Last year I participated in Jim Goldstein’s annual “Your Best Photos” blog project for the first time so I made a post about my favorite photos from 2010. Last year’s post has been one of my most visited posts over the past year so I wanted to continue that trend this year. Initially I was unsure if I was going to participate this year since I didn’t feel like I had traveled enough to warrant a post but when I reviewed my images from 2011, I realized that I had 16 selects to cull down from so maybe my year was better than I had thought. Here goes my ten favorite photos from 2011 in chronological order:

San Gabriel Mountains Sunset Alpenglow Reflection in Pond, San Gabriel Valley, California

The San Gabriel Valley and San Gabriel Mountains are rarely photographed for such a heavily-populated region. Most landscape photographers find little appeal in such an urbanized landscape so that is why I enjoy taking this on as a creative challenge. My roots are in the valley so it’s a region that I feel compelled to photograph. What I like about this image is that it shows a glimpse of what the San Gabriel Valley might have looked like when it was still a wild landscape.

Red Paint Cans

My house was on the market for half a year as a foreclosed property and I saw it listed for a few months before deciding to take a tour. The photos I saw on the real estate websites didn’t look very appealing but since I was making no progress on finding a suitable property to purchase, I decided to take a look. I was pleasantly surprised and the room in the back was the one that sold me on the house. The room was red and once I saw it, I knew that would be the future home of my photography office. I re-painted the room a lighter shade of red four times to get it right and these paint cans bear the aftermath of that project.

Semi-Spiral Staircase at City Hall, Pasadena, California

When I saw this, I thought of my Craigdarroch Castle staircase photo from 2009.

Cowboy Running from Bull at 2011 Frank Bogert Memorial Rodeo, Palm Springs, California

Rodeos are a blast but also very dangerous. Cowboys are tough.

Desert Garden Agave at The Huntington Botanical Gardens, San Marino, California

I spent a lot of time at The Huntington this year and had always wanted to make an agave photo that I was happy with. One of the perks of membership is early admission on the weekends so I made this image during one peaceful early morning and practically had the whole garden to myself. The light is best in the mornings.

180 Degree Double Rainbow over San Gabriel Mountains Panoramic, Angeles National Forest, California

This gigantic double rainbow could be seen from as far away as Palos Verdes Peninsula and I had a nice front row seat to witness it. Undoubtedly this was the coolest natural phenomena I saw all year. Many others agreed too apparently as I heard numerous “Look at the double rainbow!” screams from down the mountain.

Yosemite Falls in Shadow at Cook's Meadow, Yosemite National Park, California

My mom is not a photographer but even she knew this light would make for some dramatic photos. In-fact she was the one who suggested pulling over to photograph it.

Autumn Leaves and Granite, Yosemite National Park, California

Of the photos I made in 2011, this was the one that required me to work the scene the most in order to make.

Pasadena Wind Storm - Fallen Tree on Property, Elizabeth Street

The night of the windstorm was one of the scariest I’ve ever experienced. Pasadena still has cleanup to do and this tree trunk is still there a month later.

Bamboo at The Huntington Botanical Gardens

In the past, I was mostly a wide angle lens photographer but lately I’ve been finding myself gravitate more toward simplicity and “intimate scenes”. Scenes within a scene.

25 Responses to “Favorite Photos from 2011”

1. Greg Russell
   January 3rd, 2012 @ 10:52 am

   Looks like you had a pretty good year, Richard! I really like that many of your images came from close to home…

   Your work from the Huntington is especially nice…very moody and evocative. I like it a lot.

   Hope your 2012 is off to a great start!

   Greg

2. Ron Niebrugge
   January 3rd, 2012 @ 12:00 pm

   Those are excellent Richard! I notice a wide variety of style compared to the past.

3. David Leland Hyde
   January 3rd, 2012 @ 12:03 pm

   Fine work, Richard. Great variety as Ron mentioned and an interesting voice on the more documentary work. I like the Bamboo best followed by the Staircase.

4. latoga
   January 3rd, 2012 @ 12:04 pm

   Wonderful collection from the year Richard! Even though you didn’t travel as much in 2011, it looks like that forced you to look for photographic opportunities closer to home and outside your normal comfort zone. This resulted in a wide variety of photos from the year…the minimalistic bamboo photo and abstract staircase are great examples of this.

