What's The "Best" Photo You Took In 2014 ... Ready, GO!!!

As I was looking over my Flickr stuff with my sister in-law over the holidays I started thinking about all the shots I've taken this year, and the many ways in which I have grown as a photographer. I started to wonder about the various shots I took and posted this year (and there were a lot of them), and I started wondering how I might respond were a photographer I admired to come up to me and say...

"Show me your best photo from 2014, and tell me what is so good and/or significant about it"

I've been pondering it ever since, and I will post my answer below, but I wanted to suggest you all to take some time and answer the question as well.

Yes, there are rules, but they are simple:

• You get to define the criteria around which "best" is defined, and it doesn't have to based on any sort of technical merit (i.e. it could be about the importance of the moment and/or the subject and not about anything someone else might observe in the photo)
• You cannot post more than one photo
• You must post an explanation of why you chose that photo with some level of detail as to your reasons
• No commenting - I'd like to preserve this as a sort of Nikonite Yearbook to allow folks to peruse the photos and explanations without anything getting sidetracked, waylaid or otherwise hijacked

And my thanks to @wud who inspired a similar idea back in the first couple months of the year. I was always sorry that those threads never persisted.

(My apologies to Pretzel because I posted the "no comment" thing as an edit and he likely didn't see it - my bad).

OK, I'll start...

I started 2014 with one goal - Slow down, "see" instead of just "look", be ready to take a photo at any time, and when you see a shot take the shot, even if it means stopping what you're doing and/or turning around in the car and going back to get it. And I did just that. I was amazed at the things I saw to photograph, and the quality of the photos I was getting. That inspired me to "see" even more, which in turn got me more opportunities to grab a shot. There is a photo from early 2014 that frames this entire goal and what I was able to achieve following this rule, but that's not what I want to show. Because as I started shooting more and more, I started noticing patterns in my shots, and frankly I noticed that while I was always thrilled with what I was shooting, and was definitely growing as a photographer, my photography wasn't stretching me as a person. I was playing it safe because I was always shooting stuff and not someone, and I really liked shots of people. Once in a while I'd grab someone when they weren't looking, but always at a distance and always surreptitiously.

Then, on a Saturday morning in July, I decided I needed to change that. So I grabbed a pair of cameras and headed off to the Easton Farmer's Market, a place I'd shot a couple weeks prior, but this time with one goal - Photograph People!!

There were lots of interesting faces there - I knew, I'd seen them, and as I wandered around my heart pumped a little harder as I raised the camera and took a photo of someone I didn't know without their permission. Yay for me!! But still, it was never overt, never obvious, and always without them noticing. But there was this one guy. A great looking character hunched over a cup of coffee that looked like he would rip my head off if he caught me taking his photo without permission. SERIOUSLY!! So, I was going to leave without taking the shot, but then I thought about the goal I set for myself at the beginning of the year (which is why I mentioned that part first) and turned around, walked up to him and asked, "Would it be OK if I took your photo?"

Bam!!!





The stern, gruffness that I had hoped to capture disappeared in an instant as he said, "Who, me?!", and then beamed at me with the best crooked teeth I could ever hope for. In that moment a timid nature, rural decay and landscape photographer was joined by someone with a love for street photography and shooting the human condition, forever transforming what I now "see" with the camera. And, as an added bonus, in processing this image I stumbled on a technique blending B&W and color layers that I've since refined in a way that allows me to go from subtle to extreme manipulation of textures and luminosity - but that in and of itself has nothing to do with why this is my "Best photo of 2014"

Great idea. My favourite of the year is this one from a Castle in Jersey, looking out over the harbour and bay. A trip around this castle was so interesting. It was also a "last minute" trip my hubby organised for me and him before my mum started her cancer treatment, so the trip itself meant so much to me.

I got back into photography as extension of my hiking/exploring/geocaching sort of ways and never really considered myself a portrait photographer sort of guy; the whole concept just didn't interest me. Then the girlfriend drug me to a one-day class on shooting models outdoors. I figured I could handle that and agreed to go. In so doing I found a whole new side of photography I had willfully locked myself out of. Then I decided I really wanted to photograph Pearl and asked her if she'd be willing.
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She's never modeled before, never had her photo taken with any sort of real intent. She's a young girl who has a hard row to hoe in life and I wanted to show that when I photographed her. She's a tough little number but a "girly girl" at heart. Maybe it's because I know her in ways you don't but I really feel I connected with her and was able to put across her vulnerability as well as her tough exterior. I don't think I'm going to find anything I shot this year I like better.
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This is a great idea and a bit tough. It's like asking a parent to choose their favorite child. So I was going to just let Flickr decide for me. I was going to check my Flickr stats and just select the picture that had the highest views. It would have been a fine choice (it's of my daughter) but I decided not to go that route. So I perused a few pages and decided on this one for several reasons. For me this is "my Best" of 2014 because I feel a certain amount of pride and satisfaction from snapping this picture.

