Hard to show anything after these brilliant images. I am giving it a try with very different subjects:
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These were my 2 best images , the first one is a classic Brooklyn Bridge shot from the Manhattan side. The second shot is the Super Moon over Manhattan with a Fireworks show on the Hudson River.
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That dark portrait was an intriguing one. Can’t remember to have seen anything similar before. (Would like it even better with some crop on the right hand side, though.)
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You might want to take a look at this movie:
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The Name of the Rose 
Thank you very much.
All of your images are superb. I would say they would go perfectly in any photo-centric magazine.
My favorite is the elk (or whatever it is) calling out.
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merci beaucoup.
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I like
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It’s always very difficult for me to say which are my “best” pictures. I like many pictures very much, more than I can post here. Others I also find very successful, but something bothers me. Often I can’t say exactly what it is. Maybe these are my “best” pictures?
Anyway, here are five pictures that I like.
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First one, for me
well it looks like 2024 was a bust for me. I put a pretty low number of images in darktable (~130) and apparently I made it out to the desert only once, which is really shit. Even other years where I loaded the same amount of photos into dt, the quality and subject interest was much higher than 2024, I think.
So here’s to 2025!
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Brew yourself a cuppa and settle in, its gonna be a long one.
Well you did say…
YES!
January
I had wanted to take a macro of some colourful toothbrushes but trust me, you don’t want to look too closely at an old toothbrush (shiver). Then I saw the shadow cast above the sink and yup, that’ll do.
February
St Eunans Cathedral, Letterkenny
March
The Long Shed became the subject of a long obsession. There are a few obstacles limiting how far back I could go, cramping my preferred full frontal view. Had to go off to the side to fit it all in.
April
Fake coloured spot. Fun exercise.
May
Photo-bomber. The balls on this guy, just love it.
If the colours look off its long expired, carelessly stored Kodacolor.
June
Incoming! Spent the day at the local cricket grounds. Particularly like his intense expression.
June, a few days later
US Paratrooper, retired. Yeahhh. This gets my years best.
July
I’m feeling a certain Parisian vibe.
Dog walkers are an easy touch, show their dog some love and they’ll do anything for you. Even let you take their photo…
Gave me an idea for a project within a project - Dogs and their Owners Knees. A bit clunky as a title, maybe you can come up with a better name?
August
This gets my other years best.
A motorcycle club had gathered outside a pub. Marquee, beer kegs, stalls, the whole works. How could I not? I’ll tell ya how. Didn’t have a camera…
40km to fetch the camera and a spare roll and 40km back. Then another 40km home for tea.
Who says film photography is expensive?
September
This guys dog was very squirrely and hid behind his legs (knees) refusing to come out.
Oh well. Beards are cool.
October
Bad timing. Just missed the girls on an electric scooter at the top of the steps. Next frame had a head obscure the moon.
November
Now would be a good time to top up your cuppa. Its OK, I’ll wait…
Sorted? Cool.
What better way to calm the nerves after a visit to the dentist than a spot of landscaping. It is on the way home, generally. If you take the scenic route. Figured I could fill the frame with more Errigal if I got a little closer. Further up the road was able to pull into a lay-by and set up. Unfortunately part of the space was taken up with a home heating oil delivery truck. Figured the driver had the same idea and wanted to capture the rarity of Errigal under snow. I managed to exclude the big red truck, got the shot, packed up and was about to drive off till - ‘Hang on, I take people photos now. This is a perfect candidate for People at Work’. Back out of the car, amble over and rap on the door. He’s totally chill, ‘Of course, where do you want me?’
Very simple set-up, him in front of his big red truck and all of that in front of Errigal. Expose, focus, click. Click, click, and to be sure - click, click, click.
Chatting then about life, weather and the merits of various views around Donegal (Dunlewy chapel embraced within the Poisoned Glen takes top spot - zoom in over his left shoulder).
A car pulls up. Enter Drivers boss.
Turns out he wasn’t doing the touristy thing but taking phone photos for the company calendar.
On seeing my ‘professional kit’ Boss Man asks if I could take a few and send them on later that day. ‘Sure, I can do that. Not a problem.’
Close down the aperture, increase the ISO and back up a ways to ensure Errigal is more in focus. Then concentrate on the truck and make the name prominent.
Exchanging details a large denomination note is pressed into my hand, ‘For your efforts.’
So there you go. Within 20 minutes of almost leaving the scene I’ve been commissioned, paid and promised publication.
Its a funny old game.
If photos are made to be seen, I now have one hanging on the fridge door of several households around Croithli, Eileastran and Cill Mhic Reanain.
December
The Celtic Tavern
Boy, did that one ever take a left turn. Cheered me up no end. Thanks again guys.
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That is great…really enjoyed the story to go along with the photos. That calendar deal seemed like, what’s the word…? Something to do with a gift opportunity at a chance time.
Thanks for sharing.
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Inspired from this topic I searched my pictures, but couldn’t find something breathtaking… But something good, I think:
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I think I’ve already posted my best and favorite images from 2024 to [Capture Challenge] Charge your battery and take some photos so I figured I’d throw up a few woulda/coulda/shoulda shots here.
To make sure I didn’t re-post any images from that other thread, I skimmed through the last year on that thread. Folks posted a lot of bangers last year! 
So, in reverse chronological order (for no particular reason)…
This is a different view of a boat abandoned on a roadside, which I did post another image of.
You are a super hero (?)
I find myself wondering what got there first, the boat or the tag on the wall… 
This next one (as well as a barred owl that my wife saw in our yard while I wasn’t home) caused a full-on GAS attack:
I had to crop in pretty hard, and it was a battle to try to retain any image quality. Somehow, I resisted getting that 100-400 mm zoom that I was craving. I may come to regret that in the future, since it was on sale at the time.
When we got back from a vacation in August, I backed off the exposure a bit on a sunset shot with some strong rays, and the result was pretty insane…
But the clouds…ACK! They look like smears of peanut butter, or worse. I’ll probably put this one up as a play raw, once I have enough time on my hands to actually study people’s edits.
My goal with this one was to have the stump in sunlight and the background in shade. Given the characteristics of the location, that will only happen on certain days within a short time window. I haven’t worked out the required vertical angle of the sun yet.
Sure, I could somewhat fake it in editing, but I’m taking it as a personal challenge to get it right in camera. Maybe in 2025…
Anyway.
Truth in advertising…
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Oh the boat and tag are soooo good. A photo I’d have made myself! 
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I’m very pleased with my progress in 2024. Traveling to some very exciting destinations helps, but I’ve also got some nice stuff from around the house.
A bakeapple blooming at sunset in Makkovik, northern Labrador. This was one of the few successes with a manual focus Laowa macro lens. The lens is fine, but I need to work on my manual focus hand-held shots, and get used to higher shutter speeds and higher ISOs!
A premeditated capture of a bumblebee in my neighbours yard. I saw a bunch of bumblebees sleeping in the flowers the previous afternoon, and committed to get out the next morning with my flash, before they warmed up enough to fly away.
I’m working on being a more sociable, engaging photographer, and less of a creeper stealing images from a distance. The results have been very good, both for my images and my subjects I think.
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