   Glad you took the time to participate in the blog project!

   Have a great start to 2012!

5. Richard Wong
   January 3rd, 2012 @ 12:21 pm

   Thanks guys. Glad you noticed. I’ve photographed a lot of locations around the Southland over the past ten years so the only way to grow and keep things fresh would be to look deeper rather than wider.

6. Kim Larson
   January 3rd, 2012 @ 12:56 pm

   These are all wonderful! I’m already looking forward to 2012′s photos.

7. Richard Wong
   January 3rd, 2012 @ 1:22 pm

   Thanks Kim. I’ll try not to disappoint in 2012.

8. Younes Bounhar
   January 3rd, 2012 @ 3:08 pm

   Excellent collection of images and great display of your versatility too!
   It looks and sounds like you had a fantastic year. Here is to an even better one!

9. Russ Bishop
   January 3rd, 2012 @ 3:34 pm

   Great selection of image Richard. It’s so true that often the best photographic potential is close to home.

10. Richard Wong
    January 3rd, 2012 @ 6:11 pm

    Thanks guys. Cheers to another good year and more travel.

11. Derrick Birdsall
    January 3rd, 2012 @ 6:14 pm

    Wonderful body of work for 2011, Richard. Hope your 2012 is even better.

12. Richard Wong
    January 4th, 2012 @ 12:01 am

    Thanks Derrick. Best of luck to you in 2012 as well.

13. Morkel Erasmus
    January 4th, 2012 @ 1:54 am

    Great collection here Richard. It’s nice to see the diversity in your shooting, as I’m finding it hard to “branch out” of shooting only images of the natural world. All the best for your 2012 endeavours…

14. Richard Wong
    January 4th, 2012 @ 11:36 am

    Thanks Morkel. I think diversity in subject matter is also dependent on where you live. I live in a heavily developed region, yet my favorite subject matter is related to the natural world so I’m able to photograph a wide variety of subject matter because it’s so accessible. It’s the nature stuff that is more of an investment for me to get to because it requires travel to get to.

15. Pat Ulrich
    January 4th, 2012 @ 3:51 pm

    Really beautiful selection of images, Richard! I like how you have such an interesting diversity of styles in your selections. I really like the cool colors to match the harsh textures of the agave, and of course, that gorgeous rainbow really stands out!

16. Steve Sieren
    January 4th, 2012 @ 4:24 pm

    I like the high key bamboo, the rodeo shot and the paint cans. I also love that first image, it must have been beautiful place unscathed by us. That must be San Gorgonio in back ground?

17. Richard Wong
    January 4th, 2012 @ 5:11 pm

    Thanks guys.

    Steve – the mountain in the background is Mount Baldy. I’d certainly be interested to find a similar scene with San Gorgonio though.

18. Mark
    January 5th, 2012 @ 6:13 pm

    Very nice collection Richard. Looks like you had a great year. I particularly like the Autumn Leaves and Granite and the red paint cans.

19. Richard Wong
    January 5th, 2012 @ 7:08 pm

    Thanks Mark.

20. Steve Sieren
    January 6th, 2012 @ 1:17 pm

    Thanks for the ID

21. Phillip Colla
    January 9th, 2012 @ 11:29 pm

    Richard, great work in 2011, I’m impressed with the variety and range of your work. For me, the double rainbow takes the cake, that’s just a sweet image. Good luck in 2012!

22. gerry
    January 9th, 2012 @ 11:35 pm

    Congratulations on a productive year. With all of the Huntington images, you should approach them with a project proposal. A nice calendar comes to mind. Happy New Year.

23. Richard Wong
    January 10th, 2012 @ 12:06 pm

    Thanks guys. It would be nice if I could work with them to do a book on The Huntington at some point.

24. Vinko Jovanovac
    January 16th, 2012 @ 3:17 pm

    Some rely nice collection of shoot, amazing photo year (=

25. Richard Wong
    January 17th, 2012 @ 2:05 pm

    Thanks Vinko.

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