[GaliWalker]

Here's the thread for your best THREE photos of 2019. Feel free to only post your best one (or two). Previous years' threads here: 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]

This year, I believe I have a single photo which I like clearly better than the rest, and I took it relatively early in the year (March 2, 2019):

Aftermath

This photo, a 'selfie', was taken right after a treacherous ice storm. In it I’m standing atop Big Schloss, looking down the spine of Mill Mountain. To my left is West Virginia and to my right is Virginia. The drive to the trailhead had been an adventure, and the trail had been a sheet of ice. Every tree branch had been encased in a sheath of ice. As I neared the summit the mist that had blanketed everything began to lift. My timing ended up being perfect, as I got treated to this dramatic scene. My favorite part of this photo are the array of contrasts: the storm-line along Mill Mountain's spine, the little bit of (ice-coated) green to my left, and the red of my jacket.

[Gwen]

All 3 are from a trip to Utah last spring. It's the only thing I did last year where I took a real (translation = not phone) camera. Perhaps better photos simply because of the memories associated. Nevertheless, here they are.

utah 2019-0488

A stormy sunset on the public lands outside of Moab. We were feverishly trying to get camp pitched before the storm actually hit, but I had to stop to grab a quick shot of what I was seeing. I love all the different colors, subdued as they may be, going on in this shot. Better framing would have been more foreground, less sky, but I can't remember what constraints I may (or may not) have been dealing with.

utah 2019-0532

The La Sal mountains rising behind red rock spires at Arches. That the La Sals are in the background yet also in the spotlight (of sun) is what I wanted to capture. A real photographer would have made this shot sing, but I like it still.

utah 2019-9908

Another stormy evening, this time on the San Rafael Swell, brought more wonderful light as the day faded to dusk. Here, the Swell is highlighted by the low angle of the sun but that is held in contrast by the dark backdrop of the storm clouds.

[Backpackapalooza]

I'm just posting one too. This was the sunset on Lake Washington on 12/21, Winter Solstice.

Lower resolution and straight from camera, unretouched.

[day_hike_mike]

It's tough to cull my babies! Well, if they don't make the cut, they'll have one more chance when I put my 13 calendar photos together. I'm also cheating and adding one more. Every year a photo of the Carbon River makes the cut. Not this year though. I'll give it an honorable mention as it seems to be a tradition and I can never ignore the Carbon as it's the closest bit of Mt Rainier National Park from home.

The braids of the Carbon River merge at sunset. FS 7810 bridge, WA

I was able to score a mountain bike for free. After a bit of work adjusting it to my liking had to figure out where to test it. A bike trail by my house? What fun would that be? It's gotta be off road! Well, maybe not too off road for my first time. The gravel Carbon River Road worked. Compared to a road bike, the mountain bike was like riding in a luxury car over the bumps! That was the start of many more rides for me. After the ride I went out to the middle of the bridge over the river on FR 7810. I don't really "chase the light and skies", but this was the perfect time to be in that spot. Only the clear cut at the top right of the image spoils it. But with beer on the bridge and the setting sun, life was good that day. Now for the three.

I kind of went with a creepy edit on this one.

Cape Disappointment Lighthouse. Now this image was actually crap. It was a while back. As I recall, because I don't shoot RAW, was having a problem with the white balance, or bummed that it was blown out in the sky, and I couldn't fix it in processing. Something like that? But converting to black and white made it work quite nice. Nice meaning it shows the state of decay that poor house is in. The North Head Light has been restored now and looks fabulous. Hoping the same thing will happen to this one.

That's a lot of tulips. My favorite ones. Roozengaarde Flowers & Bulbs, WA

Tulip time at Roozengaarde. What photographer can resist the tulips? In contrast to the black and white lighthouse, I love the explosion of color against the grey skies. It's almost half color, half black and white. And while it was iffy all day, no rain.

Trying out my new wildlife lens. 500mm on a Nikon crop sensor, so focus and depth of field are a challenge. No worries, I will master it!

The gadwall. After years of shooting with kit lenses and the D3300 I finally scored a good lens for wildlife. Same old body though, that'll be next. Was my first day using it. This guy just climbed up onto a log and was doin a rump shaker to dry off. 1/500th of a second wasn't fast enough to freeze the action. That was a good thing though. Love how his back end flows into the ripple pattern and a bang-on color palette. Could not have got this shot with my old junk. Me and the new lens are going to have a good long relationship! That's it for this year.

[awilsondc]

I always have trouble selecting my "best" photos, since best is so subjective. This year though, I have a clear top photo.

Milky Way over Sloan

I love this photo for so many reasons. An iconic peak with the milky way perfectly aligned behind it, a shooting star, a dear friend of mine in the frame... I strive for uniqueness in my photography which is really had to do because everything has been photographed before, however I don't think there are many astro shots from this location in existence which makes this one extra special for me. My second photo however, is not unique.

Mokolea

This is a fairly popular spot amongst photographers on the island of Kauai. However, I was really happy how it turned out. I don't have much experience shooting seascapes and I really liked how the water turned out in this one. Also, this was a wonderful memory crossing a knee high river in the dark of the night with my brother, who I don't get to see often anymore, to get to this location for sunrise. We explored around afterwards and it was a fun morning with my bro. Selecting my third shot was a crap shoot. I could have chosen a handful of other photos as my third, but I picked this one because it's a panorama and because of the unique experience that led to it.