Just from snapping so many bird pictures you start to learn their habits and tendencies. I saw this Osprey hunting for dinner and decided to move to a location that I felt he would end up. Sure enough he pops in so close that when he looks at me I thought he was going to claw my eyeballs out. So in that respect I felt a little pride in being able to anticipate the picture. Like a light bulb went off in my head that experience does pay off.

Secondly, working this image in post, I feel I've turned a corner because I feel more confident in my PP workflow. I feel like I'm actually producing an image the way I want it to look rather than just moving sliders around and hoping for the best. I still have a ton to learn but I can look at this picture and some from just a year ago and see where I'm improving. I like that.

So to sum it up, this is my best not because it's a spectacular image but because it represents how I've grown and developed as a photographer.

BM7_2310 by BMalinis, on Flickr

My favorite. Luminance Sky...Crystal Web

This is something that I'm almost not capable of. I keep looking and I really have a hard time making up my mind.

But this little kitten was very difficult to catch and capture. It just kept moving around and around and just wouldn't stay still. But I finally got something even if it was too close to me and I had to crop part of it's ears. And even then, I had trouble deciding between color or B&W.

After years of painting I again picked up the cam and since that was only about five months ago, it's hard for me to judge my own photos.

When I started I was aware not every shot I'd take would be a winner but if I'd take two good shots a day, I'd be doing well. In the beginning that was easy but nowadays I seldom meet that quota. I've taken about 40k shots with both cams and my catalog contains no more than 150 survivors. And even those suffer shortcomings.

But if I'd have to pick one of the survivors, it'd be the shot that snapped me out of an appreciation for photography purely for the related problems into an appreciation for the colors and light. I'm someone that has a soft spot for problems. I'm drawn to them like moths to fire. It doesn't even matter what sort; abstract or real. My mind becomes absorbed and while, I exist within a bubble. While walking outside, I am oblivious to reality and could walk past my own parents without noticing.

A large part of my photography was more about related problems than about whatever subject I shot. And there are that many problems all the time, I stumbled from the one into the other. But after buying the D750 and taking my first night shots, the colors and light amazed me during processing. Afterwards I noticed that when walking outside, I became aware of colors and light. It might seem strange to others but I always had, what I call, B&W vision. I noticed contrast, composition, shapes but colors simply didn't register that well. Occasionally yes, but overall I was oblivious to them. But after seeing what the D750 grabbed that night, my vision slowly started to change and with it my attitude towards photography.

What first was purely a matter of problem solving slowly became attempts to grab that light. Any problem that needs to be solved now is in function of that.

The shot might not be that great, at plenty a level, but it was the beginning of an awakening.

Choosing my favorite child, WOW! This year I had so many great shots: Milky Way - technical monster with hours in the field and in front of the computer, Sunbeams through the Redwoods - just magical, Heceta Head Lighthouse - the beams cutting through the fog of night, Dodge Challenger - captured in the Redwoods with a wisp of fog passing through the headlight, but one photo kept coming to mind. It is a photo of my daughter. This was a posed photo with beautiful soft light coming through a window and into a late 1800's cabin. On the table in the cabin were these beautiful china tea cups. The walls and table were both dreary in color. It struck me that this would be a perfect shot - and it was, but what really elevated the shot was my daughter getting into the moment. As I posed her, I gave the instruction that she should be daydreaming of distant and better places. Places that would take you away from your surroundings. Combining her getting into the moment, and the incredible light shining through the window, this is my best shot of 2014. I do "like" many of my other photos more than this one, but in the essence of the Mona Lisa, the look on her face draws you in and makes you wonder what she is thinking. Had this one done on canvas and it is a perfect match to the setting of the photo.

I have always had a fascination with Black and White, Ansel Adams type shots. This shot is in no way a comparison to Ansel Adams. It was a shot that I took with the intentions of turning into a BW and framing it for my office and has got to be one of my favorites for the year. I did get comments on how to improve and will re-shoot this next year with the suggestions.

So technically it may not be the best, but it is one of my favorites and it was hard to choose because I have 3 that solicited a lot of responses on and all 3 are framed and hanging in my office. I like the contrast, the various lines and the nostalgia of the hall way.

