Each year superb landscape photographer Jim M. Goldstein invites readers of his blog to take part in his best photos of the year project. As you might have guessed from the name this project involves readers of his blog choosing their ten best photographs from the previous year. I decided that this year I should take part too.
I found it incredibly difficult to pick just ten photos from the previous year as all of the photographs I have taken mean something special to me, but ten is the limit so in the end it was just a case of being brutal and making the tough choices.
The photos I have chosen are in the gallery below (in no particular order) and each one links through to a corresponding Flickr page. I am not going to provide descriptions for each of the photographs as I think that photographs should really stand up on their own without requiring descriptions. That said, it is often interesting to know more about a photograph’s location information and technical data so all of that information is available via the individual Flickr pages if you are particularly interested in that stuff.
So after much deliberation here are my top ten choices from the year 2011.
Thank you for taking the time to look at my best of 2011 and I’m very much looking forward to seeing all of the work from the photographers involved in the project.
Wishing you the very best for 2012.
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You may remember a few weeks ago when space shuttle Endeavour blasted off for the final time and the unique photograph captured by Stefanie Gordon who was in a commercial passenger plane at the time. Well that photo isn’t quite as unique today as it once was as Ryan Graff has captured a very similar shot of the final mission for space shuttle Atlantis today.
Images © Ryan Graff/Twitpic
It’s interesting to note than these shots were taken with an iPhone 4. It’s truly wonderful to live in an age where we all have the potential to capture remarkable shots as and when they occur thanks to the ever more capable little cameras in our pockets, travelling with us everywhere we go! It may be a sad time for the future of space travel but it’s also a massively exciting time for photography.
You can read the full story behind these images including some comments from the photographer, Ryan Graff on the Huffington Post article linked below.
From: The Huffington Post
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This stunning photograph of space shuttle Endeavour docked with the International Space Station was taken by Russian astronaut Paolo Nespoli while departing the ISS in a capsule. The photograph was taken on May 23rd, 2011 but has just been released by NASA along with over 30 more shots.
All images © NASA
The images are all absolutely incredible but considering that this was the final mission for space shuttle Endeavour I have a feeling that we’ll be seeing this particular shot appearing across all forms of media for many years to come!
Take a look at all of the 30+ high quality photographs on the NASA website.
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Reuters photojournalist Pak Bea was onboard a flight from Singapore to Jakarta with his family when one of the planes engines exploded.
In the face of adversity and unsure what was about to happen he picked up his camera and instead of becoming hysterical started to take shots of the situation unfolding around him. Fortunately the plane went on the land safely but by all accounts it was an extremely terrifying situation for all of the passengers onboard the plane.
I find it incredible that given the enormity of the situation and being with his wife and children this photographer had the presence of mind to take photographs of the situation. I guess the years spent working as a photojournalist had fine tuned his instincts. I’m not sure photographing the planes descent would have been my top priority if I’m honest but it certainly makes an absolutely fascinating story.
All images © Pak Bea\Reuters
You can see the shots and read the full story on the Reuters blog.
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When I initially saw this video of a photographer’s near miss with lightning I was absolutely shocked.
Admittedly it resulted in a spectacular photo and fortunately everyone was okay on this occasion but I would seriously have to think twice before choosing to stand quite so close to the action in future.
Video of the moment this was taken can be viewed below:
This is one incredibly fortunate photographer. Wow.
Be safe!
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I came across a blog belonging to Ryan Bradford who currently works as a mailman in San Diego. He currently has a wonderful (not to mention rather amusing, from the viewer’s perspective at least) post on his blog entitled All the Dogs Want to Kill Me and as the title suggests it consists of a series of pictures of his various canine adversaries while doing his rounds.
The pictures were all shot using a disposable 400 ISO, 35mm film camera.
All images © Ryan Bradford
You can see all of these photos and more in full size photos over on Ryan’s blog post here.
Happy shooting!
