My Top 10 of 2010

I am being brave and linking up to the You Capture photo challenge over at I Should Be Folding Laundry for the first time! I felt this week's challenge of My Top 10 Photos of 2010 would be a great way to get started and a great way to reflect on the past year.

Even though I'm still shooting with my Sony point & shoot, I made a commitment in 2010 to shoot solely in manual and to never use my flash unless in dire need. I was able to stick to my goals and can't even remember the last time I used any other mode than manual, and I think I only used my flash once. And on top of that, I've started using my manual focus a lot, mostly for creative shots. Not that I am against auto focusing at all, this is just the nature of the beast with my camera at this time. If I want something in particular in or out of focus, I gotta tell my camera what to do.

As I read through Beth's post and a few other posts of those who linked up, I was shocked to learn that she and many others made similar photography commitments this past year....although usually with entirely different cameras. Not that the camera makes the photographer, as Beth also states, but I am feeling that I am very close to maxing out the potential of my current gear. Will 2011 be the year of the dslr for me? I don't know, and I'm not going to dwell on it. I'm just gonna continue to push myself and my poor little camera.

So in no particular order, here are my Top 10 Photos of 2010!

This was one of the first photos of my kids I took on manual settings. When I brought it up on the computer the next day, I was completely sold on shooting manual. I never, ever, ever would have been able to achieve that lighting with auto settings. The photo could be framed a bit better, and I've cropped it for other uses, but I love this one of my sugar-plum fairy.

 

Because I don't have the capability of shooting RAW, only JPEG, I never edit my photos. In fact, I only crop on rare occasions or for particular enlargements. Here is one instance in which a small amount of editing would have helped. I love this photo of my grandma, but the glare on her glasses is just a titch distracting from her warm eyes.

I have wonderful friends who apparently think I take better pictures than what I think I do. You are your own worse critic, right? For the second year in a row, they have given me the challenge and privilege of taking their family pictures. What a girl won't do for a pair of "killer" shoes. Anyway, I am so very happy with this one.

It's a scary thing when others have more confidence in you than you do in yourself. So when someone asked me to take some senior pictures, I put on my big-girl pants and gave it my best shot. This was an oops shot, but I ended up adoring it.

(Disclaimer: In no way am I a professional photographer. If I am compensated at all for these little photo shoots, I leave it up to the other person to decide what these photos are worth to them. I'm still trying to grow my skills and when friends, and friends of friends, and family of friends are willing to let me experiment on them, that's usually enough for me. In return, I get to use the photos however I want.)

Here's another one of my sugar-plum fairy. I realize portraits are best done with both eyes showing, but with kids, you take what you can get. I like how the fence posts line up. Also, it's so rare for me to get good bokeh shots with people in them, especially my rambunctious twins. And I found it a huge personal victory to get both background and foreground bokeh.

My little Jack-Hammer. What more can I say? I could eat him up, and I'm not sure if I would start with his cheeks or his lips.

"A boy is noise with dirt on it."  Not sure who coined that phrase, but they either knew my Jack-Hammer personally or most boys have similar qualities. There's nothing earth shattering about this shot, but I wanted another photo of Jack for this post.....and this is quintessential Jack. Plus, I love the colors. When deciding what photos are "good," I have a hard time separating subject matter from photo quality. And with my kids, subject matter usually takes precedence.

More brave souls here, very brave in fact. This gorgeous couple had a beautiful yet relaxed wedding along the North Shore of Lake Superior. We were thrilled to be invited, and the weather was perfect, leaving unpredictable Superior flawless. This girl was the total opposite of a "bridezilla" and asked me to take their pictures. My only problem was that I had to blow out the sky and water in basically every shot in order to get light on those photogenic faces. But in this particular shot, I like how the "blown out" water looks very eternal.

Taking self portraits is surprisingly exhausting and has even led to injury for me. Here's my favorite self portrait of 2010 that I took for a self portrait photo challenge.

I can't believe that 9 out of the 10 photos I chose were of people! I take pictures of nearly everything. This lovely scene is just out our back door, and I'm thinking this would make a cery nice canvas print.

Whether intentionally or inadvertantly, I set goals for nearly everything I do....which is both a gift and a flaw. I haven't completely chosen a photography goal for this year, yet, but I do wonder what my top 10 will look like a year from now.