

[don_myers1]

<p>I have to say this was by far my worst year in photos since I started 23 years ago. I had saved up for a year to get a K5 with the 16-50DA* lens, and everything went downhill from there. A horrible trip to the Grand Canyon, lost all my PEF files when my computer crashed, and when I lost my job I had to cancel my trip to Moab, UT that I have wanted to do for the last 5 years. After looking through all my photos only 2 made the cut, and I think this is the better of the two. It was taken at the Canyon.</p><div></div>

[jemal.yarbrough]

<p>Don hopefully 2013 will make up for your 2012. The K-5 will get you there. </p>

[don_myers1]

<p>Jemal;<br>

Thanks for the encouraging word. So far so good, and my New Year's resolution is to get out 1-2 hours a week to take photos, so we'll see....</p>

 

[mattluther]

<p>You are getting deep into philosophy of photography here. What makes a photograph good? It's really not exposure, sharpness, color, composition, dimensions, even though those are needed for it to work. It's how well the photograph speaks to us, answers some question, fills a need, reminds us of something important. <br />Many of the images seen here would actually be very effective if they had the right story to go with them. For some, the story would probably have to be made up, for others it's there and just needs to be told. <br />The picture in it's context is meaning. The picture without a context is mostly just technique. <br />Pictures of family and friends are very important – and good ! – in your own eyes, but may seem mediocre when viewed with the eyes of strangers. <br />This is why professional photography is in a sense always more meaningful than just walking around. You have a mission, and you either succeed with it or you don't. You look for meaning – a special meaning – from shooting to selecting and processing. <br />Everyone who has had an assignment knows how envigorating and inspiring that can be. <br />A mediating factor is the presence of universally understood symbols which makes some pictures a ready statement, i e they answer also the question about why they were made and published in the first place. <br />Long essays have been written on the meaning of photography and this is certainly not the last word. Just goes to say that setting a goal for yourself makes it a lot easier to see wether what you have been doing is any good.<br /><br /></p>