Best Photos of 2012 – My Photography Year in Review

Best Photos of 2012 – My Photography Year in Review

It is time to post my annual “Favorite Photos of the Year”, as I have since 2007. This year I added fewer than 1000 new images to my stock photography collection, but included in that paltry number are some real gems with which I am quite happy and proud. I managed to get out on the ocean a few times and see a few whales with one of my oldest photographer pals, made a fantastic flight over southern San Diego County with a pilot friend, learned more about landscape astrophotography through trial and error with a night photography buddy, got back in the surf with a new rig after a two year hiatus and tried to keep up the young guys, managed to sneak in one fantastic trip to Paris and London with Tracy, not to mention the 50+ volleyball matches I photographed this year (my daughters are a wrecking crew on the court). So without further ado, here are my Favorite Photographs of 2012. Note: if you like these feel free to check out previous years’ favorites as well: 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007. Thanks for looking, and cheers!

Oceanside Pier at sunset, clouds with a brilliant sky at dusk, the lights on the pier are lit.
Image ID: 27614
Location: Oceanside Pier, California, USA

Mobius Arch at sunrise, framing snow dusted Lone Pine Peak and the Sierra Nevada Range in the background. Also known as Galen’s Arch, Mobius Arch is found in the Alabama Hills Recreational Area near Lone Pine.
Image ID: 27622
Location: Alabama Hills Recreational Area, California, USA

Alabama Hills and Sierra Nevada, Lone Pine Peak and Mount Whitney, sunrise.
Image ID: 27630
Location: Alabama Hills Recreational Area, California, USA

Rainbow and clearing storm clouds, sunrise light on Manly Beacon, Zabriskie Point, Death Valley National Park, California.
Image ID: 27660
Location: Zabriskie Point, Death Valley National Park, California, USA

Sailing stone on the Racetrack Playa. The sliding rocks, or sailing stones, move across the mud flats of the Racetrack Playa, leaving trails behind in the mud. The explanation for their movement is not known with certainty, but many believe wind pushes the rocks over wet and perhaps icy mud in winter.
Image ID: 27689
Location: Racetrack Playa, Death Valley National Park, California, USA

San Diego Coronado Bridge, linking San Diego to the island community of Coronado, spans San Diego Bay. Dawn, lavender sky.
Image ID: 27703
Location: San Diego, California, USA

Downtown Los Angeles at night, street lights, buildings light up the night.
Image ID: 27725
Location: Los Angeles, California, USA

Yosemite Falls and star trails, at night, viewed from Cook’s Meadow, illuminated by the light of the full moon.
Image ID: 27733
Location: Yosemite Falls, Yosemite National Park, California, USA

Yosemite Falls and rainbow, Half Dome in distance, viewed from the Yosemite Falls trail, spring.
Image ID: 27742
Location: Yosemite Falls, Yosemite National Park, California, USA

Stars and the Milky Way rise above ancient bristlecone pine trees, in the White Mountains at an elevation of 10,000′ above sea level. These are some of the oldest trees in the world, reaching 4000 years in age.
Image ID: 27772
Species: Bristlecone Pine, Pinus longaeva
Location: Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, White Mountains, Inyo National Forest, California, USA

The Milky Way arching over Mesa Arch at night.
Image ID: 27827
Location: Mesa Arch, Canyonlands National Park, Utah, USA

Balanced Rock and Milky Way stars at night.
Image ID: 27835
Location: Balanced Rock, Arches National Park, Utah, USA

Stars over the Tower of Babel, starry night, Arches National Park, Utah.
Image ID: 27847
Location: Arches National Park, Utah, USA

Milky Way and Shooting Star over Delicate Arch, as stars cover the night sky.
Image ID: 27854
Location: Arches National Park, Utah, USA

San Diego city skyline at sunset, showing the buildings of downtown San Diego rising above San Diego Harbor, viewed from Harbor Island.
Image ID: 27889
Location: San Diego, California, USA

Humpback whale breaching, pectoral fin and rostrom visible.
Image ID: 27955
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: San Diego, California, USA

Blue whale 80-feet long, full body photograph of an enormous blue whale showing rostrom head to fluke tail, taken at close range with very wide lens.
Image ID: 27967
Species: Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus
Location: San Diego, California, USA

Breaking wave, Moonlight Beach, Encinitas, morning, barrel shaped surf, California.
Image ID: 27975
Location: California, USA

Sunrise breaking wave, dawn surf.
Image ID: 27978
Location: The Wedge, Newport Beach, California, USA

Full moon rising over San Diego city skyline, sunset, storm clouds, viewed from Coronado Island.
Image ID: 28021
Location: San Diego, California, USA

Leaving the Louvre Museum, evening, Paris.
Image ID: 28111
Location: Musee du Louvre, Paris, France

River Seine, barge and Ile Saint-Louis, sunrise, Paris. Ile Saint-Louis, is one of two natural islands in the Seine river, in Paris, France. The island is named after King Louis IX of France (Saint Louis). The island is connected to the rest of Paris by bridges to both banks of the river and by the Pont Saint Louis to the Ile de la Cite.
Image ID: 28144
Location: Ile Saint-Louis, Paris, France

Les Invalides, officially known as L’Hotel national des Invalides (The National Residence of the Invalids), is a complex of buildings in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, containing museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as well as a hospital and a retirement home for war veterans, the building’s original purpose.
Image ID: 28161
Location: Hotel National des Invalides, Paris, France

Eiffel Tower rises over the Trocadero place. The Trocadero, site of the Palais de Chaillot, is an area of Paris, France, in the 16th arrondissement, across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower.
Image ID: 28168
Location: Trocadero, Paris, France

Notre Dame de Paris. Notre Dame de Paris (“Our Lady of Paris”), also known as Notre Dame Cathedral or simply Notre Dame, is a historic Roman Catholic Marian cathedral on the eastern half of the Ile de la Cite in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, France. Widely considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture and among the largest and most well-known churches in the world ever built, Notre Dame is the cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Paris.
Image ID: 28243
Location: Notre Dame de Paris, France

Brown pelican in flight, softly lit by flash against pink predawn sky.
Image ID: 28346
Species: Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus
Location: La Jolla, California, USA

California Brown Pelican head throw, stretching its throat to keep it flexible and healthy.
Image ID: 28347
Species: Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus
Location: La Jolla, California, USA

The Milky Way at Night over Sky Rock. Sky Rock petroglyphs near Bishop, California. Hidden atop an enormous boulder in the Volcanic Tablelands lies Sky Rock, a set of petroglyphs that face the sky. These superb examples of native American petroglyph artwork are thought to be Paiute in origin, but little is known about them.
Image ID: 28800
Location: Bishop, California, USA

350-foot long sea serpent, a work of art in Borrego Springs by Ricardo Breceda, sunset, Galleta Meadows.
Image ID: 28816
Location: Borrego Springs, California, USA

See also:

Best Photos of 2011
Best Photos of 2010
Best Photos of 2009
Best Photos of 2008
Best Photos of 2007