Best Nine?
After seeing some of the “best nine posts” on Instagram I went to the website and made my own. The result was, well, interesting. Not many of the nine most liked pictures were the same as my favorite pictures posted this year. Maybe not surprising, since usually the pictures I like more get less likes, for whatever reason. I didn’t take all of my posted pictures this year, but my favorites from earlier years also weren’t in the “best nine”.
One reason for this probably is my own emotional connection to my photos. However, I think the main reason is because Instragram isn’t a very good medium for showing photographs. Mostly people view small pictures in a never ending rapid flow. Pictures that have striking colors are usually the ones that catches peoples attention easiest. I have to admit myself that I don’t spend much time looking at a picture on Instagram.
It is problematic, especially since Instagram is the most popular image sharing site. If anything it shows that you shouldn’t use it as your main place for sharing your work. I mostly use it as way of showing what I do and to post experimental pictures.
After realizing many of the “best nine” pictures were not my favorites, I started asking myself which ones actually are. In general, it is a good idea to sometimes look through your old pictures, to see what you have done and how you can improve upon it. I haven’t yet posted all pictures from this year on Instagram (and I only started posting there in March), but I’m not choosing them based on what I posted there. The idea is to review what work I have done this year.
In any case, I looked through all my pictures taken this year and chose my own favorites (not nine and not in a chronological order!):
Summer – Getting Rid of the Foreground
During the summer I was mostly experimenting with longer lenses and I started taking more pictures without any foreground element. As a result I’ve started appreciating telephoto lenses much more for landscape.
Turkey
In Turkey I was mostly exploring and photographing ruins. I also tried photographing some new subjects, like mountains, waves and the open sea. However, I realized I still have a lot to learn in that area.
Read my Turkey posts here:
Corycus Ancient Churches
Corycus Necropolis
The Castles in Kizkalesi
Winter
During the beginning of the year I didn’t do that much photography. However, I got one spectacular day with some fog during sunset. I also saw an interesting phenomenon for the first time, a sun pillar. On the other hand I didn’t do so much Northern Lights photography, it is after all rare in Southern Finland.
Spring
The best opportunity during spring was one night when I noticed the town was covered in fog.
Autumn
Too busy with other things to focus on photography, but I got some opportunities to experiment with autumn colors. Also, I realized that I rarely photograph small details. The environment, or the context is what I usually photograph, but I want to become better at photographing details in the landscape.
Night
I realized I haven’t done as much night photography as I would have liked to. However, the next year I will have a lot of great opportunities for night photography. At least until May, when the nights end for a few months.
