Landscape, Nature and Travel Photography

To start 2008 right I thought it would be great to collectively see everyones best photos from 2007. After looking long and hard at my photos from the past year and posting My Top 10 Favorite Photos I couldn’t resist putting together another blog project with the theme of “Your Best Photos from 2007″. Clearly the only rules for this project is that you share photos taken within the calendar year of 2007. As with all my photography blog projects participation is more important than anything else. I look forward to seeing your photos!

Instructions:
If you have a photography-related site, take a minute to…

1. - Access my Contact page
   Note: Omit “http://” on any links.
2. - In the subject line type “Your Best Photos From 2007”
3. - In the message put the name of your site, web address, link to your “Your Best Photo From 2007” photo/blog entry and a one sentence description about your photo.

The deadline to take part will be FRIDAY JANUARY 11th at 11:59PM PST.
The following Monday I’ll post a link to all submitted sites and photos.
DO NOT SUBMIT YOUR PHOTO/BLOG LINK AS A COMMENT TO THIS ENTRY.
Having everyones photos and stories listed at once should make for a great Monday read.

It’s been a great year for photography and as the year closes out I thought it would be fun to select my favorite photos from the year. I had a tough time narrowing things down so here they are…

Honorable Mentions:

	Honorable Mention #6: Los Angeles Sunrise This was one of the most dynamic cityscape I took this year, but as much as I liked it compared to some other photos taken this year it didn’t make the top 10. Mentioned in Dueling California Sunrise Photos
	Honorable Mention #5: Last Light On Half Dome, Yosemite This was one of the few super-telephoto landscape photos I took this year. The dramatic atmosphere and lighting made this a standout for me. Mentioned in Last Light on Half Dome, Yosemite and EXIF and Beyond: State of the Podcast
	Honorable Mention #4: Out of the Gloom II Strangely this photo caught my eye the second time looking through the results of my photo shoot. In retrospect for the year its nearly one of my top 10 favorites. Mentioned in Always Check Your Seconds: Out of the Gloom II: Golden Gate Bridge and Fog
	Honorable Mention #3: San Francisco Oil Spill This was the last thing I wanted to photograph this year, but this photo struck a nerve with a lot of people not just myself. It’s been picked up by the Sierra Club and couple of other local publication. Lets hope 2008 is a better year for the environment. Mentioned in Rodeo Beach Sunset, A San Francisco Oil Spill Casualty
	Honorable Mention #2 San Francisco With the right combination of weather and lighting I was able to capture this view of San Francisco just after sunset. I still can’t believe this didn’t make the top 10, but it’s still one of my favorites from the year.
	Honorable Mention #1 Refinery I As soon as I started to drive past this refinery I knew the exact shot I wanted to capture. I didn’t quite get it the first time out, but the second time passing through the area I got it thanks to the perfect weather and lighting conditions. Mentioned in Photographer’s Rights: Know Them When In The Field

My Top 10 Favorite Photos of 2007:

#10: Rodeo Beach Sunset

Mentioned in Rodeo Beach Sunset, A San Francisco Oil Spill Casualty

#9: Reflecting Art, Crown Fountain

Mentioned in More From Chicago - Reflecting Art

#8: Speed - Blue Angels, San Francisco Fleet Week 2007

Mentioned in Blue Angels, San Francisco Fleet Week 2007 - Part III

#7: American Kestral (Falco sparverius)

Mentioned in American Kestrel in Flight

#6: Aspen Canopy & Horsetails

Mentioned in Horsetail and Aspen Fall Color View

#5: Chicago, A Beans Eye View (Cloud Gate Reflection)

Mentioned in Chicago, A Beans Eye View

#4: Snowy Trees Yosemite

Mentioned in Snowy Trees, Yosemite National Park

#3: Between You, Me and the Trees

Mentioned in Morning Sunlight & Fog - Between You, Me and the Trees

#2: Coyote (Canis latrans) III

Mentioned in Coyote Encounter

#1: Yosemite Sunset Breaking Light

Mentioned in EXIF and Beyond: Yosemite Winter Photos
and Yosemite Sunset Breaking Light

Thanks for checking in on my Top 10 Favorites for 2007. The photos are only half the equation of what has made this a great year for photography. The other and most important half has been everyone’s support whether you read my blog, like you do, or have to put up with me on a daily basis like my friends and wife have… this year wouldn’t have been nearly as great with out you. Thanks and have a great 2008!

