[GaliWalker]

Here's the thread for your best one or two or three photos of 2023. Previous years' threads here: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010. To reiterate, the guidelines are that you decide the criteria for why it makes your top-3, technically or otherwise. However, please let us know that reason.

[GaliWalker]

#1

New River Gorge National Park

This photo of Sandstone Falls from New River Gorge National Park is my favorite from 2023. I've taken this particular composition quite a few times before, but it was my first sunrise there. The lighting was the best I've ever experienced there; I think this is my favorite photo taken in the park. #2

Glacier National Park

I selected this shot of Hidden Lake from my first ever trip to Glacier National Park, and Montana for that matter. Similar to the photo above, this was another magical sunrise. #3

Joshua Tree National Park

I selected this photo of Hall of Horrors from my first ever trip to Joshua Tree National Park, because I think this most accurately represented what I thought were the best parts of the park. I'd come to see the Joshua trees, but ended up being equally impressed by the gorgeous rock structures.

[Schroder]

Here's one I'll throw in here. It was an unexpected shot with my cell phone as I was walking to my trailer in October. The full moon just broke out of the clouds.

and a sunrise in September from our house

and one more off my cell phone

[Chief Joseph]

cirque of the towers

ditto

somewhere in the winds

[Bowregard]

This is always hard for me. I find flaws in all my photos and now that I bought a new big, bright monitor I notice them even more, but here goes: #1. This was taken from the Garden Wall on the Highline Trail in Glacier National Park looking back towards Logan Pass. I love the colors in the foreground rocks, the contrast between foreground shade and background sunshine, that both the trail and road can be seen in the photo, and if you look close the oncoming vehicle is a red Jammer and going away is a yellow Jeep. Distance usually brings in blue haze but it was a clear morning and you get the reverse situation here: A cool blue hue in the foreground shade and warm golden hue in the distant sunshine. I don't usually like vertical landscapes but this one works for me.

#2. This Panorama was taken the same day not long after we rounded a bend and in the far distance you could see the Granite Park Chalet. By this time it was hot and I knew the moment my wife saw the Chalet we would not be turning around anytime soon. You can see almost the whole trail and the photos stitched together well. You can make out detail in the Chalet as well as the Lookout up top. The mountains in the distance get a bit hazy but I decided to leave them as they were instead of trying to punch up some contrast there. The sky pushes a bit to the warm side but that reflects the day - it was really hot which is why I was sweating how to get us back without collapsing.

#3. Another Panorama from GNP (Grinnell Glacier). The colors on that clear day were really astonishing. I lose perspective on how big this scene is until I see the tiny people in the bottom of the photo. This is one of those photos that I always start to desaturate because it "just can't be that vivid" but then I stop and remember that it really was. I expected trouble with the photos blending due to the wide arc to the sun but they stitched together pretty well.

[Now I Fly]

A favorite memory, anyway.

A favorite camp,

And a favorite morning!

[Bowregard]

One more I have to share (couldn't keep it to 3). Waterton Lake looking South towards GNP in front of the Prince of Whales Hotel on a beautiful clear morning. I love the patterns in the clouds. Looks like maybe I caught a lense flair in upper LH 1/3 of photo. I could probably fix that. I struggle between this one with the beautiful clouds and another with a nice clean foreground zoomed in that provides a better view of the mountains in the distance (at the expense of the clouds).

[Bowregard]

Chief Joseph, In your middle photo the strange angle of the clouds against the sharply angled peak on the left make it appear unreal, as if the clouds were copied from another photo, angled, and then added to this one. (Not trying to infer that was done - I just found it interesting). I love the "somewhere in the Winds" photo - The twisted and weathered down tree adds a bit of extra character to the scene and keeps my eyes circling around the photo.

[Slugman]

Baker lake

85 kayaks and 1 canoe

Hosmer lake Oregon

[day_hike_mike]

Comin' at you bro!

Found a nice spot where I could sit on my folding stool, warm summer sun behind me, cold beer to drink, camera on a mono-pod, and just took my time trying to get the shot I wanted. Indeed, it took a while, but I finally got it. Good light and the shutter speed just what I wanted, freezing the body, but showing motion in the wings. That was a good photography day.

Shy kitty

Of course I was out birding. Motion caught my attention in the abandoned barn in the park. Little cat was there long enough for me to get a couple pics in. Checked me out and then disappeared into the dark abyss. Too shy to come out again. Saw it a couple days later and it disappeared as well, never to be seen again. I'm hoping the barn, as it's used by the state park service for storage, had some motion sensors to detect vandals or other types of criminal scum. Maybe they trapped it to turn in the Humane Society or something? More likely, it became a coyote's dinner.

Posed yellowthroat

Every now an then, rarely, a bird will sit, where if you had your way, you'd pose it. This was one of those times. Yellowthroat's aren't rare, but I don't get them in front of the lens often. The colors, shape of the tree, pose, it all came together. I'd frame it but it's a bit soft on the focus. Maybe a candidate for one of them proggies like Topaz to sharpen? Really, I should just try harder and hone my skill set. That's more rewarding. Poo-poo on that AI stuff!

[Gil]

Gosh, I had a difficult time picking this year. I don't know if these are the BEST, but they're my favorite from this year, for various reasons. #1 -- Old growth on Tillamook Head. We spent the week before Christmas with my daughter's partner's family out on the Oregon coast and did a couple of hikes in the area. Fog on this day added to the ambiance, and when we saw this tree, several of the folks took the opportunity to commune. This is two frames as a panorama with a Nikkor 55-200mm on a Nikon D5500.

#2 -- Troublesome Creek. I've bought and sold five Nikkor 50-300mm f4.5 lenses over the years, but the one I bought this fall is special. It's not the most pristine looking of that group, but focus and zoom are so smooth and the glass so good, the lens is just a joy to use, despite it weighing five pounds (and yes, I have taken them hiking). The light was pretty dim and diffuse, but a sturdy tripod and a Nikon D780 made a great photo, I think.

#3 -- At the end of September, Gwen Tollefson shook me out of my doldrums after a planned trip to the Pasayten got rained out and I got sick anyway. We went up to Trout Lake out of the Icicle Creek drainage, and though I couldn't get close enough to the water to fish (I think the lake's name is an inside joke), I did get a photo with a plastic-fantastic 18-55mm Nikkor AF-P kit lens on a D5500. I just loved the light. And the trip beyond Trout Lake was pretty fab too.

[Slugman]

I want to know why Gil's last picture isn’t the cover of the calendar.

[Gil]

Hey, you can't win if you don't play.

[kiliki]

I don't claim any special talent here, but I'll include my faves. From the Summit West parking lot.

Capitol Reef NP:

Huahine, French Polynesia

[lanzscape]

I particularly like that winter photo, kiiki. Very nice shot. But if I could beam myself right now to one of those three photo locations, that would not be the place I'd pick.