Favorite Photos, August 1-31. Click for a larger version.
Here are my favorite photos for August. They are largely a mixture of portraits and nature photography. I began this project August 6, 2018 (the story behind this project is here). There isn’t a photo for August 8 since my “favorite photos” folder doesn’t have a single photo taken on that date over the last 30 plus years.
Five 75mm Howitzers. Concert, 1812 Overture. West Point, New York. August 31, 1991.
My favorite image for August 31 comes from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.
Union Officer, Civil War Days, Lamoni, Iowa. August 30, 2014.
As I looked at my favorite images for August 30, I quickly narrowed my choices down to three, but then it got really difficult. I ended up with a landscape image, a portrait, and a wildlife image. I wanted to call it a three way tie, and depending on my mood, I pick a different image out of theses three each time I choose a favorite.
Kansas University “Jayhawks” volleyball players. Las Vegas airport. August 29, 2013.
My favorite photo for August 29 is a result of a chance meeting in the Las Vegas airport. I was on one side of a divider of hanging chains and several members of the University of Kansas Jayhawk volleyball team were eating on the other side of the chains.
Denali and Wonder Lake, Denali National Park, Alaska. August 28, 2000.
My favorite photo for August 28 is from a once in a lifetime trip to Alaska. My wife and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary with a five day cruise on Prince William Sound followed by five days at Camp Denali in Denali National Park.
Sunny, acorn in the park, Columbus, Ohio. August 27, 2015.
My choice for the favorite image for August 27 is a “portrait” of our dog. Sunny and I were walking through the park when I got down really low with my iPhone to capture his paw with a large acorn.
Janae, August 26, 2001.
My favorite image for August 26 was easy to pick. This is our daughter. This photo wins hands down! I bet many of your most favorite images are of people in your family.
Erin in the park. August 25, 2015.
There are over 3400 images in my “favorite photos” folder, but only one image for August 25, this lovely young woman.
Anzhelika. August 24, 2015.
Hmmmm. Which image should I choose as my favorite image for August 24. A beautiful model against a brick wall, or a pair of orange mushrooms?
Ellie-Marie. August 23, 2007. Three photos digitally combined.
My favorite photo for August 23 was another easy choice. I was doing a photo shoot with Ellie Marie at Battelle Riverfront Park in downtown Columbus, Ohio.
Cascade, Barry, and Coxe Glaciers. Barry Arm, Prince William Sound, Alaska.
Picking today’s favorite photo was easy. Out of over 3400 images in my “favorite photos” folder, only one of them was taken on August 22. Even if there had been several photos to choose from, today’s pick would still be a winner.
The sun before totality.
August 21, 2017 was the Great American Eclipse. It was my first total solar eclipse. I made the trip to a great location in Kentucky with not too many people around. Traffic getting there was awful, pretty much like everywhere else along the path of totality. The eclipse was such a stunning experience, visually and photographically, that I could not pick just one favorite photo for the day. But if I was forced to choose just one it would be the image above of the sliver of the part of the sun that is not yet covered by the moon, just a few minutes before totality. I love the sunspots.
So here is a series of images. Click any image to see a larger version.
Sunstar, Turnagain Arm, Alaska.
When I looked at my “favorite photos” folder for August 20, what jumped out at me were images from Alaska and from a dance recital. It was a tough call. I ended up choosing a photo of Turnagain Arm in Alaska.
Long’s Peak and Bear Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park
Fall is a fabulous time of year to visit the national parks. Crowds are usually smaller than in the summer, temperatures are cooler, and some of our national parks have glorious fall colors. With so many to choose from, where should you go? Which national parks will provide the best photographic opportunities in the fall?
Hallett Peak and Flattop Mountain, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
What are the best national parks to photograph in the fall? Here are my choices, grouped by state and province from west to east. This list includes the favorites I have been to, plus the ones I most want to see based on the recommendations of the photographers I trust, like Tim Fitzharris and QT Luong. More about them later.
