Last year I posted my 10 personal favorite images of 2009, followed by some photographic goals. I guess it’s only fair to review those goals and see if I achieved any of them. Unfortunately, I didn’t do so hot…
I did try to work on my technique so my photos are sharper, with some success, but I need to keep at it. I did try to find markets for my work, with minimal success. Largely due to our move to Colorado (and the accompanying extra work and stress), I was not able to sit down and spend time learning Lightroom and Photoshop, and definitely did not have time to get through my digital library and delete the bad images and catalog the good ones. One goal I did achieve was shooting more flowers. I shot hundreds of images of wildflowers, in addition to all the great tulip shots I got during Topeka’s Tulip Time. I had a total BLAST shooting wildflowers in the Flint Hills in early June. The wet winter we had created phenomenal blooming conditions, and I enjoyed every minute of it. As with all goals, I’ll just have to keep trying.
Here are my personal favorites of 2010. It was very hard to narrow them down to 10, so I have 10 plus 2 “bonus” images. Even getting it down to 12 was extremely difficult:
Yet another one from my Ouray workshop. We stopped on the Silver Pick Rd. at an aspen grove that was beautifully backlit by the late morning sun. The workshop leader told us to not only look up but to look down as well. It’s amazing sometimes what can be found literally at your feet. I always try to do this anyway, and I hit paydirt on this day. I loved the contrast of the bright red leaf with the golden aspen leaves, and the aspen twig added some nice texture.
We made our almost annual trek to Grand Junction a little later in the year (late July) and I was treated to some monsoon moisture in the form of clouds! We went up to the Monument a couple nights during our stay, and I captured this image which highlights the Kissing Couple formation and views of the Book Cliffs off to the north, all with some awesome clouds and lighting. This was the first time I’d been to the Monument and had good clouds and light, so I was pretty excited to capture this image.
While staying in Moab in late July, I made myself get up early one day to do a sunrise shoot and chose the Three Gossips area. I parked in the Courthouse Towers parking lot, and walked across the road and down into the wash. Using my iFoto Guide: Arches, together with my GPS, I found the spot I wanted with the yuccas in the foreground. Then I just waited for the sun to come up and do its magic! It was very peaceful, and afterwards I walked around the wash quite a bit, looking for different perspectives and views of the Gossips. However, this one was my favorite of the morning.
The Kansas Flint Hills are one of my favorite places on earth, especially in late May after the annual burns and the new grass comes in like a velvet carpet. I made several trips into the Hills this spring to take photos of the burns and the new grass, and had quite the adventure on this particular day. You can read more about it in my prior post: “Lost & Found”. I love to find solitary cottonwoods with nothing but wide open prairie behind them. I had some nice puffy clouds to work with on this day, along with some great rocks in the foreground. I also thought the broken, irregular part of the tree gave it a lot of character.
By far, my favorite wildflower shot of the year. My husband found huge fields of beautiful oxeye daisies in the Kansas Flint Hills this year while he was biking. I had never seen such prolific fields before. This wasn’t one of the huge fields, but a small field on old K-18 Road just west of Alma. I used my 70-200 lens to isolate the blooms. I had such a blast shooting these wildflowers! The light was perfect and the wind was light (a rarity).
I shot so many flower images this year and had an awesome time doing it, so it’s no surprise my personal #1 favorite this year is a flower image. I spent the better part of two weekends shooting tulips during Topeka’s annual “Tulip Time” festival, which was slightly different from years past. For many years, Tulip Time was held at the private residence of Gerald Binkley and was the primary annual fundraiser for the Topeka Beautification Association. However, Mr. Binkley was getting rather elderly and simply could not keep up with the planting and care of all those thousands of tulips. The city stepped up and planted thousands of tulips at various locations throughout town, and they were able to still do the fundraiser. I went to the Old Prairie Town, Gage Park and Shawnee Co. Lake sites to take in the tulips, and they didn’t disappoint. I shot hundreds of images those two weekends. This one stands out because of the vibrant color combination, and the selective focus on the front row of blooms using my 70-200 mm lens. The tulips were just incredible to see and loads of fun to shoot!
Now, my goals for 2011:
1. Sit down and really learn Lightroom and Photoshop. Yes, it’s a “recycled” goal but a good one.
2. Get all my images organized and delete the bad ones. Again, “recycled” but a necessity.
3. Continue to look for markets for my work.
4. Figure out how to properly use TPE so I can get great sunrise/sunset shots.
5. Along with #4, get my lazy butt out of bed to be able to catch great sunrise shots. I’m such a lazy slug on weekends.
Feel free to share your photographic goals for 2011 here. I would love to hear what other photographers seek to achieve in the new year. And you can comment about my photos too, if you want 😉
December 28, 2010 at 8:26 pm
Amazing photography angela you are so lucky to have such beautiful country to photograph.. love your commitment to your work and don’t stress too much about learning photoshop etc .. I love the natural style so much better than manipulated images. Keep up the wonderful work 🙂
January 1, 2011 at 9:48 pm
Absolutely beautiful photos. Well done.
January 2, 2011 at 9:55 am
Thanks for the compliments, Sue & Coralie! I appreciate the feedback.