In the past, I’ve put my year-end photography summary post here but as of last year, I moved it over to my photoblog instead. If you would like to see my favourite images of 2012, you can find them here.

For a change, I’ve posted my “Best of 2011” post over on the photoblog. Head on over if you would like to take a look at the 10 pictures I consider to be my favourites this year.

Each year, San Francisco-based photographer and blogger Jim Goldstein compiles a list of photographers’ annual “Best Of” posts. Here’s this year’s list. From the sites I’ve looked at so far, it’s been a good year. You can see Jim’s original post here.

1. Best Photos of 2010 by Jim M. Goldstein – JMG-Galleries
2. Best Photos of 2010 by Matthias Wassermann – Mawpix.com
3. Exploring Light -Top Photos 2010 – Chris Moore
4. My Top Ten Photos for 2010 – Tom Varden
5. My Top Ten Photos of 2010 | Craig’s Musings – Craig Vitter
6. Top 10 Photos for 2010 | Dobson Central – Ken Dobson
7. Best Photos of 2010 – Carol Bauer
8. My Best photos from 2010 – Janis Janums
9. My Best Photos of 2010 – David Daylor | SixtyOneNorth.com
10. 2010 – Year In Review – Jon McCormack Photography – Jon McCormack
11. S Zacharias: Best of 2010 – Stephen Zacharias
12. 2010 Photos – David Hernandez
13. Iceman Photography – Top 10 in 2010
14. Best of 2010 – Dave Wilson
15. Skolai Images – Bears of 2010 – Carl Donohue
16. My Best Photos From 2010 – Art Kuntz
17. 2010 in Review – Jay Goodrich
18. My Favourite Images of 2010 – Sven Seebeck
19. Lunchisoptional: Favorites of Year: 2010 Edition — Ken Trout
20. My ten favorite photos of 2010 – Stefan Bäurle
21. Top 10 of 2010 – Behind The Clicks – Mohammad Noman
22. Top Ten Photos Of 2010 – Jed Link
23. 2010 in Review – kRiZ cPEc Photo Blog
24. Chuqui.com- Best Photos 2010 – Chuq Von Rospach
25. My Favorite Photos of 2010 – Ed Rosack
26. 2010 Favorites – Pat Ulrich | Pat Ulrich Photography
27. Favorites of 2010 – Kevin Moore
28. Top 10 of 2010 from BlazingB Photography – Bill Pennington
29. My Favorite Photos of 2010 – Mike Criss
30. My faves from 2010 – Matt Smith
31. My favourite shots of 2010 – Catalin Marin | Momentary Awe
32. 2010 a Year in Review, My Top 10 Memorable/Favorite shots – Mike Criswell
33. Craig Ferguson Images – A Year In Photos – Craig Ferguson
34. Top 50 Images from 2010 and Goal Setting – Mike Cavaroc
35. Jim’s Photography – Jim Wheeler
36. Sharpimage.net – The best of 2010 – David Sharp
37. StephenWeaver Photography/Earth Systems Imaging-Stephen G. Weaver
38. Best of 2010 – Changing Perspectives – Jenni Brehm
39. katzekotz.de – best of 2010 – Thomas Kneppeck
40. 2010 Favorite Images – Alpenglow Images – Greg Russell
41. Best Images of 2010 – Peter Cox Photography – Peter Cox
42. Best of 2010| Simon Says – Simon Ponder
43. My Favorites Shots of 2010 – Fine Art Prints – Jeff Colburn
44. Mountain and Climbing Photography – Alexandre Buisse
45. Siam In Contrast 2010 – Adrian Young
46. 2010 in review (colour)– Olivier Du Tré
47. John Dunne Photography | My Top 10 Favourite Images of 2010 – John Dunne
48. Best of 2010 Flickr Set – Tony Rath
49. Top 10 from 2010 – Behind-the-lens-lukey – Luke Weymark
50. Evan Gearing Photography’s Top 10 of 2010 – Evan Gearing
51. 2010 Photos in Review: Water – Rebecca R Jackrel
52. Justin Korn [dot] com – Best of 2010 – Justin Korn
53. My Best Photos of 2010: Learning and Growing> – D. Travis North
54. Uncommon Depth – Roberta Murray
55. Organic Light Photography Best of 2010 – Youssef Ismail / Organic Light Photography
56. The Best of 2010 – blackandwhite.ie – Neil McShane
57. My Best of 2010 – Larry Rosenstein
58. Will Wohler Photography: 2010 A Year in Review – Will Wohler
59. digitizedchaos – best of 2010 – rian castillo
60. My Top 10 from 2010 – Chaz Curry Photography
61. – Suzy Walker
62. Favorite Photographs From 2010 – Fine Art Landscape Photography of Seung Kye Lee
63. Best photos from 2010 – Amanda Herbert
64. Wrapping Up 2010: My Favorite Photographs – Ivan Makarov Photography
65. Graf Nature Photography | Reflections on 2010 photographs – MARK GRAF
66. VACANT SHOP IN DOWNTOWN SANTA BARBARA – G. Kaltenbrun
67. Pat O’Brien Photography – A Look Back at 2010 – Pat O’Brien
68. G Dan Mitchell – 2010 Favorites – G Dan Mitchell
69. Favorite Photo of 2010 – Naturalvision-photo.com –Derek Griggs
70. Crest, Cliff & Canyon – Jackson Frishman
71. 2010 In Review – Photoimagery.net – Peter McCabe
72. Favorite Photos from 2010 – In the Field Photo Blog – Richard Wong
73. Year in Review Best Photos of 2010 – Matt Graham Photo Blog – Matt Graham
74. Elizabeth Brown Photography PhotoBlog: Ten Favorite Photos of 2010 – Elizabeth Brown
