Favorite Photos of 2012

Year in Review-My favorite Photographs

It has become a tradition over the past few years, to take a look back at images I've made during the last 12 months and pull out and revisit some of my favorites.  Sometimes distance in time changes my perspective on a photograph-some I love more, some fall off a bit.  I could be very formal here and pick one per month, but these are my rules and I'll just select my favorites from the past year and be okay with that.

Sunset on the Reed Farm

I start with a sunset?  Well, yes.  I'm not really a sunset shooter, whatever that is, but I'll get suckered in from time to time if there is something different.  This one was from last winter, barely a crust of snow on the ground and I was out with the lab on a fatbike ride.  The sunset this night was so intense I didn't dare think about sliding the saturation over-if anything, turning it down!  The blue and orange of this evening was almost fake and I had to make a picture of it.

Growlers Snowbike Race-Bearpaw Inn

A long snowy drive took me to White Lake Wisconsin last winter to shoot a snowbike race at the Bear Paw Inn.  Fresh snow and a sunny winter day made this a great day to be in the woods.  The fat bikes had the singletrack ribbon packed and smooth and I even had to do a lap to join in the fun.

Snow Rain and Willow

There were rare occasions when we did have snow last year. On this night it was a sleety snow coming down in sheets making for an interesting image.  I always enjoy something I haven't seen before and was lucky enough to have a camera at the ready.

Centered Polar Plunge Girl

 Polar plunges are target rich photography environments and I always try to attend one when I can-as a photographer!  Plungers hitting the freezing water will almost always yield interesting expressions.

Jeff's Beard

Jeff is a Special Olympian and top plunge fun raiser.  He had a great "entering the water" shot, but I liked this portrait of him better.

Crusty Fatbike Ride

I call this post "my Favorites" of the year, not the "best-of" (as in photographs) because I didn't want to judge on strictly photographic rules.  Shadow pictures can be cliché, but I just plain liked this one-good texture, not a bad subject and a time and place I enjoyed.

Wedges Creek Ride

 Even Ansel Adams applied tricks in the darkroom, so I didn't feel too bad about using a yellowing filter on this shot. I liked the low angle perspective having my small camera balancing on a river rock brought to this scene.

Self Portrait with Coffee

This photograph was taken while sitting in a blind overlooking a marsh on a waterfowl shoot.  Darkness hadn't yet lifted, so in the quiet I waited and enjoyed a cup of coffee.  Quiet and coffee can be so good sometimes.

Hoodie Drake

Of all the waterfowl shots I managed, this may have been my favorite.  Not loud splashy color like Wood Ducks, but more subtle brown and gold.  he was resting or contemplating his next move on another male and female who were out of frame.

Honkers in Spring Buds

Sometimes you get lucky.  I was out on a spring turkey hunt on a nearby farm and a pair of canadian geese got up-my gun was shouldered and I had a long lens handy and kept firing as they circled and flew off.  I was surprised how crisp the birds turned out while panning with them.  A keeper image for me this year.

Woodies

I had a lot of "Spashy Woodies" pics, but liked this one with the reflection in the water.  Maybe not the best composition, but it's at least something to show for hours in the blind.

Young Buck

Way too bright, but when you shoot into the early morning sun...it happens.  This young buck approached up wind of me, couldn't quite figure out what I was and circled a few times offering this pose in the clover field.  Spring is here.

Seca

Maybe the most exciting experience I had last summer was tagging along on a wolf monitoring project.  I'd tracked a bunch during the winter and followed several while biking, but this was a chance to be hands on and personal.  Great care is taken in handling the animal and tons of data is recorded before attaching a collar and sending him on his way.  6 months later, he's still out there sending signals.

Summer-Sturtz Prairie

I love seeing the prairie change throughout the year-always beautiful in so many ways.  The flowers blooming isn't a bad time to wander around with a camera.  Toss in a sunrise and some ground fog and one might just make a good picture.

Levis Photo Shoot

An advertising firm selected "my" trail as the backdrop for a photoshoot of Arctic cat ATVs and gave me a chance to see the "pros" in action.  It was fun to see them work and some of their techniques and they go about capturing the very best of a location.

Biker Dudes

Nothing about photography-just a travel picture of two friends on the road.

Morning in the Bog

Quiet Fog

Grand landscapes are fine, but sometimes I think I like the smaller ones, the quieter places and it  doesn't get much more peaceful than a northern Wisconsin floating bog lake.

UP River and Falls

So from "quiet" to loud and the rush of water on the Presque Isle River in Northern Michigan-yeah, the rock is pretty amazing and it's almost overwhelming to find the right things to shoot.

Fire Chief

A cool (ha) visual effect of a long lens flattening distance.  The Neillsville Fire Chief stand watch over a prairie fire, keeping an eye on the burn progress.

Fireman Chuck

One of the volunteer fireman at the prairie fire-and the stories he can tell....and did.

Colored Tunnel

Fall, my favorite time of year-almost too much color?  I'll take it-too bad one can't capture the smell as well-this was a perfect fall day with shotgun cradled and black lab scouring cover for birds.

Quick Drink

Tom and Olds

I did a photoshoot of an old car for my friend Tom.  He's a car and race nut, so the location on an old abandoned race track in Black River Falls was perfect.  The native grasses are trying to reclaim it and are pretty successful.