Our three children. O’Haver Lake, Colorado. August 19, 1990
In my “favorite photos” folder there is only one photo for August 19, but it is very special to me.
Sunny at the bank.
Of the photos I have taken on August 18, two stand out as favorites and this one is my most favorite. I was at the drive through window at the bank. Sunny knows when the plastic canister comes back through the vacuum tube from the teller there will be a doggy treat inside. This is his moment of anticipation. One year ago, August 18, 2017.
Rooster at Strings of Pearls, Elmira, Michigan.
My favorite photos for August 17 were taken one year apart. I was on my way home from a photo workshop in Northern Michigan and spotted a bunch of yard art in the village of Elmira Michigan.
Our three children at O’Haver Lake. August 16, 1979.
Easy choice today. I went through my favorite photos folder and found two photos taken on August 16. This one is far and away my favorite for sentimental reasons.
Northern Lights over Lake Michigan. Lake Michigan Shores Roadside Park.
My August 15 photo was an easy pick. I was leading a photography workshop in northern Michigan. We were about to wrap up a night time field trip when I saw a little bit of a flicker in the northern sky. Northern Lights! So instead of packing up we stayed out longer.
Blue-headed green frog, Northern Michigan. August 14, 2016
My favorite photos for August 14 all came from the same year, 2016. I was leading a photography workshop in Northern Michigan and we were out on an evening field trip. It turned out to be a great evening for photography, so it was hard to pick THE favorite photo for the day.
John and Melissa on the trail up Flattop Mountain. Longs Peak in the background. Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. Wednesday, August 13, 1969.
When I went looking through my favorite photos folder for photos taken August 13, I found a few photos from August 13, 2016 at a workshop I was leading in Northern Michigan, and just one photo captured with an instamatic camera August 13, 1969. The 1969 photo is the clear prize winner as my favorite August 13 photo.
Group Portrait
All my favorite photos for August 12 were again (August 11 post) from Jeremy Bruskotter and I’s second nature photography workshop at Gibraltar Island for OSU. Out of those photos my most favorite image was the group photo toward the end of the morning field trip. A little Photoshop might have been involved.
When I went looking for my favorite photos for August 11, they were all from the same year. It was my second year leading a nature photography workshop with Jeremy Bruskotter workshop for OSU at Gibraltar island. August 11, 2012.
Some of the digital images in my “favorites photos” folder.
It Began Like This . . .
It all started the morning of August 6, 2018 when I woke up and asked myself, “What is the best photo I have ever taken on August 6?â€Â So I went through my “favorite photos” folder to find all of the photos I had taken on August 6, no matter what year. I found only three photos, all of them portraits. My favorite August 6 image is a head and shoulders portrait of a young woman in a wedding dress. So I posted it. August 7 I did the same thing. I found no photo for August 8. (August is not my favorite photo month.) August 9 I found three photos to pick from and posted my favorite. What started as a one time thing has become a regular thing.
Sarah.
As part of this ongoing series, I went looking through my folder of favorite photos for images taken August 10. I found a sunset photo of Lake Erie from August 10, 2003, and photos of Sarah taken August 10, 2006. While the sunset photo was nice, the photos of Sarah are much more important to me. Sarah is the first professional model I had the privilege of working with, and it was the first of several photo shoots we worked on together. So my all time favorite August 10 photo is this portrait of Sarah.
Kristin
Kristin is my best “August 9” photo. This was a fairly easy pick. My only other August 9 option is an image of the sun, but I will post a favorite sun image from the August 21, 2017 eclipse when we get to that date.
No best photo today. I have a folder of over 3400 of my favorite photos that were taken over the last 30 plus years. Not one of them was taken on August 8. August is not my favorite month for taking photos.
Sunny
It all started yesterday when I woke up wondering, “What is the best photo I have ever taken on August 6?â€Â So this morning I went looking for my best photo taken on August 7.
Sarah, Worthington Ohio. August 6, 2003.
I woke up this morning with this curious question on my mind: “What is the best photo I have ever taken on August 6?” Continue reading