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Twitter always seems to be on top of the latest news stories and has made a number of internet celebrities along the way. Most notably perhaps Janis Krums’ photo of the U.S. plane that crash landed in New York’s Hudson River in January 2009.
Yesterday another internet celebrity was born as Nasa launched the space shuttle Endeavour for the very last time and Stefanie Gordon happened to be descending on her flight from New York to Palm Beach. Using her iPhone she was able to catch the following shot which subsequently went viral:
Image © Stefanie Gordon
Mashable have the full story but here is a brief extract:
When Stefanie Gordon boarded her plane in New York City to visit her parents in Palm Beach, the captain noted there was a chance passengers would witness the space shuttle Endeavour’s last launch during the flight. But she never expected to play a role in documenting it.
As the plane descended toward Palm Beach and the Endeavour’s launch became visible, Gordon pulled out her iPhone and snapped a few photos and a short video. On the ground, she posted one of the photos to her then 1,800 Twitter followers.
In a few hours, she was fielding phone calls from ABC, the BBC and CNBC. She had accumulated about 1,000 new Twitter followers, and she had to turn the @mention push notifications off on her phone so they wouldn’t drain the battery.
from: mashable.com/2011/05/16/endeavour-launch-twitpic/
What an incredible shot and it just goes to show the possibilities that are offered by combining a smartphone with social media and a spot of good fortune!
Happy shooting!
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A couple of months ago I wrote a blog post about the recently discovered but sadly deceased street photographer Vivian Maier (1926-2009). Vivian Maier spent most of her life working as a nanny but spent almost 40 years beginning in the 1950s photographing Chicago during her free time. Her huge body of work was never displayed and was unknown until being discovered after her death. You can read a little more about her here.
Well it turns out that another wonderful street photographer has recently been discovered after his death and from what we know so far this is an equally fascinating story. According to the information available on The Perfect Exposure Gallery website (who are currently exhibiting some of the work) Frank Oscar Larson (1896-1964) lived and worked in Queens NTC in the 1950s and was passionate about street photography. Like Vivian Maier he spent much of his free time wandering around the city with his Rolleiflex camera taking shots of anything that caught his eye, visiting locations such as Chinatown, Hell’s Kitchen, Times Square & Central Park. Frank developed and printed his own film but much of the work was never seen by anyone other than him. Sadly Larson died in 1968 and his work would remain undiscovered until a box of negatives would be discovered some 45 years later.
I have to say that I find this work absolutely fascinating. There is something incredibly compelling about images taken from a completely different era, especially candid shots like this rather than the iconic celebrity and landscape shots we are more used to seeing.
Here are a few examples of his work (more of the work can be seen by following the links below):
All images © Frank Oscar Larson
An exhibition entitled “Reflections of New York” featuring the work of Frank Oscar Larson has just ended at the Perfect Exposure Gallery in LA. The information is still available on the gallery website as well as lots more examples of his work. I would urge you to take a look while it is still available.
Frank Oscar Larson’s website
http://www.franklarsonphotos.com/
Information about the “Reflections of New York” exhibition
http://www.theperfectexposuregallery.com/
Examples of Frank Oscar Larson’s work
http://www.theperfectexposuregallery.com/admin/guide.php?proj=12
Happy shooting!
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On Tuesday 10th May 82 year old veteran photographer Elliot Erwitt is due to receive the Infinity Award for Lifetime Achievement from the International Center of Photography.
They will be exhibiting some of his favourite pictures later in the month and to mark the ocassion his son Misha Erwitt carried out an interview with him which can now be read on the NYTime Lens blog right now along with a selecion of Elliott Erwitt’s iconic shots.
All images © Elliott Erwitt/Magnum Photos
Take a look at the article on the the NYTimes Lens blog for the full interview and gallery.
Happy shooting!
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I came across this YouTube video by Gavin Hoey recently and thought it might be useful for anyone who has ever struggled to get their fold-up reflector back into the tiny carry case (I certainly know I have in the past):
Easy when you know how.
Happy shooting!
