Looking for a bit of closure on the old year, I can sum up my photography in 2010 with a few stats:

• I kept about 7500 photos taken in 2010. That means I surely took more than 8,000 photos but probably not 10,000 – I don’t delete 25% of my photos. (Every one I kept has one or more tags for organizing and finding them later.)
• With Merri’s help, I’ve rated 221 photos as 4 out of 5 stars; there are 12 photos with 5 stars – the best of the lot. All of these have appeared on my Flickr pages or my Picasa albums.

I take photos every day and the environment around me is my most frequent subject, including roadrunners, hawks, and many other birds, as well as bugs, flowers, sky, and the wonderful New Mexico landscape. However, four trips account for many of the photos I kept, including Florida in May, Colorado in June, and DC in October (for a visit and a wedding). The lion’s share of the best photos came from 12 days in Guatemala at the end of February and the start of March. Among many great subjects, I experienced the chance of a lifetime to photograph a male resplendent quetzal in flight. That may not be the best photo of the year, but it is a shining example of being ready for the right time in the right place – and being lucky.

Rather than tell you more about these pictures, let me show you what I consider the twelve best of my 2010 photos:

Oh, and the second edition of my book, Digital Cameras & Photography for Dummies, came out in November (a couple of the Guatemalan photos made it in the book).

Best of 2010

Those outside of New Mexico probably have no trouble imagining the desert aspects of New Mexico, although this is the high desert, the land of sage, not saguaro. And, although everyone has heard of the Rio Grande, most probably can’t imagine the riparian habitat that hugs the floodplain and banks of the river. The dominant native vegetation of the bosque (riparian woods) is craggy, sprawling cottonwood, which can become enormous over a long lifetime. Possibly the largest remaining bosque in New Mexico is also in the heart of New Mexico’s largest city, Albuquerque. Among the many trails within this largely public space is the Aldo Leopold Trail (ALT), constructed almost two years ago. The trail leaves the paved Paseo del Bosque Bike Trail (which itself is a treasure of the community) near the Rio Grande Nature Center (another gem), located where Candelaria dead-ends near the river. A short section of the ALT is paved. All of it is level. When the pavement ends, the sandy trail pushes closer to the river, affording many views of the river, waterfowl, and the western bank of the river. On Thurs afternoon, 1/6/11, we walked about 3 miles round-trip, taking us nearly as far north as Montaño bridge, where the sandy trail re-joins the bike trail. Near that end point, we sat on a massive fallen cottonwood someone had carved into a couple of benches. In an hour and a half, we nearly forgot we were surrounded by a city. We only encountered two other people on this trail (riding horses), although we saw perhaps a dozen bike riders on the bike trail. We also saw a bird we’ve seen only once before and never in Albuquerque. Here are some pictures (click any to see larger versions and captions, which also pop up as you hover over each photo):

It is far too easy to ignore this beautiful sliver of land and water in the heart of Albuquerque,
in the heart of New Mexico, in our hearts. Get out and see for yourself, wherever you live.

A Walk in Albuquerque’s Bosque

I love photographing bugs, although their movements can be maddeningly unpredictable. Dragonflies usually sit long enough to give me a chance to zoom in. The best photos emphasize the extraordinary structure of the wings. View these photos as a full screen slideshow.

Click to see all. Then click Slideshow. Then press F11 for full screen.