My 50 best of the year

[squirrel$$$bandit]

I've been compiling my 50 best pictures of the year, for each year since I got serious about photography, for a few months now...I've put galleries on google+. I'd like to get blurb books made for my own consumption, sometime soon, one for each year. Anyway, if anyone's interested, I just added what I suspect will be the last picture in my 50 best of 2011. Here's the gallery:

https://plus.google.com/photos/117208918921043466005/albums/5640786599900577745

And here's the fiftieth photo:


Laundromat by mabel.sound, on Flickr

I think the M9 was the most used camera among these, but I wouldn't be surprised if my phone was #2. That's something of a surprise to me. Hipstamatic and Instagram really inspired me this year--sometimes impromptu/throwaway photograhy opens up new avenues of inspiration.

Thanks for all the advice this year, and see you all in 2012!

 

[paulfish4570]

i like the girl in the far corner, and the 50th best. those two grabbed my eye.

 

[redisburning]

50 is a lot to me.

Because grad school kind of came down on my head I only shot for 1/3rd of the year. I figure I got 16 good pictures out of that. That puts me at a yearly rate of 48, so I dont even have enough good pictures to do a best of 50 from lol.

I dont want to sound harsh but your picture of the man in the taxi is the sort of shot that drives me nuts when I get it back. I like the subject and the framing soooooo much, it's just that I really dont like the light. To me it looks like it was shot in midday and it's just begging to be at night. I realize you can never get every element right but the almost shots bug me a million times more than when I miss the mark completely and get something interesting by accident.

I think why Im so much more drawn to my rangefinder photos is that it's more about seeing what a picture looks like after Ive taken it than the meticulous additive/subtractive process of SLR shooting. The results feel more natural, and it's because the camera lends itself to something better IMO. I think if I had had my M2 all year I not only would have found the time to take more pictures but I would have had many better ones. Not because the camera makes me a better photographer, but because I would have liked my pictures better and been more driven to take more.

Anyway, sorry for the hijack and thanks for sharing.

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

I dont want to sound harsh but your picture of the man in the taxi is the sort of shot that drives me nuts when I get it back. I like the subject and the framing soooooo much, it's just that I really dont like the light. To me it looks like it was shot in midday and it's just begging to be at night. I realize you can never get every element right but the almost shots bug me a million times more than when I miss the mark completely and get something interesting by accident.

Yeah, I hear ya! That picture drives me a little crazy--I was in New York, the guy was at a traffic light, and I could see very clearly that the expression on his face was the same as the one on top of the cab...but man it was hard to get all that out of a midday pic taken with a Samsung P&S camera. Most of my pics, I wish something was different, alas!

i like the girl in the far corner, and the 50th best. those two grabbed my eye.

Thanks! That's actually my son in a tent...the tent looks huge, and he looks tiny, because it was taken with the 12mm Heliar. In fact the tent is only like ten feet square! It kinda reminds me of the Red Lodge in Twin Peaks.

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

Looking at these, I think I would like to start taking casual portraiture more seriously in 2012.

 

[paulfish4570]

sorry about the gender switch. it IS a good shot in any case.

 

[shadowfox]

John,
Your empty scene photos are outstanding.
I'd work on shots with people in it.

Favorited the washing machine shot above on flickr. Good one!

 

[Jamie Pillers]

I very much like the entire set. As a set, I think its very strong and shows, I think, the skills of a very talented photographer. There's so much great composition, a wonderful sense of humor, and the ability to put people at ease in front of the camera. If you put together a blurb book, let us know. I'd be interested in buying! 🙂

Have you posted "The Best of..." for other years?

Regarding an earlier post, I don't think you need to "work" on your people pictures... you just need to post MORE for us to look at! 🙂 Thanks for the inspiration.