I take thousands of photos each year. Litterally, thousands. There are some images that just stand out and others that seem run-of-the-mill to me. The images that do stand out for me stand out for different reasons. Some images are are technically superior, some are artsy, while others are just memorable. Oh, then there are the ones that make me wonder what the heck happened there?!

Besides running a portrait and wedding photography business (that’s where the majority of the thousands of photos come from), I also participate in several photography groups. Some are virtual online groups and a couple of others are actual local Meetup groups.  The virtual groups can be quite large – the Flickr Wedding Group has over 12,000 members from ALL over the world! Great source for information and ideas and there are some very talented people on the site. We’re not really virtual – it’s just that we only meet online and never really actually see other. Okay – so maybe that is the meaning of virtual? Whatever.

My local Meetup group is having a social year-in-review kind of gathering in January. The group meets at least once a month and finds local sites and/or events to go shoot. These aren’t mandatory – some folks go to all the events while others may only attend one in a year. There are probably close to 300 people in the group. GREAT bunch of people in this group of photographers! We’re getting together this time to socialize, pot-luck style, at a local photography gallery in Sacramento. Viewpoint Photgraphic Art Center.

Here’s what got me thinking about what I’ve done this year. One of the things we’ve been asked to do is to bring an 8×10 print of our best Meetup photo for 2008. I don’t think I’ve ever looked though what I’ve shot in a year and asked myself which is the best one. This could be a tough task. At the same time I am also entering a travel photo contest and I need to pick another shot for that. Time is running out for that one – I only have a few days left in the year for a proper post-mark on the envelope.

I thought I found a perfect picture for my 8×10 print contest. But alas, it was from 2007. In the words of Charlie Brown…ugggg. I’ll keep looking. Most likely it will be an image from our Meetup in Reno, Nevada at the Great Reno Balloon Race. I’ll keep you posted.

There are so many things I did this year – how do you figure out which is best? For my travel contest, I walked on the Great Wall this year! How cool is that? I used up several memory cards on our China trip alone…and there are over 1000 photos to go through. I’ll pick something soon – I better, the clock is ticking. There’s a $1000 prize at stake here!  

I’m already looking forward to 2009. Waikiki, Denver & Boston are already booked on the calendar!