75. My Top Photos of 2010 – Jonesblog – Bryan William Jones
76. latoga photograph: My Favorite Photos of 2010 – Greg A. Lato
77. Best of 2010 Images – Rob Tilley
78. Living Wilderness: 12 Best from 2010 – Kevin Ebi
79. Highlights of 2010 – TO KNOW MORE WEB JOURNAL – KENT MEARIG
80. Michael Russell Photography
81. Best Photographs of 2010 – Chuck Goolsbee
82. Favourite Photos from 2010 – Tim Smalley
83. My Best 10 Photos 2010 – A Reconnection to Nature – Mark Fenwick
84. Best of 2010 – Quotidian Photography – Jessica Sweeney
85. My Top Images of 2010 – ANDREW KEE
86. A Photo A Day… Done! – WelliverPhotography – Beth Welliver
87. Batsto Village – Louis Dallara Photo Blog – Louis Dallara
88. Best 10 of 2010 – John Wall’s Natural California
89. 10 from 2010 on the Ann-alog – Ann Torrence
90. Favorite Photos from 2010 – My Photo Blog – Ron Niebrugge
91. My favorite photos 2010 on Flickr – Markus Heinisch
92. My best photos of 2010 – Mike Hellers
93. Dave Reichert’s Best Of 2010 – Dave Reichert
94. Photographs: 2010 Revisited – Joseph Szymanski
95. Best Pics 2010 on Flickr – Michael Rubin
96. My 10 Best Shots of 2010 – ROBIN BLACK PHOTOGRAPHY – ROBIN BLACK
97. Top 10 from 2010 – Anne McKinnell
98. Vanilla Days – Best of 2010 – Pete Carr
99. Top Photos of 2010 – Gary Crabbe / Enlightened Images
100. Top Images from 2010 – Russ Bishop | Nature Photo Blog
101. Favourite photos from 2010 – Bryn Tassell
102. 10 Best Photos of 2010 by Scott Thompson – Scott Thompson
103. My Top 10 photos of 2010 – Alexander S. Kunz
104. My 10 Best for 2010 – Dan Baumbach
105. Unified Photography – Best Photos of 2010 – Ken Snyder
106. 5 From 2010 – Contemporary Wildlife Photography – David Lloyd
107. Top 10 Photos of 2010 – Steven Bourelle Digital Arts
108. 2010 Top Ten Photos – Andrew S Gibson
109. 2010 Reflections – Dru Stefan Stone – Dru-Color My World
110. Best of 2010 – Dave Hammaker
111. Top 20 of 2010 – Jenna Stirling
112. LandLopers.com Top Travel Photos of 2010 – Matt Long
113. Best of 2010 – Stephen Davey
114. Landscape Photography Blogger My Favorite Photos of 2010 – David Leland Hyde
115. Views Infinitum – Best of 2010 – Scott Thomas
116. One Per Trip – Favorite Travel Photos From 2010 – The Carey Adventures – PETER WEST CAREY
117. I Love It, SF – Kara Murphy
118. My top 10 pictures from 2010 – Duffy Knox
119. Burrard-Lucas Photography – Will & Matt Burrard-Lucas
120. Hank Christensen Photography Top 10 2010 – Hank Christensen
121. My Best Photos from 2010 – 365-1/4 Sra
122. Top Ten Images of 2010 – Michael Frye
123. Jono Hey’s Best of 2010 on Flickr – JONO HEY
124. My Favorite Photographs from 2010 – Stories From Home –David Patterson
125. My 2010 Best Images of California and Arizona – Steve Sieren
126. My Top 10 Landscapes of 2010 – Andre Leopold
127. Best of 2010 set on Flickr – Erik Turner
128. This was 2010 on Flickr – Jeffrey Van Daele
129. Top 10 of 2010 – Brian Mangano
130. Best Photos of 2010 – KBTImages – Kevin Thornhill
131. Best Photos of 2010 – The Sun Shines & The Igloo Melts
132. Top 10 of 2010 – Chad Griggs
133. Best Photos of 2010 – WASEEF AKHTAR
134. My Favorite Images from 2010 – Outdoor Exposure Photography by Sean Bagshaw – Sean Bagshaw
135. My Best Shots of 2010 – Annika Ruohonen Photography – Annika Ruohonen
136. Top sights from 2010 – Mariana Travieso Bassi
137. Year 2010 in Korwel Photography – Iza Korwel
138. WISCONSIN SUMMER – Jarrod Erbe
139. Best Photos of 2010 – Jim Stamates
140. Top 10 of 2010 – Younes Bounhar
141. Light on the Landscape Photoblog/My Favorite Images of 2010 – WILLIAM NEILL
142. My Best Photos of 2010 – Itsa a greyt day for a photo – Terri Jacobson
143. Listening to Nature Photography Blog by Rhoda Maurer – RHODA MAURER
144. My favorites of 2010 – David Richter
145. Best of 2010 – View from the Little Red Tent – Edie Howe
146. tmophoto best of 2010 – Thomas O’Brien
147. Best Photos Of 2010 – Dawnstar Australis – Daniel McNamara
148. Top 10 of 2010 – Cranial Aperture – Jeffrey Yen
149. 10 Best Favorites of 2010 – Sudheendra Kadri
150. Flickr – Best of 2010 – Chris Arts
151. Flickr: Best of 2010 – Heidi Donat
152. Best Photo of 2010 – Anton Huo
153. Best of 2010 – Travel & Landscape – Eugene Cheng
154. Preetalina Photography: 2010 Favorites – Preeti Desai
155. Hidden Light Photography 2010 Favorites – Alan Williams
156. 5Mae 2010 Favourites Flickr Set – Sarah-Mae
157. Best Photos of 2010 – John Fujimagari
158. Best of 2010 – Paavani Bishnoi
159. Best Photos of 2010 – Phil Colla
160. 100 Favorites from 2010 – Patrick J. Endres
161. Top Ten Of 2010 – Steve Cole Photography
162. Some of My Favorite Images From 2010 – Clark Crenshaw Photography

