2021, the extended transition from 2020 to 2022? However it will be described, it was an interesting year on many fronts and, in looking back, not a bad one at all for us.
As I try to do each year, I’ve selected 20 30 (I tried to get it down to 20, but gave up) of my favorite images of the year. It’s always fun to look back, see where I’ve been, and relive moments that seem so long ago but really were not.
Here are my personal top 30 from 2021.
This summer I spent a morning in Rocky Mountain National Park and made my way to Alberta Falls. This is one of the most popular hikes in the park – a well-built trail, only about a mile, and a great payoff at the end. In part due to that popularity, I hadn’t been to the falls in some time, or just briefly looked that direction while heading further down the trail.
On this particular day, I decided to stop and take some photos. It was early, I had time to spare, and the crowds had yet to arrive.
The photos I got were some of my favorite from the day. And while editing, I got to wondering when I actually last photographed here. So, through the archives I went, and, to my surprise, it had been 17 years since I last photographed Alberta Falls. Thousands of photos in RMNP since and not one of Alberta. No wonder it was so fun to photograph again.
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A few more from our now, not-so-recent road trip (see posts 1 & 2). I processed more photos as black and white than I normally do, and some some turned out to be among my favorites from this trip.
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Part 2 of our spring road trip we took through the south (see Part 1 here). After departing Texas, we continued through Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and up to Tennessee before turning back for Colorado via Arkansas and Oklahoma.
One of the first cast-iron lighthouses in the South, erected in 1848. Still lit, though, I believe, hasn’t been in official use in over a half-century now.
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This is Part 1 of a road trip we took through the south last spring. With international borders still largely closed, and vaccine rollout having only just begun, we thought a road trip was in order. In all, we passed through eight states over two weeks on our loop through the south.
The trip brought us to states we hadn’t visited, cities we knew little about, and endless scenery (or it felt endless at times with 4k miles of driving). Spring ended up being a perfect time for such a trip, not only for the cooler weather, but the green fields and plentiful wildflowers.
