Best of 2017 - Landscapes

Reflections on an Icy Pond

 Of all the photographs I took in 2017, 365 were featured on my Binford-Bell Studio and here on Creative Journey in the weekly blogs. A much smaller amount were chosen to be printed on canvas and hung for exhibition.

A professional photographer is always sorting in their files and in their minds. I have a folder of photos to be printed, maybe, and every year I go through those 365 already sorted to just be there and pick out my favorite in flowers, landscapes, animals, etc. There are fourteen landscape photographs in the Best of 2017 file. And out of those fourteen I have picked seven. It is to be noted that beyond minimal crops and cloning an annoying feature out of the frame no digital manipulation was utilized for these seven.

A photographer, especially one trained before the digital age, sorts before the photograph is taken. It has been years since I shot film but my mind is still not totally digitally programmed. I still weigh whether a shot is worth it. But I am getting better. If the light is right, in my humble opinion, I will take way more shots than I ultimately allow to remain on my hard drive.

Eagle Nest on the Shore of the Lake

So there are still surprises to be had like the photograph above. I usually go out of my way to shoot Eagle Nest Lake with no buildings in the town on its shore. I took this photo in a 360 turn to be sure I wasn't missing something. 

Reflections on the High Plains

And then the other thing which happens in the sorting process is on a day I went to the Maxwell National Wildlife Refuge I clicked the shutter more than 200 times. Only one or two made it to my photograph per day post because there was so many. So the one above was the best of all those. Tough competition that week.

Dance of the Clouds

 And the black and white photograph on a late afternoon with building clouds could have been placed in the best of black and white images. But that is a tough category this year. There are eleven there and all of them are landscapes. In previous years my black and white treatments were mostly flowers.

Lonesome Dove Country

And the photograph above has been printed on canvas and hangs at Enchanted Circle Brewing in Angel Fire. There is another photograph taken on the same day which also hangs there. There were about six taken as the light changed with the movement of the clouds which could be well included in the best of category.

Snow at Last

The photograph above was taken of the same pond as in the first photograph. Almost from the same place. Just a change of weather and the light. I maintain there isn't a way to take a bad photograph of this bit of landscape. Not unlike Mesa Arch in Canyonlands except far fewer visitors. Needless to say not all the photographs I took of this mountain pond are to be found in the 52 weekly posts here. It maybe has to withstand a tougher scrutiny. And recently looking back at the yearly posts I realize the photos which are included this year are of a higher quality than those in 2012. 

Keep watch for blogs on the best of flowers (that might be two blogs as there are 17). I once didn't take that many photographs of flowers. But then once I also didn't do that many blacks and white treatments. That blog is coming soon too.