Best of 2021

It has become an rather annual ritual to review the images taken over the year and access how one did. Was I productive? Did I improve in technique? Did I try somethings new? Did I make it to new places? What new things did I learn in terms of post processing.? From this regard I think 2021 was a good year for me as I did try some new things, like getting out at night or early mornings for some longer images. One particular shot in my top ten was an image of Coquille Point taken under a full moon. Another image in this group was taken about an hour before sunrise of a winter storm at Coquille Point again. Included in my favorite 47 images of the year are a number of images, like the one I selected to lead off this blog entry, where I tried to present a different statement.

In the above image, I was my 4 photography friends, members of our Breaking Wind group in South Dakota. One afternoon we visited the Ghost Town of Owanka with its derelict cars, abandoned buildings and old grain silo. I applied the old movie technique of taking a picture during the day and darling it to kind of represents night to the image of a old truck body in front of the wooden grain silo along with a mild application of the Orton effect which kind of saturates the colors with a gaussian blur. I like the effect it renders to the scene.

The image below is of the old ghost town of Scenic also in South Dakota. I used the same effect on it as well

I think there is a tie for my second favorites between the Coquille Point full moon shot and the image I labeled “Dad Duty.” As much as our beach in Bandon is safe with its gradual slopping beach, the ocean is not safe with its rogue waves that seem to keep on coming. Even for the most experienced, we find ourself occasional in life threatening situations, one of which happened to me last year when I though I could get around a point before the next wave came it. As a result, I was up to my waist in water clinking to a rock till the wave receded. As we tell everyone, never turn your back to the ocean. As a parent, it is our job to stand guard for our children and grandchildren.

Let me say something about walking on the Beach in Bandon. When I go for a walk I aways take my camera with me and I cannot remember a time when I did not use it. Even though I’ve walked it hundreds of times, there is always something new. Whether it’s the time of year, time of day, weather, people, tides, plants or wildlife there just seems to be something new or something I had not noticed. I think this speaks about the world we live in. It also speaks volumes to getting out and looking and enjoying it.

In a way, the next image kind of fits into this understanding. One morning a decent size flock of immature pelicans were hold up in Bandon and were congregating on the beach. I was able to get there and capture the following image along with a bunch more.

Next are a couple of images from our trip to South Dakota. In addition to the lead image in my blog post on the Badlands, I also like the following image taken in the late evening

A trail along Spearfish Creek, Black Hills SD

Next I want to talk about the following image of the two old wooden barns from the Palouse, Washington. This image was taken this last fall on my drive to South Dakota on a gray day. Actually, I was driving ahead of a storm system that was following me to SD. Any way, sometimes when I am stuck capturing a subject that I like taking pictures of, like old barns, I may tend to create more of an artistic flair to the image as I did here.

I am a great believer in Flypaper Textures and have almost all of their Flypaper various themes with which to work with. In this image I used the Tempesta layer from their August Painterly set along with a Vignette filter from DXO Nik Collection. In a couple of my other images that you will find in my link to the 42 images I chose as my favorites of the year, several of the other barn images and the one of the two trees also have some Flypaper textures applied to them.

Two old wooden barns in the Palouse WA, off of Fairbanks-Seabury Road.

So my last two images from the ten I chose as a representation of my work for 2021 are two more from Bandon, Oregon. The first is an image taken a little over an hour before sunrise of Coquille Point during one of the Coasts wind storms. I used the Sony 35mm G 1.4, at 1600 ISO at f/4 with a 10 second shutter.

The second image is of Haystack Rock, converted to a Black and White. It is early morning with the sun peaking through and lighting the sea stack, heavy clouds and stormy sea.

Long Exposure of Coquille Point during a wind storm, early morning

Black & White of Haystack Rock, Bandon OR

Please check out all of my favorite images that represent 2021 at Flickr. https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzx28q

Happy New Year to everyone and let’s hope we start putting the pandemic behind us.

How small we are

South Dakota Photo Trip