Best and/or Favorite Images of the Decade

So, I've been looking forward to this post. I bought my first DSLR in July 2010 and joined TDP within a month of that. I have learned so much, mostly here in this forum. So, first of all, thank you.

I have been thinking of how to set this up and while others may pick their best overall photos, I am going to try to do my best photos from each year with 1 or 2 bonus pictures. This was not easy.

2010: A sunset cruise in Acadia NP. Oh, the things I would do differently now. Shot in jpg (before I starting shooting RAW), horizon line-oops, etc...etc. I think I had picked up my 7D and EFS 15-85 just two months prior. Overall, not a bad start.

Attachment 2798

2011: Fireworks over Niagara Falls taken from our hotel "deck" on the Canadian side. This was my first real attempt to photograph fireworks. It is something I had wanted to do, had seen great photos of, and read the guide here at TDP. Then, I finally had the opportunity with this as the result.

https://live.staticflickr.com/6100/6...7ed81a95_c.jpgFireworks IMG_2254 by kayaker72, on Flickr


2012: From my first trip to Costa Rica. We did a sunset cruise and I watched as I saw a small fishing boat was going to pass in front of the setting sun. This has been on a wall in our house since. Maybe not the best photography, but I still stop and look at it sometimes.

https://live.staticflickr.com/7280/6...daf263f7_b.jpgSmall-3621 by kayaker72, on Flickr


2013: Garwin falls. My first explored image over on Flickr. I remember sitting at work and checking my personal email (

:)

...at lunch, I am sure) and having my eyes bug out seeing hundreds of notifications in my inbox.

https://live.staticflickr.com/3758/1...5fef031f_b.jpgIn Explore: small-8135 by kayaker72, on Flickr


2014: Lower Antelope Canyon in Arizona. What a place. Upper Antelope, at least at the time, gets more attention, but the rock formations in Lower Antelope were just amazing. My favorite from that day:

https://live.staticflickr.com/3840/1...8c802623_b.jpgSmall-7644 by kayaker72, on Flickr


2015: I thought this day was going to be a bust. Cloudy, meh weather, chance of rain, but we went kayaking anyways. We came upon a loon that was actually pretty far away. I've only seen this once while watching loons and fortunately I already had my 5DIII and 150-600S out of my dry bag, but this one started trying to fly and running right in front of us. This was my favorite pic of the series:

https://live.staticflickr.com/329/18...17c7a78f_b.jpgsmall-9295 by kayaker72, on Flickr


2016: Taken just after a storm passed at Circle B Bar Reserve in Lakeland, FL. This GBH jumped out in front of me as I walked along a narrow path framed by Spanish moss. Most of my shots were out of focus, but I've always loved this one. This is my most requested picture by friends for a print.

https://live.staticflickr.com/1569/2...7db34517_b.jpgSmall-5925 by kayaker72, on Flickr


2017: This was another favorite year of mine. Here, I am going with a shot taken from a morning shoot with Jonathan in Banff National Park. I have shots with better light on Mt. Rundle, but the duck always made this pic for me:

https://live.staticflickr.com/4565/3...5ec99639_b.jpg1L0A8827 by kayaker72, on Flickr

A bonus shot from 2017, this is again from Costa Rica. We had paid for a guided bird photography tour. Nothing was really working out so the guide took us back to the hotel. This was taken in a tree not far from the reception building. It was actually my wife who spotted the bird and wanted a picture. To this day, it is one of her favorites with a print outside her office.
https://live.staticflickr.com/3938/3...edf32869_b.jpg1L0A1547 by kayaker72, on Flickr




2018: Maybe my best year with a number of pictures to choose from. I am going to go with this shot of the Watchman from Zion NP. One of my favorites and is hanging on a wall in my house. This is also my most viewed/Fav'd picture on Flickr.

https://live.staticflickr.com/1937/4...cb6eed9b_b.jpgIn Explore - 6S0A8263 by kayaker72, on Flickr

As a bonus, I've always really liked this shot from 2018 as well. I really "stalked" this photo. First, I was scrolling through online images and saw something very similar. Then, onto an internet maps program to figure out where it could have been taken. Then, the day of, I marched right to where I thought it would be and set up. I actually messed this picture up a bit. I had a CPL on with this wide of angle, had irregular effects on the sky. Well, convert to B&W fits the tonality of the picture, but also helps hide the mistake with the CPL:
https://live.staticflickr.com/1958/4...5a79ccb2_b.jpgIn Explore: 6S0A9448 by kayaker72, on Flickr


2019: I actually consider this year a bit of an off year for me. I got this shot early on, but did not have very many "photography" dedicated days or trips. Iceland was a trip that was heavily dedicated to photography. This shot was taken on the west coast of Iceland with a storm just off shore. I prefer this picture due to the light that hit the lighthouse, interestingly, my wife prefers another shot where the waves break apart differently. So, even in my household, tastes as to "best" vary:

https://live.staticflickr.com/7826/3...38c13d55_b.jpg6S0A2592 by kayaker72, on Flickr


Thank you for all the views, comments, inspiration and support over the years. Its been a good decade.
Brant

Cool idea to do a "photo of the year" for the past decade! And the short stories behind them are interesting too. I'm especially glad that the duck made it on this list! I was trying to get a long-exposure reflection shot, and I was too busy getting upset that it was ruining everything. Whereas you just changed gears and nailed it :).

Thanks. As for the stories, as I look at these pics, I really think I selected photos that meant something to me, not perhaps my best technical photos. Just a quick reminder that photographs with emotional attachments are often peoples, even my own, "favorites." Which is why every one of those pics had a story to me.