Sahale Sunrise

To get this shot I started hiking at 1:50am and hiked up to the summit of Sahale entirely by the light of the moon, no headlamp. I had been wanting to do a moon light trip for a couple years and the conditions came together perfectly to make it happen. After the sunrise I climbed Boston Peak which left me thoroughly satisfied and stoked on climbing mountains again. I've noticed a theme as I described these photos. A big part of what has really drawn me to photography over the last few years is being able to capture a tangible memoir of the trips I go on. The experiences of hiking in the mountains, going on adventures with friends and family, accomplishing goals... captured in a photograph that I can look back on for years to come and remember just what it was like to be there at that moment. A way to re-live the experience again months or years later is what makes photography special to me.

[Bernardo]

Very nice photos and thoughts on photography. Even bad photos, bring back good memories!

[Blowdown]

awilsondc wrote:

[MidLifeHiker]

awilsondc, you pic "Milky Way over Sloan" has got to be the best picture I've seen in a long time. Makes me want to climb Bedal at night. MidLifeHiker

[joker]

I'm reading this as "favorite photo" and not restricted to "favorite photo from hikes"

Fall Mosaic (1 of 1)

I got myself a macro lens late this year and had fun learning how to explore details that normally escape my eye. An instructor at a workshop I took in fall 2018 mentioned a notable photographer who had a quote about spending more time taking great photos within 30 yards of your bed. The instructor modified this to more like 100K in his own advice for us, but in any case, point taken. We should learn to see interesting things all around us. This is a leaf I picked up and pocketed on a dog walk in the neighborhood this fall. When I put it on my dining room table with sidelight, under a camera mounted on tripod with said macro lens, some nice detail in the smaller leaf veins appeared. This was sort of a big of "beginner's luck" as I spent the remainder of the fall trying to find other leaves that would yield nearly as nice a result and it turns out it's not so easy, though I did stumble into another series of shots of leaves with water droplets that was a little more productive. But at any rate, this one now sits on the wall in our front hall in roughly 16x20 size, giving some warm color thats nice to see when entering the house at this time of year.

Alien Eggs 2 (1 of 1)

I put a different shot from this series of water drops on leaves up on the wall next to the photo above - a more literal wider view that clearly says "leaf" and which has warmer tones. But I really liked zooming in on these drops to the point where they looked almost like celestial or alien objects - a strange world right on the edge of our own world. And this was another image shot w/in 30 yards of bed :-)

Tumwater Tension 2 (1 of 1)

I've been piling up a series of images I think of as fitting under the title "surface tension." The droplets above could possibly fit, but most of the shots really are about the surface of the water. And the graphic/compositional "tensions" in the image - between abstract and literal; and between the surface, the stuff beneath, and what's reflected. I managed to add a small handful to the slowly growing series this year, and I think this one, shot along the river in Tumwater Canyon during fall color peak, is perhaps my favorite.

[moonspots]

trail view toward trailhead

Baker from trail

Crevasse plug

My favorites were from my first trip up Mt Baker. An "ah, ha!" moment when the clouds cleared to reveal the peak, similar to the first time I saw Mt Rainier. What a beauty of a huge mountain of rock! And that's all it takes to take my breath away. Certainly some spectacular views, especially for a guy who lives on the prairie.

[Backpacker Joe]

Middle Kendall Peak lake Pano

[silence]

Last year we rarely got out because we were totally focused on finding a new home (which we finally did in late Sept) and selling our old place (which we did in late Dec). However, we did get in a 2-week road trip in New England where we spent a couple of days exploring Acadia NP. One morning we got up 2 hours before dawn and headed for the top of Cadillac Mountain (1,532’), the highest peak on the Eastern Seaboard, to watch the sunrise. Some believe this is the where one can witness the first sight of sunrise in the continental United States. That’s true some of the time, but unbeknownst to us it’s only for half the year — roughly from the second week in October (when we were there) through the first week of March. When we arrived at the parking lot at the top all the spots were already full and still peps were streaming in and just parking in the road. We had no clue it would be this popular, but resigned ourselves to just leaving and headed back down. Not far below we actually found a pull-out with a great view so stopped and waited. It was special because the few others there were quiet and respectful, unlike at the top. After sunrise, we headed back for breakfast and by the time we got to the bottom of the road the rangers had closed the entrance to it because of the massive congestion. Anyhow, this was shot just before sunrise. I have others of when the sun actually broke on the horizon, but I esp liked this image. Anyhow this is the only one I've been able to process so far. I'll try to look over all the rest sometime before this year ends. The fall color was pretty awesome ... peaking along the coast from Boston to Bar Harbor, though a little past peak in the Whites, Adirondacks, Greens, Catskills, Hudson Valley and Berkshires.

Sunrise From Cadillac Mountain, Maine

[iron]

[jhiker001]

I have one photo that truly captures the moment of a trip to Goat Rocks Wilderness this past summer. We had just hiked about 4-5 miles and found a great campsite. As the others were getting ready to pitch their tents, I could see that the evening sunset was getting good. The sun was quickly setting so I threw my pack down and ran down a hill to capture this beauty. I just stood there and said to myself, "It doesn't get any better than this"...

Mt. Adams from Goat Rocks Wilderness