My 3-star photo of 2014:




ETA: I guess I'm supposed to post WHY it's my favorite.

1. It's a bald eagle.
2. I like the way it posed for me.
3. I like how sharp it came out.
4. It wasn't ideal lighting, yet I hand-held it at 420mm and 1/20sec (with VC, of course).
5. Images of bald eagles abound, but this one is mine.

Last shot of Daisy The Rottweiler before she disappeared this 4th of July. If someone told me that I had to delete all my shots that I took this year but get to keep one, this is the one I would keep. I can always retake the others.



Edited to add the following.
To me, photography is all about emotion. It has to bring out some kind of feeling, otherwise it's just a picture. This year out of the thousands of images that I have taken, I consider maybe about 5-6 to be photographs.

What a great thread and some interesting reasons for the incredible selections.

My own journey was a confusion of many things; including the totally bewildering array of menus, settings and options of the DSLR, revisiting lighting, getting my head around (still a struggle) such high ISO when with film 400 was my max, learning composition, and then of course post processing, software, learning curves etc.

I also did not know what genre I wanted to be in and still don't but do know that I enjoy portraits, awesome (read as 3 dimensional) landscapes, street photography and just seriously good photos. Never thought I would enjoy macro but now think I might.

In mid June I plucked up the courage to ask one of the lady members at our club to give me a lesson and she agreed. I only wanted to learn how to take a good photo. In a way the lesson was a bit disappointing as she didn't say what to do or how but ....

one of the first sets I took was of a guy who was re shoeing her horse and as I was taking photos she said to me "Stop making the mistakes everyone makes! Get down on the ground and take the shots from a different angle." Me getting down and up is not so easy with my arthritis but she told me to get over it. I did and I took several good shots.

I had no idea how good they were until she processed them afterwards. Wow - that was when I realised processing was "everything" in terms of really making a photo pop and that side of the journey began that day.
I've enjoyed the trip and I have enjoyed the company here.
Now I look forward to continued growth in 2015.

Here is my "best of 2014"



To me the eye is drawn into the action of this shot which is taking place within the smoke.
I must have it printed.

Oh dear, how do I choose? I have quite a few favourites, but after a long thought I selected this one. It is a very recent photo, taken on Christmas day morning. We went for a walk to a nearby water reservoir, which we never visited before and... it was a miracle. First of all, the light was perfect. Low winter sun with a warm golden glow. Secondly, the pond turned out to be a photo treasure. The embankments around the pond are lined with trees in single files. This looks great across water, with tree silhouettes against the sky, as illustrated below. We have lots of little ponds around, but most of them have woodlands around and don't give this amazing effect.

I guess I will be visiting this particular pond many times at different weather and time of the day!

phew...tough, a year is long and doing mainly indoor/low light event & concert stuff with a Pentax* cam last year (*i guess i have to exclude the non Nikon brands...) I go with a shot from 'Songs Of Revolt' , a band who asked me to do a shoot with/for them.
Since it was my first 'band' shoot there where some nerves involved.

Anyway, i was kind of happy with the following shot... (the band was happy too, but they chose another shot from the series for promo purposes)
SO_REVOLT-9 by KultFunk, on Flickr

I never experimented much with creative photography in my 30+ years using film and have only begun to explore the art with my D5100, finding both joy and frustration. I saw this scene early one morning in our dining room, but resisted shooting away. Instead I simply sat and studied the light and shadows. Only then did I take my camera in hand to move about and try some exposures. It's not a perfect effort, but I like the way it turned out and it's lead me on to seek other creative shots.

WOW! How do I pick! I've gone through a lot of shots after I read what BDH had suggested. I have 3 that I really like, but the one I like most is this one of the outdoors. To me, the power of Mother Nature is always awe inspiring and full of wonder. I do mostly portraits of people, but this I consider a portrait of Mother Nature.

This is the shot I consider to be my best for 2014. I went with the idea of getting this exact shot. The reason I feel this is my best is as follows:

1. Before clicking the shutter, I envisioned the long brace to be a leading line into the photo
2. I wanted the ferris wheel's center hub to sit on one of the points for the Rule of Thirds
3. The shutter speed needed to be slow enough to create a pleasing pattern--something not visible through the viewfinder

Although this turned out perfectly to suit me, it isn't my all-time favorite for the year. That spot is held by a photo of a beloved cat that died exactly one week after taking her photo.

It is so difficult to pick one, but I got one which I like. It shows my hometown is waking up. Someone goes to work, the dog goes home from his date and the morning sky shows its great color