17 Apr favorite photos of 2018
hey friends!
following up on the last post with my memorable moments of last year, here’s some of my favorite photos. you can see the entire gallery with 190 pictures over on my Flickr page.
I almost didn’t get this shot… partially due to the moon rising out of view… and partially due to me not loading the camera correctly. getting the role back from the lab and finding it was a pretty awesome feeling. more about it here.
my Mom and I had such a great time in Joshua Tree. getting to explore this new, strange place together was such a gift. I love the colors she’s wearing and how the blue sky contrasts with her yellow jeans. it’s pretty amazing that I took a photo this pretty on a phone… there is another one of her in the same place taken on film. interesting to see how they compare.
for some reason, a few of the photos on this roll look like they were force processed–that is, that a chemical treatment was applied to it to push the look. but this wasn’t done. did something get in the roll and damage it? I don’t know, but I love how grainy and contrast these shots of Lake Crowley and the White Mountains ended up.
I took this photo of Sofya the first time I met her parents. it was such a delightful afternoon, and even though it was a new place, I felt right at home. I like her smile and how I caught her unaware.
seeing my cousin Steve get married was pretty awesome. I don’t like to use my “big camera” at weddings, and instead try and be in the moment. but I had this disposable camera that needed frames used… and I don’t have to think about that, just hold it up and snap the pic. I really like the aesthetic of these cameras. the combination of cheap plastic lenses and high ASA film gives such nice texture and grain.
I took this photo of Christian before my TEDx talk. it was so great getting to stay with him that week. we hadn’t gotten to hang out that much in a number of years. it’s wonderful to be able to pick-back-up with an old friend. so like many of these photos, there’s a sentimental aspect to why I like it… but it’s also a good photo. 1st the silhouette, 2nd the framing, and how he’s slightly off center of the diagonal lines, 3rd, the window frames divide the image into 3rds, 4th, the flare, 5th the negative space of the sky is mirrored by the lightness of the floor.
this was a great morning walk in Ueland with my folks. I like that Sofya and I can be silly together. I also like how the sun behind us is giving us a nice rim-light.
it’s been really cool to follow along with Dave’s various car projects. this one in particular, the “Baja-Brat,” is both an engineering marvel and incredibly creative–which is just what I’d expect from someone like Dave! (you can see more of the car, and his many other projects on his Instagram – @savage_fab). I really like taking portraits of my friends. I think this one really captures a hardworking man who’s proud of his work.
I had the opportunity to take maternity photos of my friend Tiffany this last year. we hiked up to a nice overlook in Griffith Park and caught the last of the evening light. I got to use my Helios portrait lens for this… I’m still figuring it out, but I think this one best shows what makes the lens special. for this one, I had her look back at her husband, Greg. the smile they gave each other made for the perfect, moment. it’s a posed photo, to be sure, but the emotion in it is 100% genuine. she looks amazing, her hair is beautiful, she’s backlit, and the bokeh is soft, creamy, and a little bit swirly.
there’s something wonderful about dinosaurs. no one knows exactly what they looked like, or how they lived. but we do know that they fascinate kids (and adults). the mystery of these giant creatures is ageless. I really like how this photo captures a bit of that wonder. I like how the kid is framed between the two “snarling” skeletons, lost in the wonder of the moment. and how he was nice enough to stand in a sunbeam for me.
as I wrote this, I realized how many of these photos were my favorites, not just because of their aesthetic beauty, but because of the story behind them. and that’s what it’s about right? we take photos to remember the moments of our lives–they are little slivers of reality that we save and when we look at them, we get to relive that moment. at least a little.
I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing them and learning a bit more about why they are special. check out the full batch and let me know which ones you’d have included!
-Luke
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