I like to do a couple of things at the end of each calendar year, and this is one of them. Given it’s 2011… here are my 11 personal favourite images from the duration of 2011 that I’ve taken. I hope you all enjoy!
11.
Kicking off my top 11 is a collaboration with Bob Lussier in the Stone Mill in Lawrence, MA. This chair was resting quietly in this particular office just waiting for its owner to return.
10.
A sunset scene from Tipsoo Lake just near Mt. Rainier. It was a wonderfully clear afternoon come evening which presented some amazing light over the lake.
09.
Any kind of list of favourite images from me wouldn’t be complete without an image of the Space Needle. I spent the last half of 2011 living in a pretty amazing loft just north of downtown. One evening, this was the view from my balcony.
08.
A couple of times a year, the moon rises from behind the Seattle city skyline and proves to be a beautiful opportunity to capture a unique photograph. This particular occasion was a slightly cold winter night back in January. Surprisingly, it was very clear and we were able to watch the event from start to finish. It was pretty awesome to witness.
07.
This was my first chance to shoot with a really, really long lens. A 600mm f/4 prime lens was on display at a local photography event here in Seattle, and they had it pointed at the Space Needle. I asked them if they’d let me attach my camera and see how it worked. It was a lot of fun to shoot with actually. I ended up coming away with a really unique portrait of the Space Needle (and Seattle).
06.
Taken with my X100 and processed on my iPad with Snapseed, this was the first photograph that I took with the X100 that I got really excited about. I wanted to give a different perspective on a very often photographed landmark. I really like how it turned out 
05.
This one was taken back in early Spring. There’s a lighthouse north of Seattle that I’ve wanted to photograph for the longest time, but until earlier this year it was underneath scaffolding and such for renovation. I waited for the construction work to complete, and for the perfect day to head up there and shoot it.
04.
I truly didn’t think this image would be possible on the day I shot it. Cloud covered the entire sky until right before dawn when it parted enough for the rising sun to pierce through. I had a 400mm on loan from a friend for much of the last third of 2011, and I loved putting it to good use here!
03.
This image was taken just outside of Banff, in Canada. I was travelling with my family and so much about what I love about this image are the memories tied to it. I’ve never seen such a beautiful landscape. About fifteen minutes after I shot this, the cloud you see behind the mountain blew across the lake bringing with it a fairly heavy rainstorm.
02.
This image was taken quite recently actually, on a sunrise shoot with good friends. We were over in West Seattle hoping for a wonderful sunrise to photograph. While my friends photographed the rocky shore, I walked a little north and set up on the jetty to catch the sunrise.
01.
My favourite image from 2011! I even had to extend a hotel reservation by a day or two to catch the clear weather to get a nice, clear evening sky and the stars in the photograph. This photo was shot at ISO 800, 24mm, f/8, for a total of 1128.2 seconds (approximately 19 minutes) making this my longest single exposure. What you’re looking at is Polaris over Cannon Beach at night, on the pacific coast in the state of Oregon.
At the end of 2010, I wrote a little post about “the year that was“. Next week I’ll be working on a similar post for the year of 2011 and looking forward to 2012.
Wow definitely amazing shots for 2011. You should be massively proud of these images and good choice on number 1. Ah-mazing!
Terrific set of images, Jacob. It was nice meeting you this year as well.
Great shots mate, absolutely love #1, one of my favorite shots of 2011 in general! Great to finally put a face to the name as well!
Love every single frame but #1 takes the cake. Just stunning image.
Awesome, awesome set, dude. Love ‘em all, but you know Minnewanka holds a special place in my heart
Another excellent “Best of 2011″ set. Make sure you submit the URL to Jim Goldstein’s blog since he’s compiling his usual list of posts this year. All the best for 2012.
Thanks so much everyone!
Quite a set there Jacob! I love the lighthouse pic and it sat on my desktop for month! Good stuff mate!
I’m not even going to attempt to pick any favorites from this outstanding series Jacob. It’s quite a stellar collection of work and a great source of inspiration. Simply bonzer mate!
You’ve had an incredible year photographically Jacob. Well done! I agree with Jay that picking favourites is perilous but I am going to have to agree with your #1 as that’s my pick too.
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Incredible collection of images – I couldn’t agree more about #1 – that photo absolutely blows me away every time I look at it!
A great collection. Congrats!
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Beautiful Collection. I liked the Moonrise shot and the Star trails at Canon Beach.
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I don’t think I’ve seen your work or your blog before, but I am impressed. I’m the son of pioneer landscape photographer Philip Hyde, a student and teaching associate of Ansel Adams and Edward Weston. I’ve been around photography all my life and dabbled in it a bit myself since age 10. I like the way you balance your group here with landscapes, UrbEx, cityscapes and other types of photos. Clicking over to your collaborator’s website and his associates was a treat. I had never heard of UrbEx, but have been attracted to that kind of image and making them myself. Thank you for the links that provided an education and a new avenue to explore. I like to make landscapes because I was raised in the wilderness, but I also like to experiment with more diverse subject matter as well. My favorites here are hard to pick out above all of these that are so good, but cajoling myself to choose, I would say I like #10 best, #8, #6 and #1 in that order.
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Some rely good shoots, was a good photo year (=
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What a beautiful series. Amazing images. : ) Wishing you another great year.
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