Each year, the ViewFinders take a walk down memory lane and filter through the photographs we’ve made over the past year. It’s always tough to select the one to share because so many have special memories attached that we want to highlight.
Each of us has narrowed down our favorites to one image that sparked something within us to share for 2022. We will be taking a short break from posts to spend quality time with our loved ones for the remaining days of 2022 and will resume posts at the beginning of the New Year!
With all the love from each of us at ViewFinders…
I took this photo of the branches of our river birch tree in late February of 2022, during a sleety ice storm. Though the day was cold and raw and gray, the bokeh-lighted raindrops, ice rimmed branches, and the tiny slashes of sleet made this scene into a festive, sparkly wonderland. What more could I ask on a dreary winter day? All the best for the year ahead! —lucy
This is the view looking down the river Arno in Florence. It’s that view we have all seen so many times, but slightly different from the usual. Which pretty much sums up my year. Things are the same but different. And I have to decide whether I want them to stay this way or go back to the usual way. And through it all, life keeps moving. -Kirstin
This image was taken this summer in Finland. We hadn’t been able to see my husband’s parents for several years, during which they had both had serious health issues. On this day we drove to Hanko/Hangö and stood together in the sunshine, delighting in the view out towards the archipelago. I love their obvious closeness and joy in each other, and the accidental coordination in their clothing. I am looking forward to more moments like this. Happy New Year – Julia
At first blush this feels kind of like an odd choice. We were on one of the last days of a week-long Black Hills, SD camping trip with our COVID-buddy-family and were mid-big-hike. The kids (and grown ups too) had all been mega-troopers during the whole thing, and this was the one really big hike that I had really wanted us all to do. This was just one tiny little moment, a pause for a quick snack and gulp of water. The kids and all were ready to get going again, my husband insisting I have a drink of water too. Just this one tiny little moment that matters and doesn’t. And don’t they all? I’m hoping to get back into the habit of intentional noticing in the new year. It’s been a doozy the last few and I’m feeling a reset coming on. So here’s to those moments. Those tiny, little, ever-so meaningful moments. —Alison
Being at the water’s edge at sunset or sunrise might be one of my favorite situations. This year’s trip to Michigan was magical and filled with so many wonderful memories and photos that it was difficult to choose just one, but when I think back fondly on our trip, this is the image that cues up in my head. I think I will just have to print it and and hang it up in our house. – Angie
Even though I expected some interesting results, because…holga, I never expected this! This photograph made me so happy, that I’d said yes to the shoot, that I’d brought the extra camera, that I’d taken some risks, that I’d chased the light, and that I’d had fun with it. It makes me happy still ❤️ Chinwe
I love this image for so many reasons. It’s a solid reminder to myself to take risks and to venture beyond my comfort zone. This image was made during a whirlwind 24hr solo trip to Chicago. I met up with a longtime artist friend and talked about art. I wandered with my camera and film. I tried a new to me photography technique involving exposing both sides of the film. The trip left me feeling invigorated and joyful. I felt reconnected to a part of myself that I’d forgotten. ~ Laura
I have a love-hate relationship with this yearly tradition. I absolutely love seeing everyone’s photos, and secretly, the Community Posts are my favorite posts as it is. I also have a little dread because it is so hard to pick one photo. This is the picture I keep coming back to. I love it for many reasons. First, I took it while on a dream trip to Italy with my whole family, and while there, my daughter got engaged. I also took it with one of my favorite 35mm cameras, my Contax T2. I also love that I took this picture just for me. I have started to try and shoot more without thinking too much about it, and this photo started that practice for me. ~Staci Lee
In August, I spent a week away by myself. No kids or work. No zoom calls or deadlines or dinners to prepare or kitty litter to scoop. Alone. In a place I haven’t lived for decades, but that still feels like home. It was a challenge. To sit in a classroom or go on field trips each day. Lectures and critiques, sunrise hikes and group meals. All outside my comfort zone, but all so necessary for the momentum it gave me. I selected this image for our Community Post because it was so difficult for me to take, (photographing a stranger! while seasick!) but it might be my favorite from the week for exactly that reason. I did something hard and it was good. And oh! That light. ~Amy D.
Favourite image of the year? I have no idea. I ended up picking a photograph from one of my favourite memories of the year, our holiday in Copenhagen. This is taken inside the tropical house in Copenhagen zoo, and reminds me how sometimes, in photography or otherwise, things just come together and work out – the butterfly sits still long enough for you to manually focus on it and press the shutter button. ~Jenny G.
I’m not a natural optimist, but I make an exception with film. There’s something so potently hopeful about waiting on developing – the promise that something marvelous is waiting for you to re-see or see anew. And since I have a few 2022 rolls yet to send off, well, the eternal film optimist in me hopes my favorite photo of 2022 is as yet unseen. But for now, I’ll go with this one when my regular late afternoon walk last winter was made something much more by the appearance of this stag. He and I shared some time together, as he cut a path through lawns across roads and sidewalks. I followed, and he seemed to check back for me from time to time, no one else was around. It was a very cold silent afternoon. Looking at this photo brings back of my near transcendent wonder at the light, the stillness and his grace.
Debbie
It’s not the best composition, and it’s a little blurry, and it’s definitely not easy capturing a photo with my left hand while working while this little (big) dude starts climbing all over me, which is why I love this photo! Whenever Gibson gets bored while I’m working, he jumps up to see what I’m doing and then does his best to convince me that he’s infinitely more interesting than whatever it is on the computer screen that has my attention. And I’d have to agree! ~ Holly
This is a hard one for me, as after several fallow years, I had some memorable experiences experiences this year and took a lot of photos I will treasure forever. Here is one from Glacier National Park that has been my phone’s wallpaper for the past few months. I don’t think I will ever grow tired of it. ~Deirdre