Top Ten Photos 2011 - #1 A Wrap

It has happened three years in a row. The number one picture is the number one picture the moment I take it. Composition, color, light, subject, detail and beauty – it is all in there. I even had a print made to confirm my screen was not lying to me.

I took over three thousand pictures this past year. All of them while on the hunt for the feeling that comes when you know you got it - perfection. I felt that feeling once and this was the result.

I leave 2011 posting my one moment of perfection.

Top Ten Photos 2011 - #2 Look Again

It is true, the older you get the faster life goes by. But in that blur there are moments of perfect clarity. When this picture surfaced I first passed it over and then I came back to it. I came back to it many times. First, it reminded me of a painting. Next, it made me think of a movie frame. Finally, it made my top ten because the mosaic of messages it delivered. I love looking for what is in focus, the moments of perfect clarity.

Top Ten Photos of 2011 - #3 Smize

This is a picture that makes me want to buy something I already own, that’s why it is a top ten photo. I met a commercial photographer this year and he told me that commercial photography (I wrote this down) “reveals the detail and feel of a product to a customer, while advertising photography usually focuses on status and attractions of the product.” Well….this picture may or may not meet his definition, but my sunglasses look hot sitting on a table. They have more status in this photo then when I wear them. I do believe this is the first object picture ever to make my top ten. Congratulations to one of my favorite accessories.

Top Ten Photos of 2011 - #4 Good Morning

I am a morning person. Not only am I a morning person, but I actually love the morning. The quiet calm of any place before things get moving is my time of day. It is a fresh start, the “Once Upon a Time” time of day when any story can be written.

I have seen many 2011 mornings and many sunrises. Each one has made me pause and appreciate another chance to get life right. Each morning has been a vividly colorful reminder that opportunity does arrive by simply taking the next step.

Out for a run in San Francisco’s Chinatown I remember feeling like I had the city to myself. From the middle of the street I got my own dramatic setting worthy any Chinese Opera. It is the possibility of this type of picturesque pause that makes getting out of bed easier.

The gift morning can deliver.

Top Ten Photos of 2011 - #5 Brimmed

Between the light through hat and the roses I knew this picture would make the finals of 2011 the moment I took it. If she was sipping champagne while wearing a hat among the roses, well then this photo would be number one. Instead, this photo gets the fifth spot. I don’t know if I would enjoy gardening, but any activity taking place in a garden is beautiful. And this lady brought fantastic style to a work hat – gotta love her!

Top Ten Photos of 2011 - #6 In Memory

I admire photojournalists tremendously and Jerome Liebling was one of the greats. This picture made my top ten because it reminded me of his work.

I read an article where he said he takes pictures “to show things that people wouldn’t see unless I was showing them.” That idea speaks to me and inspires what I photograph every time I am looking around. Jerome Liebling died this part year, but he is not forgotten.

Top Ten Photos of 2011 - #7 Smile

This flower is smiling. It is happiness in petal form. The color, the sky, the sunshine beaming this image is pictorial happiness. This flower is the Happy dwarf of nature and when I need a positive boost this picture has been the stevia shot I needed. It made my top ten early in the year because its positive message reinforces the lyric “you'll find that life is still worthwhile-If you just smile.”

Top Ten Photos of 2011 - #8 Romance

The New York Botanical Garden is a romantic place every day, but add mist and the pink blossoms of Spring and it’s downright Jane Austen (Matthew Macfadyen is that you?).

This photo is dreamy and I love that quality. Romance is always picturesque
and this photo made my top ten because accidental romance should be shared.

Top 10 Photos of 2011 - #9 – Display

When in a museum you are part of the art, part of the experience, part of the story being told. Art is not the only show on display. Wondering around the MET one afternoon I first noticed the light in the American wing courtyard, but it was my accidental tableau vivant that made this picture memorable.

I go to museums because I want to think. I go to museums to be surrounded by curiosity. I go to museums to be alone. I go to museums to learn something new. I go to museums to get up close. I go to museums to experience something live. I go to museums to feel. I go to museums to explore. I go to museums to be entertained. I go to museums to get educated. I...look at this picture and I can see people doing all of those things.

Top 10 Pictures of 2011 - #10 Identify

Considering how my love life has played out lucky is not usually the word I would pick to describe it, but this year I felt whole heartedly - I am lucky. Lucky, because no one has ever questioned who I love (“why?”…yes…but never who).

This picture made my top 10 because it celebrates the fantastic community of people who saturated my life this year. People, who seek the same privileges I never fully understood I had; the opportunity of marriage; the joy of building a family; the freedom to love in public.

Be who you are – that is easy to type – very hard to do. I am surrounded by people who take the risk to be who they are. Sometimes, it pays off. Often, it does not. No matter, their call for fairness is loud and proud and I am happy to trumpet it.

How do you identify? I never asked myself that question before the Center, but now, I am thankful I ask it every day.