My favorite images of 2016

Every year in December I post a sort of “year in review” to this blog sharing some of the images that stood out from the rest for me.  This year I am doing it in early January, and hopefully you will forgive my tardiness, but here it is, my favorite images of 2016.  Please note, these images are presented in not particular order, and for the most part will be without comment.

The sunset reflects in the wet sand of the Pacific Ocean near Ocean Shores, WA

A seven image panorama of the Lower Lewis River Falls in southwest Washington State

A pair and cranes and the iconic Speattle Space Needle just after sunset

Looking through the 3rd order fresnel lens at the Grays Harbor Lighthouse in Westport, WA

The Washington State Capitol building in Olympia during the blue hour

I had said that this collection was going to be presented with a lot of commentary, but I feel the need to talk a little about the following images.

For those that don’t know, I lead the Advanced Photography Group of the Olympia Camera Club.  One of the real highlights for the group in 2016 was when my friend, Matt Ferris, did a presentation on toy photography.  Matt is a very accomplished toy photographer and setup a scene for the members in attendance to shoot.  He went on to give us tips on lighting and post processing.  This next image is the one I made that night, with a lot of help from Matt.

Toy shot of Kylo Ren and his lightsaber

These final two images are very special to me.  They were both shot in the summer during a family vacation to Yellowstone National Park.  Yellowstone is a special place on its own but that isn’t why these images are special to me.  They are special because due to a lot of things outside of our control Ann and I hadn’t been on a real vacation in almost 9 years.  We had taken a number of short trips over 3 day weekends, but a full on vacation was something that we weren’t able to do.  When you add in that we spent this vacation with members of my family, it was a week that I don’t want to forget.  I have blogged about both of these images in details, click here for “Land of Contrast” and here for “American Bison in Yellowstone.”

A monochrome image of tourists at the Grand Prismatic Basin in Yellowstone National Park

An American Bison in Yellowstone National Park with majestic mountains in the background

I hope that you have enjoyed this small collection of images and my look back at 2016.  I will say that I didn’t shoot as much in 2016 as I would have liked, or have in previous years.  I am not entirely sure why, but my one and only resolution for 2017 is to correct that and start creating more images to share with all of you.