My Favorite Photos of 2011

End of another year and time for my annual ritual of reviewing my 2011 photos and picking my favorites from the year.  It’s always interesting to reflect on your year’s work in this way. 2011 was a year of small burst of time in the field and even smaller bursts of time to process photos as I’ve tried to put the camera down to enjoy the first year with my son (more on that in my next post).  Thus, some of these photos have only recently made it into the public photo archive.  Other’s were posted earlier in the year and I’ve included links to the story behind the photo.

Each of my 12 favorites below became a favorite as it represents a special moment, unique scene, or most successful translation of what I saw in my mind’s eye into the final photo as well as an attempt to show a wider range of photographic subject matter.  Enjoy!

(You can also review my past favorites from 201020092008, and 2007)

Dawn Reflections at Quail Lake in Southern California's Angels National Forest.

Dawn Reflections at Quail Lake in Southern California’s Angels National Forest.

A sidewalk winds off toward the distant rising sun at Keys View, Joshua Tree National Park, California.

A sidewalk winds off toward the distant rising sun at Keys View, Joshua Tree National Park, California.

 

Breaking Light & Storm Cloud near California-Nevada Border

Breaking Light & Storm Cloud near California-Nevada Border

Read the backstory for the above photo

View of Petroglyph Canyon out of cave entrance at Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada.

View of Petroglyph Canyon out of cave entrance at Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada.

 

 

Bare Fremont Cottonwood trees are illuminated along the Virgin River in Zion Canyon at Zion National Park, Utah.

Bare Fremont Cottonwood trees are illuminated along the Virgin River in Zion Canyon at Zion National Park, Utah.

 

Sunsets on The Sentinel and The East Temple as seen from the entrance to Zion Canyon in winter at Zion National Park, Utah.

Sunsets on The Sentinel and The East Temple as seen from the entrance to Zion Canyon in winter at Zion National Park, Utah.

 

Pedestrians and Palm Tree seen through window at de Young Museum in San Francisco, California.

Pedestrians and Palm Tree seen through window at de Young Museum in San Francisco, California.

 

Visitors at the de Young Museum in San Francisco resting on bench enjoying view from Murals Room.

Visitors at the de Young Museum in San Francisco resting on bench enjoying view from Murals Room.

 

Volcanic Gas Plume from Halema'uma'u Crater in Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, Kona, Hawai'i.

Volcanic Gas Plume from Halema’uma’u Crater in Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, Kona, Hawai’i.

Read the backstory for the above photo

Little boy and adult man standing side by side watching a carousel at Tilden Regional Park in Berkeley, California.

Little boy and adult man standing side by side watching a carousel at Tilden Regional Park in Berkeley, California.

Read the backstory for the above photo

A water soaked log witnesses sunset streaming through a sea arch at Pfeiffer Beach, Big Sur, California.

A water soaked log witnesses sunset streaming through a sea arch at Pfeiffer Beach, Big Sur, California.

 

Golden light from sunset creates glowing doorway through sea arch in cliff at Pfeiffer Beach, Big Sur, California.

Golden light from sunset creates glowing doorway through sea arch in cliff at Pfeiffer Beach, Big Sur, California.

 

If any of the above photos spoke to you as well, you can click on the photo to order Art Prints.  As always, I appreciate your support of my photography!

Note: this yearly ritual started thanks to my friend Jim Goldstein and his anual Your Best Photos of the Year blog project.  Huge thanks to Jim for his continued time and effort to run this blog project year after year!  If you found this posting via his project, please take the time to subscribe to the blog feed or follow me on your social network of choice (see links in the sidebar).

18 Replies to “My Favorite Photos of 2011”

  1. Excellent collection of images, Greg! Its hard to pick a favorite, but I like your Keys View sunrise quite a lot, as well as the cottonwoods in Zion…very lovely!

    Hope your 2012 is off to a great start!

    -Greg

    [Reply]

    latoga Reply:

    @Greg Russell, Thanks, the cottonwoods in Zion was a recent add…had some downtime over the holidays that I used to do a last minute push on 2011 photo processing! 🙂

    Hope you have a great 2012!

    [Reply]

  2. Nice Greg. I’m impressed you managed to fit all this in addition to becoming a first-time parent. That DeYoung Museum window abstract is cool!

    [Reply]

    latoga Reply:

    @Richard Wong, The hardest part over 2011 with becoming a first time parent wasn’t the photo taking…it was the photo processing and publishing! Plenty of pictures were taken, just fewer trips to distant places to take them. (Just like becoming a new home owner…you just get more sleep after buying a house 😀 )

    [Reply]

  3. Nice set Greg. Love those Pfeiffer Beach shots and the soft tones of the Keys sunrise.

    [Reply]

    latoga Reply:

    @Mark,

    Thanks Mark! The Pfeiffer Beach were last minute additions from trips just in the past few weeks. The soft tones of Keys sunrise doesn’t really portray the cold winter wind that was blowing that morning…

    [Reply]

  4. Very nice set of images, Greg! My personal favourite is Sunset through Big Sur Portal. I’m just getting back into the habit of taking a camera with me on days out after what seems like a decade, so with a little luck I’ll be asking for your comments about some of my pictures in the not-too-distant future.

    Very best wishes for 2012

    [Reply]

    latoga Reply:

    @Clayton Hodson, Thanks! Keep an eye out for more Big Sur Portal photos in the near future. Until then, dust off that camera and send me some photos of UK! 🙂

    [Reply]

  5. This is a strong set of images. My favorites are the de Young abstract and Petroglyph Canyon Valley of Fire. I also like how clean and simple, yet rich the Quail Lake image is.

    [Reply]

    latoga Reply:

    @David Leland Hyde,

    Appreciate you stopping by and commenting. Seems like year after year I end up with a diverse set of favorites, 2011 was no different.

    [Reply]

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