My favorite photos of 2018

Normally in December of each year I publish a post of my favorite photographs of the year.  This was a difficult task for 2018.  Most of my favorite photos were taken during my Days of Summer photography project.  Truth be told, I spent so much time photographing things from June to September that it seemed like I barely used my camera during the final three months of the year.  So instead of sharing my favorite pictures from the entire year, I am going to share my top ten from the summer (plus a pair of bonus pics from earlier in the year).

This first image is my favorite photograph of 2018.  I photographed this small native bee on a Fragrant Water Lily bloom on July 13th at Mill Pond Park in Mt. Pleasant.  To get all of the details in the flower and bee I deliberately underexposed the image to prevent everything from being washed out by the late morning light.  I would have loved this picture even without the bee, but its presence just makes everything come together for me.

I photographed lots of insects in 2018, not only bees, but also dragonflies, and grasshoppers (among many other species).  Two of my favorite pictures of the year are of dragonflies.  The first of these images took me two days to photograph.   I spotted this Halloween Pennant at Chipp-A-Waters Park on July 31st, but was unable to get close enough to take a picture.  I returned to the park the following day and waited, and waited, and waited for the dragonfly to appear.  When it finally did show up, I was ready.  I shot several pictures that morning, but this is my favorite of the bunch.

This next dragonfly photograph did not take nearly as long to get.  I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.  This Twelve-spotted Skimmer was resting on a grass stem backlighting and a background in deep shadow, this was an instant "winner".  This image was taken at Forest Hill Nature Area on the evening of July 18th.  I never spotted another dragonfly in that same location the rest of the summer.  If it wasn't for the water lily, this would be my favorite photo of the year.

This image of a Carolina Grasshopper was taken at Chipp-A-Waters Park on July 31st.  While dragonflies are almost impossible to approach closely, this grasshopper let me approach so close that I was using my camera at its minimum focal length.  I love all the details on this image especially the mottled camouflage coloring, the veins on the wings, and the small hairs on the legs and thorax.

I spent a lot of time looking up at the sky this year, specifically at the moon.  The next two photographs were taken from my driveway in Alma.  I still am not good at photographing the moon.  It seems that the settings I use for lunar pictures will work during one photo session, but won't the next time I try.  This first picture of a waxing crescent moon was taken on July 17th.

This waxing gibbous moon was photographed two months later on September 17th.  While I can get away with hand-holding my camera for most photos, I always use a tripod when shooting the moon.  It's the only way to get really clear images.

This picture of a rising full moon was taken on June 28th at Forest Hill Nature Area.  I drove home from Iowa earlier that day and despite being tired I wanted to go photograph the moonrise.  I'm glad that I did.  I love the dark indigo sky, the dark line of trees, and the glowing moon perched atop the tallest trees.

In addition to looking up at the sky, I spent a lot of time looking down at things on the ground like this dead American Robin.  I discovered it in the woods at my parents house near Laingsburg, MI on August 18th.  I love all the fine details of the feathers and the varying shades of color, especially the little "pop" of orange in the bottom left corner of the picture.  I took more than a dozen pictures of this bird from varying angle; this on just seems to work best to me eyes.

Clouds remain a favorite subject for me.  I took this image of goldenrod plants and clouds at Forest Hill Nature Area on September 2nd.  I like how the curved lines of the clouds, the trees on the horizon, and the goldenrods all fit together.

Sometimes the clouds are good enough to change your plans.  I photographed this sunset near St. Johns, MI on the last full day of summer (September 21st).  While driving home from Lansing I kept an eye on the approaching sunset and decided that it was going to be good enough to exit the highway and find a place to photograph.  I drove a few miles off the highway and found this field of soy beans with a line of trees about 1/2 mile away.  The clouds and the light just continued to get better as the sun went down.  The best part of the image to me though is how the bean pods are all backlit by the sun and seem to glow.

The final two pictures were not taken during my summer photography project.  The next image dates to June 7th and was photographed in the native pollinator garden at the Saginaw Chippewa Academy. I sometimes like to take pictures from unique perspectives.  When we look at flowers, it's usually from above.  What do they look like when viewed from below?  This picture shows a group of Beardtongue flowers against bright backlit clouds.  I just think it's a pleasing image because it is different.

My final picture is a favorite not because of the quality of the image, but rather for the subject.  It is not all that unusual to see Wood Ducks perched in trees, but until May 7th 2018 I had never been able to get a good photograph.  This pair of ducks at the Chippewa Watershed Conservancy's Audubon Woods Preserve obliged by hanging out long enough for me to not only retrieve my camera from the truck, but also take about a dozen photos.  While I did get closer photos of each bird individually, the drake (left) and hen (right) stayed far apart and this was my favorite image of the pair.  This picture is definitely more about the memory for me than the picture itself.