My Favorite Photographs of 2016

Another year, another ten thousand photographs. Seriously, I took that many. Between my iPhone, my DSLR and my mirrorless (the same little camera that traveled with me to Colombia), I took about ten thousand photographs. Not all of them were good. Maybe one or two were great. However, there were several that are my favorites because of the time and place where I took them, or what they capture, or just what they mean.

So here are my top 5 favorite photographs of 2016. I hope you like them.

#5: The Bubble at Piazza del Popolo

My wife and I went to Italy back in march, and we walked all over Rome. When we got to the Piazza del Popolo (Plaza of the People, I think), we saw a group of children playing with bubbles. One of those bubbles made its way upwards, and I took a picture of it. It wasn’t until I went to process the images that I saw the bubble picture, and that there was a very nice reflection of the piazza in the bubble.

#4: Sunset at High Rock

There’s a spot close to Waynesboro, PA, where you can go up and overlook the valley below. I went up there this summer to get some panoramic shots and found myself photographing the most beautiful sunset.

#3: Dad’s Scar

My father developed colon cancer early this year, and he had surgery to remove several tumors from his large intestine. The surgery happened on a Thursday and he was home by Sunday. By Monday, he was getting his hair cut. A week after the surgery, he was up and around and feeling great. I took this picture of him that day. He told me to share that picture to show what cancer can do and to remind people to get screened early and often. He didn’t, and all of this could have been avoided.

#2: The Little Cat

A couple of months after we started dating, my wife and I adopted this little cat. That was ten years ago. The little cat passed away a few months ago from cancer. It was rough to let her go, especially because we had her all the time we’ve been together. I took this picture of her on my birthday as she sat in her “Russian hat” configuration as she often did when it was cold. We miss her dearly.

#1: Rays of Sun

I went for a drive shortly after a summer rain. You could see the steam rising from the road. As I drove through a tree-lined section of road, the sun was coming through the branches just right so that the light rays were showing against the steam. The reason why it’s my favorite is that it symbolizes life pretty well… There’s these dark places we drive through because we know there’s sunshine just around the bend.

So those are my favorites for 2016. There were a ton more that I would choose, frankly.

2016 is almost over, and I cannot wait for 2017.