Fighting off a holiday season bug has me behind schedule on a number of year end projects, like the annual review of my photos from the year and posting of my favorite photos from 2017. This is now the 11th year I’ve been doing this as part of Jim Goldstein’s year end blog project and I’m grateful that Jim continues this tradition. You can also see my past yearly favorites, going back to 2007, in the blog archive.
2017 was a mixed year for me. Many photography ambitions were prioritized lower as I transitioned between day jobs. Meanwhile, finding the time to spend in the digital darkroom is becoming harder as the kids are getting older and most evenings are spent working on homework and bedtime reading. But a few photos came out of the year, and this is my list of personal favorites in chronological order.
All the below photos are available within the archive where Art Prints can be purchased and stock image licensing is available. Just click through on the photos below.
Photo #1
Bear Creek cuts through snow covered alpine meadow in Bear Valley, California.
Nothing starts off the new year like fresh snow in the Mountains. We had a number of trips up to the mountains to build the kid’s skiing muscles. This was taken the morning after a recent storm.
Photo #2
Garden Party installation from 2017 Bouquets to Art at the de Young Museum, San Francisco.
Again in 2017 I photographed Bouquet to Art at the De Young Museum. There were two pieces that most stood out to me for how they seemed to augment and expand on their corresponding piece of artwork.
Photo #3
City College of San Francisco (Jenny Tabarracci) installation from 2017 Bouquets to Art at the de Young Museum, San Francisco.
Photo #4
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, James R. Browning building Courtroom Four in San Francisco, California.
One special photography trip from this past year was getting the chance to photograph the historic James R. Browning building which houses the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. Having a day to wander the building while court was out of session was an amazing treat. Thanks to a connection with the court archivist, my friends and I had time to fully capture the majesty of this historic building in exchange for helping to update the photo archive.
Photo #5
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, James R. Browning building Courtroom One in San Francisco, California.
One of the fun facts of Courtroom One is that there is an historical artifact in the marble of the top most bench. Right between the middle two chairs on the second row is a patched area of mosaic from back in the 1940’s (I think) when someone snuck a pistol into a court hearing and eventually tried to take a shot at one of the judges. You can clearly make out where the bullet finally lodged in the bench after ricocheting off a wall. Luckily the bailiffs at that time prevent anyone from getting hurt.
Photo #6
Seagulls and Pelicans cover Pescadero State Beach, Pescadero, California.
While visiting the coast south of Half Moon Bay with out of town family, we stumbled across an upwelling in the ocean which had grey whales feeding just off short, and literally millions of sea birds either out on the ocean or taking over the beach. This is just a small sample of the quarter mile beach that was full of seagulls and pelicans.
Photo #7
Male Deer wading in a lily pond at Point Reyes National Seashore in California.
Labor Day weekend was unusually hot for the Bay Area. To escape the 115 degree F temperatures at home, the family and I headed up to Point Reyes in hopes of cooler temperatures. While standing with my feet in the 60 degree F Pacific Ocean, the air was still 75 degrees F at my waist. And 15 feet up the beach from the water it was 90 degrees in our shade tent! No wonder even the deer in Point Reyes were trying to keep cool, like this guy hanging out in a lily pond.
Photo #8
Black and white abstract of Financial District in San Francisco, CA.
2017 found me starting a new day job, with a side perk of having an office downtown San Francisco again. Luckily for all of us in the office, the break room has the largest windows…facing Market Street!
Photo #9
Black and white westward view down Market Street from Financial District in San Francisco, CA.
Photo #10
Statue at Southwest entrance of Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain.
2017 found me traveling to a few new international destinations for work. First was Barcelona, Spain where I spent most of my time at a trade show, but used my free afternoon to walk around Barcelona and knock an item off my photography bucket list, the Sagrada Familia is something I wanted to photograph since I first heard about it. I’ll have to go back to visit the inside, but I was able to capture a number of great detail shots of the exterior, like this one of the statue of Jesus (I presume) at the Southwest entrance to the Basilica. If you’re not familiar with Basilica de la Sagrada Familia, it has been under construction for the past 135 years and is anticipated to be complete in 2026 (which is actually record time for a Basilica of this size). Watch this amazing digital rendition of what the final building will look like.
Photo #11
Edifici Port de Barcelona in black and white at night, Barcelona, Spain.
While in Barcelona I was able to photograph down near the port one evening after dinner, which in Spain means near midnight. I just loved how this photo turned out in Black and White, especially since the building was mostly lit by orange phosphorous street lights.
Photo #12
Aerial view of South San Francisco with San Francisco and Bay Bridge in distance.
I am continuing my tradition of taking the window seat on my flights, just to take pictures. On a recent flight to South Korea, we flew out of a runway at SFO I’m not used to. And I got some wonderful views of San Francisco as we ascended.
Photo #13
Aerial View of San Francisco from a few miles west of the city over the Pacific Ocean.
This just feels like a 1950’s style post card, except for all the tall buildings in downtown San Francisco. You can clearly see the new Salesforce Tower standing out as the tallest.
Photo #14
Pacific Ocean, An Hour West of San Francisco.
An hour west of San Francisco on a flight back from South Korea, and the person sitting next to me was wondering “what the heck is that guy taking pictures of ?”…it was this abstract of the sun filtering through the clouds and reflecting off the calm Pacific.
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Thanks for making it all the way through this year’s favorites! Please leave a comment and let me know which of my favorites is one of yours as well. If you enjoyed these photos, please tell your friend by sharing this within your social network.
I hope 2018 to be a wonderful, healthy, and successful year for all of us and full of many more photographic moments worth sharing. Happy New Year!
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