2012

Well, it's that time again.  Time to take a look back at 2012 and pick out my favorites from the year.  As it was last year, this is not an easy task.  But first, a few stats from 2012:

I made 158 blog posts last year, down significantly from 227 in 2011.  February had the most with 17 and July had the least with 6.  From a traffic standpoint, April was by far the biggest month with 7,260 visitors and 11,986 page views.  November had the least with 1,207 visits and 1,606 page views.  I had a total of 31,187 visitors and 53,098 page views.  Both numbers up significantly from 2011.  I also crossed the 50,000 visitor mark.

Now, on to the hard part.  Here are my 10 favorites from 2012, in chronological order.

#1
Back in January, while in Las Vegas for a week for work, I took the opportunity to head out to Valley of Fire one evening with some friends.  The rich reds of the rocks combined with the deep blues of the skies made for an amazing backdrop for some light painting.  Hands down, this is my favorite image from the night and possibly my favorite for the year.  Check out this post to see the rest of the images from that night.

#2
Last winter, some friends and I spent some time working out some techniques for high speed flash photography.  Over several sessions, we got things worked out pretty well.  This is one of my favorite images from these sessions.  You can see the entire blog post here

#3
Another image from one of the high speed sessions.  This time with eggs.

#4
Light painting continues to be a favorite of mine.  While in Southern Utah back in April, I took the opportunity to head into Zion National Park late one night to shoot some stars and do a little light painting.  It was a cold, quiet, beautiful night.  I had the place to myself.  You can see the results here.

#5
Back in June, I rounded up a couple of photographer friends that I hadn't shot with in a while and we headed up into the Uinta Mountains for a day of shooting.  The photo ops were plentiful and it made it even better to be with good friends.  You can see the blog post here.

#6
This summer, I had the opportunity to meet my photo club in Washington DC for a few days of shooting.  Like last year, we had a fantastic time together.  We had a lot of fantastic shooting opportunities, but I think the highlight was the National Cathedral.  Thanks to my friend, Chris, I had the opportunity to shoot the cathedral twice.  I got so many fantastic images that I had to split them up into two posts.  You can see them here and here.

#7
Back in October, I rounded up my photo buddies and we headed out to the Sun Tunnels for an overnight adventure of light painting, stars, and the sunrise.  It was a fantastic time and we even brought home some good images.  A few more can be seen here.  The trip wasn't without incident though.  Check out the story of how Ben saved a bunny here.

#8
For most of the year, my job didn't require me to travel too much.  That changed in the last 3-4 months and I found myself traveling quite a bit.  I was reminded how much I enjoy wandering around a big city, looking for images to be made.  This image came from a trip to Dallas, TX.

#9
Ever since my first visit to Chicago a few years ago, it has been one of my favorite places to shoot.  I'm not sure what it is, but I love the feel of downtown Chicago.  This image is out of a post from a recent visit to Chicago.

#10
It wouldn't be right if I concluded this list without including some time lapse work.  Time lapse is new for me this year.  I am fascinated by the mesmerizing results that can be created.  Though I've still got a lot to learn and my techniques need some refining, I'm really pleased with the progress that I've made this year.  You can browse my blog and see a number of posts with various projects that I've been working on, but so far, my favorite is the most recent film that I've completed.  This one was captured out at Locomotive Springs on a cold afternoon just last week.  For the best viewing experience, click here and watch it in HD.

Well, there you have it.  My 10 favorites from 2012.  There are some interesting commonalities among these images.  There were plenty that I had to cut from the list, and maybe some of those may have better deserved a spot on this list but this is where it stands.  So, how did I do?  Are there any that shouldn't be here?  How about any that I missed?  As always, I'm glad to hear from you.