Bakers Dozen

The following are some of my favorite pictures of the past year.  I found it difficult to whittle the thousands of pictures I had taken down to just these few.   I started with the elimination of some entire categories of pictures.  I discounted portrait pictures that I had taken telling myself that picking from those pictures would be like choosing from my kids.  I also decided not to include stained glass window pictures since I had recently posted using some of those pictures.   I also eliminated the bazillion dance and drill team pictures that I had taken of my daughters.  Facebook has been populated with plenty of those pictures throughout the year.  Eliminating those categories of pictures started to make the selection process easier, but the vacation to some of our nation's best national parks certainly complicated things.
So after all of that, here are the pictures I selected, along with some rational as to why I picked each snapshot for this yearly review.

Venus Setting

The first selection is a night time shot from the McDonald Observatory.  It was a great time during our spring break trip with a fun constellation presentation and the many mini observatories open for viewing the vast universe.  The only thing better than taking in the night sky were the tall hot chocolates that to take the bite out of the cold night air.  I picked this particular  shot since it shows Venus setting low in the west sky and the 'Seven Sisters' cluster of stars high above.

While the milky way wasn't as pronounced as we would have liked, the overall observatory experience was a great time during our trip.

Rio Grand at Sunset, Big Bend NP

The origin of this next picture was the discovery of a post card at the Big Bend National Park visitor center.  My daughter wanted to take this iconic shot of the suns reflection off the Rio Grand with the stark desert landscape glowing at the close of the day.  After asking a number of park rangers about the location shown in the post card we found the location which naturally was the southern tip of the park and at the top of a little knob where the Rio Grand makes the 'big bend' with Mexico being on three sides of the hill we were on. 

Of course taking a picture at this southern most outpost of the USA leads to interesting experiences at the US Border Patrol when you roll in late at night on the way back to the hotel.  But that is another story.

Des Monies Sculpture

During the summer went on a business trip to Des Moines Iowa.   A little walk from the hotel was a collection of sculptures in a city park.   I was drawn to this piece of art, a collection of letters in the shape of a human sitting with their knees pulled in tight.  It was so interesting from each angle and the lighting at night added a whole other dimension to the experience.

The next picture is of the Dallas skyline.  May 2015 was a month long deluge after years of a drought in north Texas.  A side benefit of the month long rain was the flooded Trinity River allowing for a reflection of the city at night.  The red, white and blue of the lights are from the Memorial Day themed lights outlining the building and Reunion Tower.  On the far right is the iconic Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge with it's beautiful single arch suspension cable design.

Dallas Skyline Reflection

Centennial Football

 The following is part of my Friday Night Lights picture collection.  I got into the habit of taking pictures of my daughter's drill team and her friends in the Titan band.  This picture is a pregame snapshot of the football team coming out of the smoke tunnel.  Somehow this picture stood out as a particular moment in time, the anticipation of the game to be played.  Or maybe I just liked it.  Either way, this picture was one of my favorites of the fall campaign.

Grand Canyon North Rim

The next picture is from the north rim of the Grand Canyon.  Unlike the south rim, the north rim is has one tenth the number of people which leads to a calmer, quieter experience.  I liked this picture with the window opening of the rock and the sky clouds enhanced by Lightroom only slightly.  The north rim is certainly a place I hope to visit again soon. 

The next picture was a quick snapshot taken of a girl who spotted me taking pictures.  I just loved the composition of the girl against the blue garage door.  I textures of the location seem jump out of the picture.

Bangalore Girl

The next picture I went back and forth as to include it or not.  I ended up including it for a couple reasons.  First I don't believe that I've ever had the feeling of guilt when taking a picture like I had with this snapshot.  The picture of these two women begging had that impact on me.  Truth be told this picture could have been taken in any city, Dallas, Pittsburgh or in this case Bangalore.  The close proximity of poor and well off just seem a lot closer in Bangalore than from here is the sub-burbs.  The other reason I was drawn to this picture is that this one shot captured the two women and the people seeming to pass them by as just another part of their day.  Made me think of the number of homeless I had passed by in my home town over the years.  That compounded my guilty feeling as our driver was navigating through traffic to our brand new, state of the art office building. 

Bangalore Sidewalk Scene

Grand Canyon Sunset

If you want to feel small this next picture introduces you to that concept.  The picture is a trip back to the Grand Canyon.  This past summer marked a fundamental shift in my oldest daughter's view of visiting the national parks.  Here she is greeting the sunset at the close of the day.  The other reason that I liked this picture is that it shows that you can edit out six random people from the picture when they won't take the hint to move when you are taking the original picture.  Some people!

The Watchman Zion  NP

Of all of the national parks the Grand Tetons are my favorite, but Zion is likely my 1A park.  There is a reason that more than 3.6 million people visit Zion NP each year.  Zion includes my favorite hike (the Narrows) not pictured here.  Also contains the hike I couldn't complete (see last August blog post).  What I've included here is a picture of the Watchman mountain kissed by the setting sun and the trees in the foreground hugging the Virgin River for what little water is available in the desert.

Milky Way over Bryce Canyon NP

The next park in our summer visit was Bryce Canyon.  This picture I both like and regret.  I was standing on the rim of the canyon waiting for nightfall and star pictures.  It was then I spotted a photographer, with the largest tripod that I've ever seen lugged over his shoulder, headed down the trail into the canyon.  I watched from the top as he descended and studied where to stop on the switch backs in order to take the ideal picture.  He then setup remote lights that illuminated the hoodoos (hence the light in the foreground).  I should have headed into the canyon right then to take advantage of the situation.  Boy I wish I had, but rather I captured this picture from the rim.  The hoodoos are lit with the Milky Way high above.  It's an ok picture, but not what it could be. 

Due to the experience I created a new rule of photography life.  Rule number 47, if you see a photographer with a gigantic tripod, follow them.

I included this final picture from our hike back down the Angel Landings trail.  Alex was completely spent after scrambling to the top and Sarah was recovering from the disappointment of me not allowing her to hike to the top.  This picture reminds me of how genuinely happy they were.  No phones, no computers, no TV, it was as primitive as can be.  Well, primitive except for the camel back hydration packs, aluminum hiking poles and cool down towels.

 Just the two of them hiking together and talking,  Honest to goodness talking and laughing with each other.  Just a good day.

Angel's Landing Hikers

 So that is my baker's dozen of pictures from last year.  Hope you enjoyed them.