Your Top 9 (photos) of '09...

[Anna LeBlanc]

Everyone's pictures are incredibly beautiful.Maybe we could do a calender and donate the profits to the OBS.Anyone think that would be a good idea?


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Anna

[forestgnome]

...this has become a nice tradition for the holiday season

Thanks, everyone for sharing these great images. This is a nice opportunity to reflect on the all the nice moments in the forest this past year.

Sawyer River Trail in January...





nice bull moose in April...






Hobbs, an older bull I've seen for the past few years, and a yearling bull, maybe his son...






"Following Mama", one of my very favorites from the year, a two-week old (rough guess) calf following mama closely as they cross the Swift River. I named this calf "Kezossa" after I saw him a few weeks later, running wildly around in a feild ( it means "too fast" in Abenaki )...






A nice spring scene, this nice young cow moose let me get quite close after being together for a while. Actually, she got close to me. This was a favorite image because I was trying out my new lens, a Sigma 17-70mm. This was at 17mm and it is not cropped...






a nice springtime view from Middle Moat Mountain with rhodora in bloom...






Kezossa, two weeks later, now a month old...











a Bicknell's Thrush on Mt. Moosilaukee, with a beak full bugs that she took back to the nest...






mama loon and her two chicks...






Kezossa at six weeks of age...






This is Big Daddy, my favorite moose. He's probably about 12-15 years old. This was my 6th year in a row seeing him, and I saw him many times this year. This pic is a favorite because it was taken later into summer than I've ever seen him. In mid summer, he changes his daily routines and I never see him again until spring...






mountain heath (rare) on Mt. Jefferson...






I happened upon an injured hiker on Mt. Jefferson. Lots of people showed up to help bring him down, including NH F&G and AVSAR. I assisted carrying him down the summit cone to a spot where the heli could land. The heli was to save us, not the injured hiker. I learned that what they say is true about how difficult it is to carry someone of a mountain. You could EASILY break your leg doing this. It was a very memorable event...






Tama Falls, on the northern slopes of the Northern Presidentials...






juvenile barred owl...






hermit thrush...(a favorite songbird of the forest )...






Jefferson Brook...






One of my favorite hikes of the year was a visit to the Alpine Garden in early August. I remember a know-it-all type hiking guide who asked me my destination. I had popped out of the woods onto the Huntington Ravine Trail, where his group was resting. When I said I was heading for the Alpine Garden for alpine flowers, he proclaimed authoritatively that I was about a month too late for flowers. I smiled and laughed..."oh well, have a nice hike" or something like that, and proceeded. Here are a few of the many flowers I saw on that beautiful day...

bluebells and alpine goldenrod...






painted cups...






Boott's rattlesnake root...






mountain avens...






white throated sparrow...






babay racoon...






Kezossa and his mama browsing early in the morning in late summer...







This was really special. I followed them for about six hours that morning. She settled down for a nap, so I laid down near her, then the kid laid down. After a few minutes, poor tired mama went to sleep. After a few minutes she started to dream, just as a dog does. She was twitching and her eye lids were moving up and down. It was a beautiful moment...






I saw this just before wearing it in the face one morning on a trail...






alpine flora community on Franconia Ridge...









in my favorite habitat ( taken with the self-timer ) ...






classic bull moose in a beaver bog in early autumn...






growing on a dead beech log...






Cloudland Falls in autumn...






I named this yearling bull moose "Richard"...






falling beech leaves on Champney Trail...






probably the biggest rack I've ever seen...






Geminid Meteor shower...






Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all

[KathyC]

Wow, what a great gift those pictures are, thank you so much!! And I know there are so many more....

Side Note: Double check the Richard photo...

[Stets]

I will by glad to give this a shot. (No pun intended).

I am just an amatuer photographer happy to include some of my special moments of this past year.

Thank you Jim for the idea. It made me realize how lucky I have been to be able to have these wonderful adventures with my family.



Enjoy!






The Great Gulf during a three day Presidential Traverse in September







The rest can found at: http://picasaweb.google.com/stetson6...eat=directlink

[Anna LeBlanc]

Patrick thank you for bringing the beautiful world you explore to all of us.I now have a Brake for Moose sticker on my rear window.

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Anna

[mtruman]

What a wonderful idea Jim! The responses so far have been amazing. The pictures from Scott, Anna, Chris, Kevin, Ed, Chris, Patrick and Doug are all beautiful. Too many great ones to pick any favorites - but I'll pick one anyway - Patrick's image of sunlight streaming through the trees on a beautiful winter day on the Sawer River trail. That one was my desktop wallpaper for several months when it was first posted. Now to go through mine. A perfect day to watch the snow and sort through the almost 3000 pics from last year. Lots of great moments to relive (which is the best part of photography).

[JimS]

There have been some great shots so far...I am really enjoying this thread...

This year, though I spent alot of nights up in the mountains, the light rarely happened for me while on designated hiking photo trips. However, I did witness some good light and scenes while not hiking, and thats what is represented here...

In chronological order...My top 9...

Below Zero in Portsmouth Harbor...
I had been scouting this location in southern Maine a few times, waiting for the right conditions. On a morning that dawned -9F at my house, I figured I'd either get sea smoke, or some fun tide ice. This was beyond my expectation...



