Favorite Images of 2015
My Favorites
For the last couple of years, I've made it a tradition to choose my favorite images for the year. In 2013, it was my 13 favorites. In 2014, my 14 favorites. And for 2015, you guessed it...my 15 favorite images for the year. Yeah, I know, really original. After giving it some thought, though, I've decided that 15 will be the max for each coming year, rather than continuing the upward progression. Who knows, some years may have less than 15 images, but I won't go over that number.
I tallied up the total number of images taken for 2015, and have to admit that even I'm a little surprised at the total. There are 31,539 images in my Lightroom catalog for the year. Not unexpectedly, the number of images taken has increased each of the last four years that I've been shooting. What was surprising is that the 2015 total is nearly double the number for 2014. Breaking it down further really shows where the bulk of my shooting was for last year.
Last May, I attended a photography workshop on the Oregon coast, then extended the trip to the Palouse region of Washington State. That trip alone yielded nearly 7,000 photos. A lot of the images on this list were taken on that trip. It was an amazing trip with some really incredible scenery.
Another 5,000+ images were made throughout the year of sunsets. That's a lot of sunset images! Some of you may have seen what seemed like a never-ending stream of these photos on the social networks. It was kind of a project that I took on early in the year and just kept it going...primarily to get myself out shooting more often. Maybe I will do some more this year...;-)
Night photography, primarily star trails, was another thing that used up a lot of pixels for 2015. I definitely plan to do more for 2016 and try some new techniques. Star trails take a lot of images to create since there are generally a long series of images taken in succession, which are stacked together to create the trails. A total of almost 4,000 images were dedicated to photographing the night in 2015.
Finally, I had the pleasure of taking portraits of several graduating seniors in the Spring and Fall seasons. It was lots of fun getting to know these young men and women better as we created some images that they will hopefully cherish for a long time. These constituted close to 2,500 images in the catalog.
Sorting through all of these images and narrowing them down to a total of 15 of my favorites for the year was no easy task. There are many more that I would have liked to include, but didn't want to 'water down' the list too much. These are my favorites. Maybe not necessarily the very best images, but many that I feel are pretty good. I hope you will enjoy them, too. Please leave a comment and let me know which is your favorite. It would be interesting to know. Now, let's get to the photos!
Snowy Cows - taken February 15, 2015. Sometimes images just present themselves. Driving the country roads close to home during this winter storm, I noticed these cows grouped together near the fence. When I stopped, they gathered close and just seemed to pose for this image.
What Are You Looking At? - taken April 21, 2015. Another in the category of an image that just sort of happens. On a walk in the woods behind our house, I approached the neighbor's fence-line and noticed this fellow intently watching as I passed. I decided to make an image, which turned out to be my most popular on Flickr.com for the year. Go figure...
Nelson-Atkins Museum - taken May 7, 2015. I had seen photos of it before and wanted to make my own images of this museum of art in Kansas City. The sky was pretty dramatic on this evening and the wind was calm to help with some nice reflections in the pool.
Seal Rock Sunset - taken May 17, 2015. This area is located along the coast, to the south of Newport, Oregon. This was a perfect evening, with amazing colors in the sky. Several other images from this location were finalists for this list, but I really liked this wave.
Devil's Punch Bowl - taken May 18, 2015. This natural area is located along the coast just to the north of Newport, Oregon. This collapsed sea cave is filled with water at high tide. We were there at the perfect time to get these images, but the water was starting to come in and we had to move out.
Yaquina Bay Bridge - taken May 18, 2015. Located in Newport, Oregon, over, you guessed it, Yaquina Bay. I have other versions of this image, mostly in color, but kind of liked this one best.
Thor's Well - taken May 19, 2015. This is an amazing sight to see, located along the coast to the south of Yachats, Oregon. The waves move in and out, filling the subsurface tunnel to this blowhole, that seems to be a natural drain for the sea. Just be careful to not get too close!
Heceta Head Lighthouse - taken May 19, 2015, at the end of one of my favorite days on the Oregon trip. This is one of those lighthouses that has been photographed millions of times, from every angle imaginable. I still like this image, and the sunbeams in the background really complete it.
Coquille River Light - taken May 21, 2015. This was a gray, overcast day. The wind was blowing pretty steadily, splashing waves from the Coquille River against the rocky shore. To create something a little different, I used a 10-stop graduated filter to achieve a 30 second exposure and transform the waves into mist.
Palouse Falls - taken May 26, 2015. This is not what you would expect to see in the middle-of-nowhere in southeast Washington State, but it was sure worth the trip. If you go on a holiday weekend, expect huge crowds. I found out the hard way...
Quandary Peak Summit - taken July 28, 2015. I just had to include this image. Quandary Peak is one of 54 peaks in Colorado with a summit above 14,000 feet. These peaks are known by those who attempt to "bag" them as 14ers. I had the pleasure of bagging this peak with this great group of friends. It wasn't easy, but we all encouraged and pushed each other to the top!
Quandary Cross - taken July 28, 2015. This cross has been to the summit of a few Colorado 14ers, and will hopefully be to the top of many more.
Grinter Farms Sunset - taken September 5, 2015. Grinter Farms, located near Tonganoxie, Kansas, is a popular spot for local photographers near the end of summer each year, as the sunflowers open in all their glory. I was there on this evening, along with hundreds of other people who were wandering the fields taking pictures. Trying to get away from the crowd, I made my way into the middle of field, attached my camera to a monopod, and held it overhead to get above the sunflowers and capture this sunset image.
The Crown Is Ours! - taken October 28, 2015. The Kansas City Royals won the World Series in 2015, for the first time since 1985. The City was abuzz with the excitement and it showed. This is the downtown skyline, taken from the Liberty Memorial a few nights before the final game.
Smithville Lake Sunset - taken November 6, 2015. This is my favorite sunset for 2015. The clouds lit up with vibrant shades of pink, purple, and magenta, and the water made for a nice reflective surface.