Light, Shadow, Form, and Texture

I guess it’s obligatory that everyone stop at the end of the year to reflect on the year past and look ahead to the new year. For me, that process involved looking through the images that I created in 2009 and selecting some of my favorites, which might or might not suggest where I will go in 2010.

All in all I feel that the past year has been quite productive. Several trips into DC, a day in Pittsburgh, the workshop in Maine, and two shoots at the National Cathedral were some of the highlights. Although this selection is predominantly black and white, there are also a few color shots.

Click on the image to see the full "2009 Favorites" gallery.

Aside from some successful images, I learned a lot in the past year. The workshops with Tillman Crane and Bruce Barnbaum were enjoyable and exposed me to some really fine work by the other participants as well as insights from Tillman and Bruce. I’ve worked on refining my digital post processing and printing techniques and I think I have made some good progress on that. I am looking forward to applying that knowledge in the coming year.

Picking one favorite for the year is just about impossible, so I’m not going to try. But one of the images in the “Favorites” collection was a recent color shot that I think  justifies completely my decision a few months ago to purchase a Canon G11 camera. In spite of this being classed as a “point and shoot” amateur camera, it is capable of very nice images. This color shot prints very well up to 16×20.

The reason I highlight this image is that I think it may point to a somewhat different direction for me in the coming year. It’s not that I will stop shooting architecture, but I love the mix of textures and colors in this image and I hope to explore more “nature detail” images in the coming year.

So that’s it for 2009. I’m looking forward to 2010 and I hope to have a chance to meet some of you at an exhibit or gallery reception.

For now, here’s wishing everyone a very Happy and Safe New Year.

~ by Rsmith on December 30, 2009.

Posted in Photography