It’s become somewhat of a tradition over the last few years to produce a “Best of” post at the end of each year and submit it to Jim Goldstein who faithfully compiles a list of all these posts from photographers around the world so here are my top 10 images from 2010.

I deliberately decided to stick with 10 images this year but that did leave me with a bit of an editing headache. Getting the picks down to 20 was no problem but when I got to 13 I had real issues and ended up having to throw out a few pictures that I really like (this one, this one and this one, for example). In the end, however, here are the images that made the cut.

It may be surprising to some, but only half of these images are HDR this year. Part of the reason is that I’ve been making a concerted effort to broaden the types of photography that I do and part is that some of the most inspiring places I visited this year didn’t require HDR techniques to produce stiking images. The fact that I spent a week with Raul Touzon in Utah in February probably also influenced things somewhat since a great deal of that week was spent discussing the virtues of getting it right in the camera and not relying on post-processing.

Anyway, without further ado, here are my picks in no particular order. Click on each image for a larger version.

Frozen Fir Trees, Utah

OK, I lied. The images below this one are in no particular order but this is my favourite image of the year. It was taken high in the mountains of Utah on a foggy morning in February when we made the decision to take the windy road through the hills rather than the main road in our travels from Zion to Bryce Canyon. It turned out to be an excellent decision and yielded at least a dozen images that were high on my list of candidates for this post. This particular one, however, stands out to me for the gorgeous subtlety of the colours and the amazing sharpness, detail and clarity (look at the original resolution to see what I mean). I took this with the D90 and Nikon’s amazing 24-70mm f/2.8 lens, a sharper zoom than I have ever come across anywhere else.

City Center Reflection, Las Vegas

The Zion/Bryce/Death Canyon trip started for me with a day in Las Vegas during which I wandered the strip and had about as much fun as someone who gets kicks out of architecture could have. On my return, I liked this series of reflection shots taken in the City Center complex but started fiddling in Photoshop and, by mirroring the original image a couple of times and stacking the results, I came up with a geometric abstract that really appealed to me. This is an image I would love to print large on canvas!

