Weekly Photo Challenge: My 2012 in Pictures

2012 was a big year in photography for me. It was, in fact, my first year. I got my first camera around the beginning of June, so my year in review is a glimpse at the first seven months in a rookie’s career. I’ve taken a few I like, and hundreds that are the suck. Thanks to the guidance of my many shooter friends – most of them folks right here at 5280LM – I’m optimistic about my prospects for improvement.

So here are some of the year’s key moments. The shot above, taken in July, seems to be the consensus pick for my best shot to date. There’s also a color version, and as to which is better, the voting is right at 50/50.

My first outing with the camera was the annual Denver Chalk Art Festival. I had zero idea of what I was doing, so I mainly pointed at pretty pictures and clicked. I look forward to the 2013 show, where I will focus more closely on the artists and the creative process. Here’s a semi-decent one of the talented Shawn Sapp.

Here’s that artwork viewed from the proper perspective, by the way.

On the 4th of July I was fortunate enough to be invited up to 5280LM colleague Greg Thow’s roof. He lives overlooking downtown Denver and just to the north of Mile High Stadium. My fireworks shots weren’t great, but I kinda like this one.

I made several trips to this location trying to get something worthwhile, and finally one day one of the employees stepped out for a break.

In August I accidentally drove past a cool little classic car roll-in, which yielded a few nice shots, including this one.

There was another roll-in in the neighborhood in September, and that’s where I got this one, which I think is technically one of the best I have yet taken.

September also found me visiting the DaVinci Machines exhibit a couple of times. This was perhaps my most helpful self-guided learning experience of the year, as my sense of what I was actually shooting evolved from “hey, how cool is that?” to a deeper consideration of the occasionally sinister role technology plays in our culture. This isn’t the best of the series, but thematically it’s the one I keep coming back to.

My trip to Taos in late September took me down to the Classical Gas Museum in Embudo, NM. There I captured this, the hood ornament on a junked Packard.

I also found this spot in Angel Fire. Talk about your Old West, huh?

My route to Taos took me first to Gunnison, CO, for the Writing the Rockies conference and some time with my friend Frank Venturo, who also turns out to be a pretty good guide to the scenic spots in SW Colorado. This is the Blue Mesa Reservoir.

I took some shots at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts and the adjacent convention center in November. Most people seem to like my geometric shots of the roof of the convention center best, but this is my personal favorite.

Here’s the extremely cool entrance to the Denver Art Museum. Not pictured: the guard who hassled me for moving a sign for ten seconds.

Our annual Parade of Lights was a little creepy in spots. Like here.

I did another series earlier this month from the Tattered Cover Book Store’s Colfax Ave. location, which was once the 5280’s premier theatre venue. Here’s my favorite.

The Denver Botanic Gardens stages a beautiful holiday lights walk each year. I took zillions of shots and inflicted them on everyone I could corner. This was an unexpected one, and perhaps the best of the lot.