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.
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.
Fireworks 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.
Small-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.
In 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:
Small-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:
small-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.
Small-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:
1L0A8827 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.
1L0A1547 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.
In 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:
In 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:
6S0A2592 by kayaker72, on Flickr
Thank you for all the views, comments, inspiration and support over the years. Its been a good decade.
Brant
Reply With Quote