Shyla

The annual homecoming parade will always find me with camera in hand.  of the hundreds of photographs I took, I kept coming back to this one-a happy innocent kindergartner....as they should be.

Northfield Sunset

Not a grand sunset like my first picture, but a subtle one looking up across a tall grass prairie.  Pretty darn simple, but for an unknown reason to me, it's a favorite.

Lake Placid Birch

I'm not sure this will pass the test of time or not, but something in me saw a picture as I walked by this tree.  It generated some discussion on a facebook page-good banter and feedback to be sure.  I know Douglas Beasley had some influence on me or I'd walk past such a simple, not-quite perfect subject.

So I went was over my year limit here in selecting these photographs-oh well, they are images I enjoy and for me, that is the reason for making pictures...not money, certainly not fame but rather the sheer satisfaction of seeing things maybe others miss or at the least, seeing something that captures my attention and I find interesting.

Faces of the Parade

It's become another yearly thing, photographing the Neillsville Homecoming parade.....  Just like the first day of school, I like to have the camera at the ready for what I know will be some great photographic opportunities-as I like to say, a "target rich environment."   The expressions of the kids, happy to be at the parade, maybe happier to be out of school early, are usually priceless.  Walking down the street from school, with camera and long lens in hand, I'm everyones best friend it seems.  There are plenty of "smile, say cheese" shots (which usually are the worst) but my favorites are the casual and documentary style ones of the spectators watching the parade in anticipation.  Sometimes along the way, I manage some nice portraits as well....surprises in a way, but ones I like because I know just about every student sitting on the curb.

Of course, my best are always the images that I feel catch the personality of the person, and even though most of them are young, by now, a few years in my classroom, I see that personality come out frequently.  Great kids, and as always, fun for me to photograph.

Colour

Fall colour?  I always liked that spelling and I do have French blood in me, so there it is.  It was time-time to get out and make some fall pictures, not always an easy thing to do because haven't they all been done before?  So many times I resist those brilliant trees, the cascading leaves and the carpet of color underfoot because someone else has already made those photographs better than I.

I decided-no matter.....the camera would be tucked into my game vest while the shotgun was cradled in my arm and the lab running around in search of all good things only dogs can smell.  Yeah, I called it hunting this afternoon, but maybe not for birds, I just needed to be in the woods.  Tenley had just gotten married and the past couple days have been like a wedding hangover-so much effort and emotion had been spent that now some quiet reflective time was needed.  Maybe that was what I really was hunting for.  

Fall is my favorite time of year by far-it starts when the crows and blue jays become much more vocal in late August and the early ferns start turning yellow.  Something in me stirs, to use a cliche, (but true) and I look forward to the change of seasons.  It's a bit frantic in a way, for autumn is short and there are so many things pulling me every direction that I love to do and experience then.  The sight of full blown color, the smell which I wish one could bottle and the sound of shuffled leaves or flushed birds cures any and all things that stress a daily life.  So that is why the camera shot many more things than the gun and even when the game bag was empty, it couldn't have been a more successful hunt.  I hit the shutter with no regard for what anyone else may have ever taken a picture of-I was shooting for myself and what I liked.  I enjoyed the result, even if I'm the only one who ever sees these images- they are a gentle reminder that sometimes I just have to make pictures for myself, for no other reason and be okay with it.  These are my favorites from a couple days of wandering in the forest.

Gold Vault

Shadowland

Yellow Crown

Sandy Lane

Wedges Creek High Bank

Arboretum Maple

Trickle Creek in Arboretum

Fall Nature-Sarah

One of the assignments we have in class is to take advantage of the fall colors we have in the area.  This fall, has been just about as good as it gets and this week the colors are brilliant to be sure.

Sarah, a student in class, captured this photo south west of town in the ghost town of Columbia, once a thriving frontier town built upon the lumber industry.  Columbia served 2000 surrounding residents during it's late 1800's heyday and it's only the railroads decision to build their train stop in Neillsville, that led to Columbia's demise.  This RR bridge  is one of the few remnants of the village along with long forgotten native stone foundations scattered in the forest.

I pass by the bridge 100s of times a year and enjoy how it changes through the year, but this image is one of the most stunning I've seen and appreciate Sarah making the picture this early morning on her way to school.  The color, the reflection in the water and the leading line formed by Wedges Creek are all perfect in making this an outstanding photograph.  I wonder what this little town was like back in the heyday....I almost hear the steam engine now....

A New Year-First Day

Mr. O'Leary's 5th Graders

It's become a tradition for me-first day of school, in fact, first morning of the first day, I grab a camera, and stroll around the hall as kids are excitedly headed to their rooms.  At no other day in the school year, will they be settled into their desks so early...and so quietly.  Amazing.  For one day anyway.  I pop into some of the rooms and make a few pictures, maybe catch a teary parent in the hall of the younger ones and try not to miss the early childhood class as the "walking backpacks" go by holding the hands of a new teacher or aide. 

The window of opportunity is pretty short lived to get these shots, for by afternoon, and the usual sweltering temps inside the building this time of year, make the excitement of this first day, all but melt away to some degree.  In any regard, I love catching the smiles quickly for a few minutes, then head to my room to engage the silent high school students as they file into my class.  Not quite the same looks on their faces.

Miss Luebke and Friends

New Smelly Markers

Not-So-Shy

Ever Smilin Abby

Essential Supplies

Classroom Window Light

Not-So Excited to be Here

"I'm Ready!"