Your favourite photo of 2018 (taken by you), and why

[markjwyatt]

Saying "favorite photograph" did get me thinking a little, and this opened up the interpretation also. I picked this one, shot on Fuji Acros 100 with a Contax IIa, Sonnar 50mm f2.

When I took it, I overexposed the average scene a little to be sure the dog was exposed, keeping in mind that film tends to lose shadows. Thinking about this shot more symbolically, at the end of 2017 I lost my dad who is the one that got me into photography many,many years ago. He was a high school photography teacher, so I had access to a darkroom, etc. The shadow can be seen as his loss. The light is my rekindling of interest in photography that happened in 2018. In April I got a Fujifilm XT-2 and it was lot of fun finally shooting with a great camera again. I wish my dad was their to enjoy it also.

The lighted portion of the image looks to me to be pushed onto the shoulder of the film. This shot would have been more difficult on the Fuji due to clipping of highlights. In 2018, I also renewed my interest in film, and got some of my old film equipment going again, as well as obtained some new (old) equipment.

So this is probably not my best shot of the year (it would be much harder to pick that one), but it represents the year to me in the sense I explained, so could be seen as my favorite.


trapped by Mark Wyatt, on Flickr

 

[robert blu]

Saying "favorite photograph" did get me thinking a little, and this opened up the interpretation also. I picked this one, shot on Fuji Acros 100 with a Contax IIa, Sonnar 50mm f2.

When I took it, I overexposed the average scene a little to be sure the dog was exposed, keeping in mind that film tends to lose shadows. Thinking about this shot more symbolically, at the end of 2017 I lost my dad who is the one that got me into photography many,many years ago. He was a high school photography teacher, so I had access to a darkroom, etc. The shadow can be seen as his loss. The light is my rekindling of interest in photography that happened in 2018. In April I got a Fujifilm XT-2 and it was lot of fun finally shooting with a great camera again. I wish my dad was their to enjoy it also.

The lighted portion of the image looks to me to be pushed onto the shoulder of the film. This shot would have been more difficult on the Fuji due to clipping of highlights. In 2018, I also renewed my interest in film, and got some of my old film equipment going again, as well as obtained some new (old) equipment.

So this is probably not my best shot of the year (it would be much harder to pick that one), but it represents the year to me in the sense I explained, so could be seen as my favorite.

Sorry for the loss of your father Mark. It seems that among the people around here many have been introduced to photography by their father.

I'm one of them! He was a really passionate photographer. I still use his Rolleiflex!

robert

 

[markjwyatt]

Sorry for the loss of your father Mark. It seems that among the people around here many have been introduced to photography by their father.

I'm one of them! He was a really passionate photographer. I still use his Rolleiflex!

robert

Thanks, Robert. My parents had a baby Rollei that I ended up with for a short time, right around the time they discontinued 127 film. I wish I had kept it.

 

[sara]

I didn't take a lot of photos this year, but I guess I really like the lighting on this one, as I remember saying 'hang on, hang on!' but he just kept walking...and I did managed to get the shot I wanted anyway 🙂

 

[ForestCap]

dryads_bubble.gif

 

[sem]

pit dump art by rcfed, auf Flickr

It is the combination of art and the clouds and it was a beautiful moment with my wife this walk to take the picture.

 

[sailor]

This photo is my favourite of 2018, the reason being that for once I was in the right place at the right time to catch the dramatic light. Usually by the time I make my way to a great location, the light has changed and although I end up with a photo, it's a case of what might have been. On this occasion I got there in time and managed a few shots of which this is the best. It isn't all that it could have been because in my rush to get something in the bag I failed to notice that the ISO was set to 800. However, even though it is still a substantial crop, I think it holds up quite well.

Lighthouse at Isle Ornsay, Skye
Leica M-E
Tele Elmar 135mm f4


Isle Ornsay Lighthouse by Elmer Duck, on Flickr

 

[p.giannakis]

This photo is my favourite of 2018, the reason being that for once I was in the right place at the right time to catch the dramatic light. Usually by the time I make my way to a great location, the light has changed and although I end up with a photo, it's a case of what might have been. On this occasion I got there in time and managed a few shots of which this is the best. It isn't all that it could have been because in my rush to get something in the bag I failed to notice that the ISO was set to 800. However, even though it is still a substantial crop, I think it holds up quite well.

Lighthouse at Isle Ornsay, Skye
Leica M-E
Tele Elmar 135mm f4
Isle Ornsay Lighthouse by Elmer Duck, on Flickr

Beautiful shot!

 

[Erik van Straten]

Super!

Erik.

 

[tomtofa]

This one from Scotland.
It needs to be seen bigger - I have a 30" print of it - but it never fails to make me laugh and take my own challenges more lightly when I see the poor bloke mowing the estate ;-)

 

[Doug]

Poor bloke indeed, that's a big job! 😱

 

[lynnb]

I'd like to thank everyone who's contributed to this thread so far - so many excellent and interesting images, and the back stories as well...

Please keep them coming!

 

[jamin-b]

Probably this one - my twin girls, after an enjoyable hike in Slovenia...

K70_7284 by Ben Sandler, on Flickr

 

[jordan.dickinson]

I know I'm only supposed to pick one...but I can't...so here's two...

I got engaged to my beautiful girlfriend Joy in March of 2018. We knew each other and had a brief relationship in my freshman year of college. 17 years passed after she studied abroad, I transferred schools, and we kind of just stayed loosely in touch. We reconnected in 2017, and I decided I was done looking for my "one" and she was it. So in 2018, I asked her to marry me. She said yes, and although this isn't a photo from our engagement, it was taken after a day of skateboarding on the boardwalk with her and getting some dinner at sunset in San Diego. I just love this photo of her, even though it's of nothing that special (reading the menu at dinner).

Hasselblad 500cm w/80mm - Portra 400


sunset
by Jordan Dickinson, on Flickr

And the second here was from a family vacation in Alaska in August 2018. This trip has been on the books for years and years. My dad brought my brothers and me up in New York state on flyfishing. It has carried through my life as I've since moved to Colorado, and though we all had a dream of fishing for salmon in Alaska, it was a pipe dream for many years. This year, we finally made it happen and it will always be in my memory. My dad is aging, 70 years old now, but he can out fish and out last my brothers any day. This is just a photo of one of our salmon, but it has a lot of meaning given the amount of time it took to get to this beautiful place alongside my brothers and dad.

Fuji XT-2 w/16mm f1.4


chum salmon 01 - Willow, Alaska
by Jordan Dickinson, on Flickr