Favorites of 2017

For the past several years I have been creating a collection of my favorite images from the past year.  I made this collection on December 21st, so it does not include any of the great images I have made kayaking on the American River this week! Up to that point I had kept 39,439 images and I probably threw away a few thousand. This is a tough exercise, narrowing down thousands of images to just 25. If you don't believe me, try it with your images. It will make you a better editor.

These are the images that I liked the best, either for the picture themselves, the memories or both. Enjoy my favorite images from 2017 (so far!)

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 Enjoy and let me know what you think!

November 22, 2017

Great Blue Heron in the fog, American River, Sacramento, CA
1/400 sec; f/7.1; ISO 640; 450mm; hand held from a kayak

 
Fog on the river is one of my favorite experiences. The thick gray shroud creates an eerie feeling, that adds a bit of excitement to my morning kayaking. There are mornings when the fog is so thick that I wait a few minutes before I put the kayak on the water because it wouldn't be safe to venture out when I can't see even a few feet in front of me. This morning was like that, so I took a few pictures from shore while waiting for the sun to come up and the fog to lift a little. It was slow in rising, this morning, so even though the fog was still thick I entered the kayak and took off into a section of river, which is like a large lagoon, with just a small opening on the far side, which leads into the main body of the river.  In the lagoon area, there is no current and no obstacles, so I feel safe even though visibility is limited. As I crossed this calm body of water I was able to discern a Great Blue Heron on the far shore.  The fog was slowly rising and the closer I got, the more distinguished my view became.
When in the kayak, I am amazed how close some birds and animals will let me approach. I can usually get much closer than I can, had I approached on land. I was between 10-15 feet from this heron. I was able to take many images, bracketing my compositions, shooting horizontals and verticals, zooming in and out changing the scale of the bird to the background. All in all it was a blast and a great way to start a day!  After about 5-10 minutes, I left the heron to explore more of the river.

This image did not require any special processing.  You are seeing the images straight from the camera with my normal Camera Raw Defaults applied.



Here are a few more from that morning.