Sunrise at Ethan Pond...
A nice sky, a still pond and a mountain spotlight greeted me after dawn on the spring outing club trip I ran for the high school. Hard to shoot on these trips...but there's some time to sneak away...



Grass Pink Orchid in June...
I've been after these for a few years. Just an amazing flower that grows in tough to shoot places. I found this one at one of my favorite new places to visit this year...Ponemah Bog in Milford, NH



Morning Mist in Sugar Hill...
Self explanatory...



September Frost at Ponemah Bog...
A third trip to the bog this year...a chilly morning pumped lots of moisture into the air, and great light effects abounded!



Tye-Dyed Hippie Plant...
I know I'm not alone on this forum with my affinity for hobblebush...this was one of the best leaf pairings I've found. Humerously, I found it because I was being 'that guy', taking a phone call in the woods near a waterfall, and moving away from the falls to hear I found this one!



Stillness and Storm, Little Cherry Pond, Jefferson...
On a hike with Ryan for a sunset at Big Cherry Pond, we realized the light wasn't going to happen on the mountains, so we went over to little cherry pond. This place is a gem in itself, but a thunderstorm to the NW, and not a breath of air really made this scene, and whole experience, pretty amazing...



Waiting For Snow...
I was helping a friend move in North Conway for the weekend, and stole away at dawn to a spot I've been meaning to hit for a while. Conditions really came together well!



First Snowfall of the Winter Season...
Close to home...I often overlook the opportunities right in my neighborhood. This is right down the street...after the first snowfall...



Hoping for better light while at elevation this coming year...but I shouldn't complain, as any day out is a good day!!!

[1HappyHiker]

Simply put "WOW"!
What an awesome collection of photos taken by an extremely talented group of photographers on this Forum.

To quote another talented photographer, i.e. Ansel Adams:
"There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs."

And that is exactly what we have posted on this thread, i.e. some REALLY, REALLY "good photographs"!

[mtruman]

Just saw your post on Facebook Jim and decided to come over here to comment. I've been anxiously awaiting your post since you started the thread to see which of the many amazing shots from the last year would be your personal top 9. All I can say is "well chosen". There is no way that I can choose favorites out of these. I'll just reiterate what I've said when I saw each of these for the first time during the year - simply beautiful!

[mtruman]

It was a wonderful journey back through the year in pictures today. We were blessed to have so many great experiences in amazing places. It's pretty hard to pick 9 favorite pictures out of several thousand, but here's the result. Definitely not a consistent set of criteria for the choices. Some are based on the images and some are based on the memories and meaning for me (which is what photography is ultimately about).

#1 - Jake's Inner Puppy Revealed

Jake is getting on in years and a bit creaky in the joints. When it gets cold and snows though he returns to puppyhood. This picture taken on New Year's Day shows that joy bursting forth as he bounds through the first snow of the winter. This one will never find its way onto a gallery wall but it is my favorite picture of the year.



#2 - Frozen Fowler River

Our hiking year started early this year with a trip to Cardigan Lodge the weekend after New Year. It was a spectacular clear, cold weekend following the New Year's Eve snowstorm. The afternoon we arrived we snowshoed along the Fowler River to Welton Falls. The color of the ice on the river was a surreal green that this picture just can't do justice to.




#3 - Easter Sunrise on Naragansett Bay

Our annual Easter Sunrise service on the beach in North Kingstown blessed us with a particularly beautiful morning this year. This one of the pre-dawn light over the bay was my favorite.



#4 - Double Painted Trillium

In May we spent a weekend in NH for the MWO photo show by Patrick and Jim. It was a spectacular weekend for spring wildflowers with every trail in full bloom. This one of a double painted trillium was taken near Mountain Pond after the morning rain.



#5 - Through the Clouds Into the Alpine Garden

For our second Seek the Peak this year our daughter Jamie joined us for her first hike to the summit. This shot shows her hiking into the clouds approaching the Alpine Garden above Lion Head.




#6 - Acadia Sunset

In August we spent a week in Acadia National Park for the third straight summer - one of our favorite places in the world. The sunrises (especially from Cadillac) and sunsets are always spectacular but this one over Somes Harbor was particularly beautiful.



#7 - Bates Cairn on Sargent

I love cairns and look forward to their artistry every time I hike. I particularly love the Bates cairns that are used on the trails in Acadia. Their simple form have a zen-like quality. Most of all their unique form always remind me of my favorite trails. This one is framed against the sky near the summit of Sargent Mountain along my most favorite of all the Acadia trails.



#8 - Ice Feathers on Franconia Ridge

Of all the places in the White Mountains that I love Franconia Ridge is my favorite. Hiking it on a much frostier than usual October day this fall was probably the highlight of our hiking year. This image is of the ice feathers that we encountered on the rocks right after reaching the ridge at Little Haystack.



#9 - Standing on Top of the World

The last image, like the first, isn't here for it's artistic quality. Sometimes pictures are taken simply to preserve our best memories. My days hiking with Natalie invariably produce many of those memories. Here we're standing on Mt Lafayette with the sun breaking through on one of our happiest days this year.



Thanks again Jim for prompting many of us to revisit our year in pictures and relive those experiences. Thanks also to everyone that have shared those memories with the rest of us.

Happy Holidays to everyone. Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a great 2010.