The end of the year is traditionally a time to look back and take stock before looking forward. I enjoy reading lists of books of the year, films of the year or tracks of the year and comparing them with my own favourites. And with that in mind I wondered which would be my five favourite images of the year (taken by me, I mean). What do they reveal about me, my interests and my photography during 2017? I didn’t want to put a huge amount of thought into this list, but just go with my gut and choose my favourites. So here they are in no particular order.

I’ve never deliberately made a light leak. It’s been on my list of things to do, particularly after being inspired by Wendy Laurel, but somehow I’ve never got around to it. So it was a wonderful surprise to find this light leak on a picture of our daughter, Ella. She’s had a fantastic year so this felt particularly lucky.

This picture of Miles was taken on what was probably my favourite day of the year: the day we took a boat around the coast of Puglia on our summer holiday, exploring coves and swimming into caves. The day was magical in every way.

I’ve taken images of people jumping into the sea before but this was a bit different. After spending the afternoon in and around the sea by Ostuni, we stopped on the way back to the car to watch the drama as various people jumped off a rock. It was a celebration of life, of happiness and enjoying the summer. And in my case, a reminder that I should always bring a film camera!

We spent a cheeky weekend in Sicily at the end of August, to celebrate my birthday and to say goodbye to a wonderful summer. On our last evening, after a beautiful swim in the warm waters off Cefalu, we walked to the town for dinner and watched as the light changed on the seafront and people jumped in. I’ve often looked for framing devices when taking photographs this year and the arch here was perfect.

Pizza in our house is a bit of an institution. Over the years (and I’m talking about almost 30 years at this point) we have refined and refined the recipe, technique and equipment we use to make pizza. I make the dough (using Roberta’s pizza-dough recipe) and then Tom takes over to make the actual pizza, baking it on a pizza steel. With Ella due to head off to university next year, we’ve really been making the most of our family pizza nights, and this picture captures one of them.

What are your five favourite images of the year? I’d love to see!

Kirstin

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