looking back at 2008

Here on New Year’s Day 2009, I decided I’d spend some time going through my Flickr photostream and take a (photographic) look back at this past year. Doing this was like scrolling back through a journal of all that I’d done in 2008. After that, I was going to use this blog post to write about some of my favorite (photographic) memories of the year that has just ended, but I actually found it impossible to single out “favorites.” Each photograph—whether I shot it in my apartment, or in Rocky Mountain National Park, or in downtown Denver—represents an experience that I treasure.

I shared some of those experiences with others (like the very cool Jeep ride with Chris & Otis), some were solitary pursuits (like the late autumn evening when I had Mills Lake & the stunning vista of upper Glacier Gorge all to myself), and some I got to share with my wife (like a summer drive up to Vail, looking for fields of wildflowers).

Some photographs were technically demanding (shooting a vase of roses by candlelight)… some were spur-of-the-moment grabs with my point&shoot (like the shot of the Boulder Book Store, which continually amazes me by remaining one of my top ten most viewed photos on Flickr)… some were shot in sub-zero temps while I was bundled up like an eskimo & some were shot in the middle of summer when I was so hot all I wanted to do was jump in a pool to cool off… some required hikes of miles & miles through rugged terrain to get to the spot I wanted to photograph, and some I got by using desk lamps & poster board to set-up a little home studio in my living room.

One of the definite (photographic) highlights of 2008 was my trip to Moab, Utah. I had fun photographing in the area, especially in Arches National Park. I’d like to take one trip a year like that, somewhere here out West. Kind of like the Canon ad that says, “My vacation photos are the reason I take vacations.”

I found a lot of joy in my photography in 2008, especially when it was combined with being outdoors, and I look forward to having many wonderful new adventures with my cameras in 2009.

Thanks for reading about stuff I’ve photographed. ~Rich