My Best Shots 2011

Another year has come to an end and it’s time to look back on the photos I’ve taken this year and to see which ones have been most liked. This year I’ve started to post also on Google+ but since they do not provide statistics the same way as Flickr does and since I’ve been posting there only since August, I am still relying mostly on Flickr faves on figuring out which photos are the ones that people like the most. ‘Stockholm Sightseeing’ has been one of the most popular of my images this year. I traveled to Stockholm on February and during that trip I managed to catch many icy shots that Flickr explored. Among the other favorites are images called ‘Adrift’ and ‘No Man’s Land’ taken on that same trip. It was very cold last February, with lots of snow and ice, but the light was really nice. I can still remember how my fingers froze when I was taking these photos, but the pictures sure are nice to look at now.

Stockholm Sightseeing

Adrift

No Man’s Land

Joy

Will You Miss Me

Curl Wire

I’ve always liked taking pictures of flowers, but I guess mine aren’t the traditional kind. A blooming hibiscus on the windowsill catching the afternoon glow through the window can really start my imagination and so does a forgotten little flower in the shadow of some huge weeds in a forgotten garden. That is how I found ‘Joy’ and ‘Will You Miss Me’. Another one of my endless sources of inspiration is willow herb. We have plenty of them growing around the country and I can’t get enough of watching how the dried plant curves so eloquently in the late autumn light. Both ‘Love’ and ‘Curlwire’ were also explored on Flickr, and so was ‘Will You Miss Me’.

Love

Windows to the Worlds

Milky Way

Among my other popular images this year are also ‘Windows to the Worlds’ which was taken inside, and that is quite unusual for me. There is an interesting shadow play going on there and the low key mood gives the photo its special character. As for the artistic merits that the painting has in the image, I cannot claim credit for. In fact, there was a time I hesitated whether I should upload the image at all since it does contain much of creativeness that I have nothing to do with. And then there is my ‘One World Waking Up‘ series, the most liked of which are the ‘Milky Way’ shot and the ‘Stardust’ image.

Stardust

By far the most favorite of all my images this year – and ever – has been ‘no swimming today’ which I shot last February in a nearby camping site when we were grilling sausages with my kids. We had just walked across the lake on the ice, I was wearing my snowshoes and my husband skied pulling the kids in a sled. Here‘s a ‘behind the scenes’ photo of that day. The photo has been viewed over a thousand times on Flickr and it has 65 faves. No doubt the title has been part of its success. Coming up with good titles is sometimes very difficult but that time I think I nailed it.

no swimming today

One of my personal favorites that did not make it to the top ten is ‘Tangled & Drained’. Once again my subject is Willow Herb, and I do enjoy it enormously how the photos are so different even though the subject is the same, if you compare ‘Tangled & Drained’ to ‘Love’ and ‘CurlWire’. I guess one of my personal challenges in fine art photography is to create different moods and stories with my photos, even if the subject remains the same.

Tangled & Drained

I had to make some of the images on this post very small to fit them all, but by clicking on the image you’ll get another window with a larger image. Here is a mosaic of my photos that you have liked the best in the year 2011. I’m most grateful for your support! Have a wonderful New Year and lots of success and happiness in the year 2012! Oh, and by the way, this is my 60th blog post – thanks for reading! Here’s my post from last year: My Best Shots 2010.