Saturn V Engine Fairing Abstract

Another highlight of the year was our now-annual Cub Scout campout at Space Center Houston. The boys and their minders spend a night in the complex doing cool science projects with the staff then get to sleep on the floor under all the exhibits. The highlight for me, though, was having access to the place in the middle of the night when no-one was crowding round the exhibits (allowing me to get shots like this one which was also in my top 20) and getting to spend some quality time in the company of the Saturn V they have down there. The trip yielded enough images of that one vehicle to have me thinking of using them as an exhibition in their own right. Of those pictures, though, this one really stands out to me. I love the contrast between the hard lines and the soft play of light. The monochrome HDR processing really brings out the texture and gives me an image that is probably my second favourite of the year.

Downtown Austin Skyline at Dusk

This image formed the centerpiece of my exhibition at Dragonfly Gallery at Rosedale in Austin during June. I had it printed 48″ wide on canvas and you wouldn’t believe the detail. I love the colour and overall feel of the shot but it’s probably here as much as a representative of my new interest in shooting large panoramas as for any other reason. This image is enormous and would easily print 15 feet wide with superb defintion if I could find someone with a wall large enough to hang it and a wallet full enough to afford it. The image is stitched together from 7 vertical shots, each one a 3 exposure HDR. I am proud to say that the Mayor of Austin ripped it off and used it on his official web site before I sent a nice email pointing out that he had not licensed it.

Fort Davis National Historic Site

Our summer road trip was a huge success and 3 of the images in this set resulted from it. The first was taken at the Fort Davis National Historic Site in far west Texas. We were fortunate to be there after a particularly wet early summer so the landscape was green and the temperatures were, as expected, a lot lower than back in the Hill Country. This image was taken just after the fort opened at about 8:30am or thereabouts. I used a longish lens to compress the perspective of the row of nicely renovated houses and pull in the dramatic rockface behind them.

Drum Major, David Forinash

Another highlight of the year for me, both photographically and musically, was to be asked to stand in as photographer for the UT Longhorn Band during two home games at Texas Memorial Stadium. What a thrill it was to march onto the field with 100,000 people cheering in the stands and to be right in amongst the band as they played both before the game and during it.

I spent a fair bit of the game shooting with an ultra-wide lens, up-close and personal, and this is my favourite of those images. This was taken during the third quarter of an afternoon game when the sky offered a dramatic backdrop to the scene (aided by the fact that I set the white balance for the floodlights). The band is conducted by several people during a game and here we see Drum Major David Forinash leading from the top of the ladder. I have a couple of dozen versions of this shot but the mix of sharpness and movement in this particular frame moved it to the top of the list for me.

Rippled Ridge, White Sands, New Mexico

Our summer road trip this year took is to West Texas and New Mexico and included visits to two places which are high on my list of favourites – White Sands National Monument and Santa Fe. This is my favourite image from the White Sands visit. I loved the contrast between the brightness of the gypsum sand and the sky. Incidentally, shooting here is interesting since the overall brightness is so high. To pull texture out of the sand requires some deft handling of black point and curves in Photoshop.

Shadows on Adobe, Santa Fe, New Mexico

The adobe architecture in Santa Fe is fascinating to me, being so different from what I typically see in Central Texas. The textures of the adobe coupled with the smooth, organic lines of the buildings make for great contrasts. This image was shot on a morning when I was able to spend a couple of hours wandering around the city center on my own. The light angle was perfect to cast great shadows down the front of the building and the HDR processing (done to look pretty subtle in this case) really helped pull out the adobe texture.

Dugout Gloom

One of my goals over the last couple of years has been to take more pictures of people and this is my favourite non-family “people shot” of 2010. My younger son, Drew, plays in a baseball team and I often hang around with a camera capturing images of the games. The light at midday is usually pretty horrible on the field but the dugout offers a chance to take some candid portraits in a nice soft light. In this one, Jeffrey was obviously having a bad day! Incidentally, they went on to win this game so I expect his mood improved later.

Lone Star, Texas State History Museum

This image is one of a set of 3 that I included in my exhibition in June. All three were taken within 10 minutes and show different aspects of the huge Lone Star sculpture outside the Texas State History Museum in downtown Austin. The air was crystal clear that morning and the high cirrus clouds offered a wonderfully dramatic background.

Stata Center Abstract, Boston

OK, OK! I know this is number 11 and I said I was only going to include 10 images. I didn’t say what base I was counting in, though, so I reckon this gets me off the hook 🙂

This image was taken during a trip to Boston in October and shows a reflection in some very shiny stainless steel panels forming part of the fascinating Frank Gehry designed Stata Center building at MIT. I have several “normal” images of this building and I’m happy with them but this abstract appeals to me even more. The warping of the brickwork in the reflection makes this a very interesting image to me.