My contribution:

2010: My first wild wolf, photographed from my car in Banff. A ridiculously exciting moment, lasting mere seconds. Fortunately I had the camera on the seat next to me, with the correct settings already dialed in. My heartrate still goes up everytime I look at this shot.

https://photos.smugmug.com/Nature/Wi...M3_4362-XL.jpg

2011: Blue-Footed Booby, Galapagos Islands
It's really hard to go wrong here. We were in a zodiac, cruising by some rocks and this booby was looking straight ahead. I kept shooting until I was sure I got a front-on shot. Pretty fun moment.

https://photos.smugmug.com/Travel/Ga...M3_7165-X2.jpg

2012: Svalbard, Norway. My first experience with polar bears. And the beginning of my obsession with claws :)

https://photos.smugmug.com/Travel/Sp...M3_5405-XL.jpg


2013: Snowy Owl, Boundary Bay, BC. I heard about an irruption of owls in this area, and booked a flight on short notice to check it out. There were snowy owls everywhere! It was utterly incredible.

https://photos.smugmug.com/Nature/Bo...39Q6245-XL.jpg


2014: I booked a crazy low-odds trip to northern Manitoba to try to see a polar bear cub emerge from the den with its mother, and it actually worked out! This is still my favourite photo of all time, taken in extreme cold during a ridiculous wind storm.

https://photos.smugmug.com/Nature/Po...39Q8936-XL.jpg


2015: It's not too often we get a nice show of northern lights here, but when it does work out, it can be fantastic. When I saw the result of this shot on my LCD, I nearly fell over backwards. Photographed in Banff in April.

https://photos.smugmug.com/Nature/No...39Q4048-XL.jpg


2016: I had an opportunity to join an exploratory photography trip to Baffin Island, in northern Canada, and I couldn't pass it up. Again it was a risky trip in terms of chance for success, and we spent 4 full days searching before we saw anything at all. And then this happened -- we came across a mother and cubs, just after they had finished eating a seal on the ice.

https://photos.smugmug.com/Nature/Po...62_picc-XL.jpg


2017: Puma cub in Patagonia, Chile. Sometimes you just get ridiculously lucky. I spent a week looking for these cats, and most of the time when we'd see them, they'd be sleeping behind a bush, 100 metres away. But then this cub got up, walked right towards us, and gave us this pose. How does this even happen? I still can't believe it.

https://photos.smugmug.com/Travel/Pa...DX25445-XL.jpg


2018: Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe. I desperately wanted to see a Wild Dog on this trip. They are such incredible animals, and I find them stunningly beautiful. It took a couple days of searching, but then we found the pack resting under a tree. I was well above cloud nine.

https://photos.smugmug.com/Travel/Zi...DX29892-XL.jpg


2019: Pantanal, Brazil. We got a radio call of a jaguar walking along the riverbank, so we raced out to the location. We were late on the scene, and several other boats were already jockeying for position. We spotted this tree about 100 metres away, so we moved over there and crossed our fingers that the cat would come our way and strike a pose. And then it actually happened! We were the only boat to get the shot.

https://photos.smugmug.com/Travel/Pa...DX24557-XL.jpg


All the best for the 2020's, everyone!

That is a good decade. Epic shots. Patience and dedication seems to win out even in "low odds" situations.

All spectacular, but mom and cub is truly special. The pose, light, blowing snow... just wow.

i'm just gonna say WOW!

here's my favorites of the 2010's

i won't forget this was my first winning picture here on the forums! Leaf me Be
https://i.imgur.com/rtWdOBHl.jpg

Angel Puppy
https://i.imgur.com/OkyXDu5l.jpg

Bucky
https://i.imgur.com/jjaUHAWl.jpg

November Yellow
https://i.imgur.com/KG39eiEl.jpg

ALICO
https://i.imgur.com/OS2BSmZl.jpg

Marty
https://i.imgur.com/NLinS2zl.jpg

Have a Coke!
https://i.imgur.com/MsvROS8l.jpg

Smithy
https://i.imgur.com/HL21sFWl.jpg

Dewberry
https://i.imgur.com/7TNZbb6l.jpg

here's a special one, my grandmother, she's been gone 3 years now Mama
https://i.imgur.com/wmDeYDPl.jpg

these were the pictures i have liked most, i don't remember the year they were taken but i've never thought about it that much.

one of my favorite pics has been lost though, it was my 5th win here on the forums LYNX it was the one with the green spider hiding in the leaf, and unfortunately it was lost when right after i cleared my card with it's info on it, and my computer crashed and lost it there too, also lost it when i deleted my Flickr account.

Nice series Zach! It really shows your creativity and eye for detail. And great portrait of your grandmother -- she looks like she was incredibly wise and strong.

thanks Jonathan! i really appreciate your kind words, it wasn't easy to get that picture of her though, she hated having her photo taken but my nagging finally won.

I enjoyed looking at all of these. Thanks for posting! I find it really intersting how everyone can have their own opinion on what is their "best". I've been going back looking at some of my shots and I'm not sure what criteria I would use to pick just one shot from a given year. Since I only take pictures for my own benefit I think I would have to echo what Brant said and would have to go for ones that mean something to me personally (probably sparking a memory). But on that basis my most memorable photos would be of my kids which I don't tend to share very many. Perhaps I'll take another go through my photos and see if I can come up with something to post anyway...

Stephen

Looking forward to it Stephen, can't wait to see yours!