Technorati Tags: photography, landscape, nature, wildlife, cityscape, travel, photos, Yosemite, coyote, fog, snow, trees, Chicago, cloud gate, aspen, fall color, kestrel, birding, blue angels, fleet week, San Francisco, crown fountain, rodeo beach, environmental, environment, refinery, oil spill, smokestack, Golden Gate Bridge, Los Angeles, skyline, cityscape, Half Dome

Another perspective of California Oaks in the fog. This was taken the same day as Oaks In The Fog. As I explored the area not only did I find the twisted form of the trees an interesting subject, but the juxtaposition of form became an intriguing concept to experiment with. This is among my favorite of layering the form of the trees into one composition.

Technorati Tags: California,   landscape,   photo,   photography,   oak,   tree,   fog,   foggy,   contrast

Yesterday Dave Winer announced the release of FlickerFan. FlickrFan (see FlickrFan.org for product details) enables Flickr users with a MacMini connected to their TV to display photography from their Flickr Contacts. This automatic feed is actually very cool and the type of use is a really nice way of displaying some great photography in a larger format. Robert Scoble ran a quick demo and fielded questions about FlickrFan yesterday evening see the two parts of this demo on Robert’s Qik page.

There is one catch that concerns me though… Read more… »

Weather conditions single handedly can make or break landscape photos. While out photographing California Oak trees the other week the fog rolling through the area set a great mood and enabled me to capture photos with a lot of “atmosphere”. It’s important to note that fog not only mutes lighting, but it mutes contrast as well. Depending on your photographic style foggy conditions provide photographers the opportunity in post-production to highlight a variety of contrast extremes . More on that later… for now enjoy

Technorati Tags: California, landscape, photo, photography, oak, tree, fog, foggy, contrast

When people think of places that exemplify the holidays New York city often comes to mind whether because of movies past or just because many of the morning news programs are filmed in downtown New York city. This past weekend my wife and I returned to Manhattan to take in all that New York had to offer for the holidays. As always it proved to be quite a bit of fun from watching the kids and adults a like being awed by Macy’s Christmas store displays, visiting Rockefeller Center to see the ice skaters and Christmas tree and having a surprise opportunity to photograph Mayor Michael Bloomberg amid TV crews and his security detail.

“Naughty Or Nice”

Looking for their names on the “Naughty or Nice” list

A packed crowd surrounds the Rockefeller Christmas Tree and Ice Skating Rink. This year had more traffic restrictions for pedestrians and it was extremely chaotic and difficult to move around. This also marked the first year of the Rockefeller Christmas Tree being “green”. LED lights were used rather than traditional bulbs and part of the power to the tree was provided via solar panels on top of Rockefeller Center. Most notably there were no snowflake projections on the buildings as there were last year. (see New York Christmas) LED lights definitely gave the tree a different look.

Common Cents Penny Harvest Field and Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree
Up close and personal with over $1,000,000 in change in the heart of Rockefeller Center. In the background is the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.
commoncents.org

This year a huge field of change was in Rockefeller Center as part of a charity fund raiser to help local communities. All this change was gathered by local students.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg being interviewed by a local television news crew about the Common Cents charity event in Macy’s flagship store.

More of Mayor Michael Bloomberg being interviewed by a local television news crew about the Common Cents charity event in Macy’s flagship store.

The full scene of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s television interview about the Common Cents event in Rockefeller Center.

Technorati Tags: New York, NYC, Manhattan, New York City, Macy’s, window display, Common Cents, Penny Harvest, Penny Harvest Field, charity, Christmas, happy holidays, Bloomberg, Mayor Michael Bloomberg

As we near Christmas I thought a winter photo might be in order. Taken in Yosemite National Park, earlier in the year, these trees lack the decorations we’ve come to expect around Christmas time, but natures patterns and textures provide their own rich decoration. Although I’m out of pocket at the moment and am on a shoot before the holidays I thought I would wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

View More Photos of Yosemite National Park …

Technorati Tags: Yosemite, National Park, photo, photography, winter,

Another photo from my Monday photo outing. On the scale of good to bad of the photos I’ve highlighted so far (The Good, The Bad) this is the worst and as such is “the Ugly”. Photographed is a close up of a fallen Oak with fog shrouded living Oaks on a hillside in the distance.

What warrants giving this photo the “Ugly” destination?  Well in concept I liked the idea of creating a juxtaposition of a dead Oak with a living Oak. The problem is the only thing I did right was line up the trees.  In my book my focus point was too far into the frame resulting in the foreground being soft. I used a short focal length that made the subject farthest away look small. Using a longer focal length to compress the scene would have worked best. The fog was of benefit and detriment to this photo. The fog helped provide diffuse light so my subject was evenly lit allowing for greater detail in my foreground subject. On the other hand the fog in combination with the short focal length made it particularly difficult to see my background subject, the living Oak.

All in all even “the Ugly” photo helped me understand how to best tackle a shot like this in the future even if I won’t be making a print of this or adding it to my online portfolio.

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