Top 10 Photos (2010 in Review pt 6)

I've said it before and I'll say it again - I take photos. LOTS of photos. Thousands of photos. And I love it.

The storage is proving a little tricky these days, and I have way too many to deal with, edit, print, look at and share but I enjoy the process so much that nothing is going to stop me! I'm not an expert but through practice, I think I have improved over the last couple of years. I know my limitations, I know what I like, and I am trying to learn.

According to iPhoto, I have 6,303 photos in my 2010 album which is quite low considering we took more than that number when we went to the Yukon! But I think there are quite a lot of duplicates in there and many, many, many bad ones that would be better deleted (part of my 2011 resolutions). Trying to pick just 10 of these was quite difficult, but here are 10 that came to mind when I was thinking of them. None of them are perfect. But I like them.

My Top 10 Photos of 2010 (again in no particular order)

1. This was my first session playing with DOF and bokeh. I have a small USB string of coloured fairy lights around my computer screen which proved perfect for a bit of pretty. I liked the fact that the jar was full of my favourite colour - pink - and I adore using buttons on my layouts.

2. And this was from my more recent playing around session with DOF and bokeh. This formed the basis of my Christmas card. I love the bokeh effect and you will no doubt see more of these types in the months to come.

3. I am not very good at taking photos of people. But I love taking pictures of nature and macro type shots of details. We had loads of spring flowers planted on our balcony last year and I spent hours outside getting up close to all those pretty springtime blooms. While this one of a grape hyacinth was gorgeous in colour, I decided to try it out in B&W - I like the effect.

4. This was a shot in response to a photo challenge on The Pioneer Woman for "Green". Who can resist pretty, sparkly glitter? I was thrilled and honoured to have this chosen by her as one of her highlighted photos. Very cool!

5. Cupcakes at Mum's birthday party. I couldn't resist that edible glitter on the top - incredibly pretty in real life and totally delicious at the same time. I applied an effect through an iPhone app that I have - love the grungy look it gave.

6. I spent a few minutes one morning when I was in the UK snapping a few shots of the über-adorable Isabella. I have loads of gorgeous photos to choose from as she is just so photogenic. There is something about her eyes here - so serious. There are others which are more fun and funky, but I think this is my favourite.

7. You've seen this before on my Christmas round up and in my December journal. I was again responding to a photo challenge from The Pioneer Woman for Holiday Bokeh and I just love the subtle colours and the pretty bokeh in the background. This is not a perfect photo at all, just pretty.

8. I have a large picture frame in the bedroom with an Ikea poster of roses which I want to replace with one of my own photos. I think I want to use one from this session of a bunch of peonies. One of my absolute favourite flowers and of course, I adore these colours.

9. Something that was inspired by Flickr - can't take any credit at all for the composition. But I loved the idea and set it up on a sunny day, loving the result. I have used it a couple of times on love themed layouts. Such a pretty idea.

10. This one kept grabbing my attention as I scanned through the year's photos. When the Chances were here over the summer, we took our regular trip to the local zoo. The Asia zone had recently opened and we were excited to see what animals they had. I think we were all a little bit disappointed with the zone as a whole but one of the highlights was seeing two incredibly beautiful orangutans resting right next to a viewing window. This shot was taken through the window using my little point and shoot and it almost breaks my heart every time I look at it. If that isn't the face of someone (let's face it, they look so human) who is fed up and disheartened, I don't know what is. Again, it's a far from perfect photo, but it speaks to me.

I am planning a short blog series about photos - probably not for a few weeks now with January hurrying along and LOAD coming up for February. I thought I would share some of the things I have picked up along the way that have helped me improve my photos. I have a LONG way to go before I can honestly say that my photos are good, but like I said at the beginning, I know what I like and concentrate on making baby steps of improvement. I want to learn so much more but it's time and money. Maybe sometime in the future...

Do you have a favourite photo of your 2010?