My Top 10 Travel Photos 2019

Some of my favorites on Flickr in 2019: 1. The Sunset That Wouldn't End, 2. Oak and Granite, 3. Milky Way and Sunrise Light, 4. Bodie Milky Way and Mill Reflection, 5. Cottonwood Trees Against Shadowed Pines, 6. Intricate Bodie Sunset, 7. Tufa Island Reflection, 8. Return of the Rainbows, 9. Nevada Mines and Ghost Towns at Night 

It's that time of year again! Photographers are posting collages of their Top 9 most popular posts on Instagram. I only put 42 images on Instagram in 2019 so far, less than one per week. Due to variations in number of people on Instagram at various times of day and how the site's new post distribution algorithms affect my posts, I didn’t see many of my own favorite images among the most-liked posts on my Instagram account (shown below),so I tend to make my own selection.

I don't have the privilege or luxury of being able to travel the world to pursue great images, but I live within easy driving distance of spectacular mountains, coastlines and deserts. I anticipate unique sun, moon and star positions to enhance compositions, and in the course of exploring new locations for workshops and sharing them with photographers in workshops in the best seasons, I do capture a nice photo from time to time.

How to find and choose the best? On Flickr I find over 450 photos when I search for “2019”, and I saved over 100 new images into a 2019 Favorites album on Flickr:

2019 Favorites album on Flickr 

As is often the case, some of my favorite images are newly-produced edits of past work, often discovered when revisiting old folders. As my tools, skills and objectives evolve, I see new opportunities for old images, often ones that I've never post-processed before. For the sake of my year-end roundup, I sort them to the end of my 2019 Favorites album and attribute them to their prior year. So for a top ten selection for 2019, let's go with the 10 images below. Top 10 Favorite 2019 Images I don't like selecting my year-end favorites too early since we often get great weather in early winter, as the following December 13 sunset on flooded salt flats in Death Valley demonstrates:

Badwater Basin, Death Valley National Park

#1    Rain is uncommon in the lower reaches of death Valley, where an average of only 1.9' falls, but sometimes runoff from rain in the mountains above helps temporarily restore prehistoric Lake Manly in Badwater Basin. A few weeks earlier, I came across great light on an oak in one of Yosemite's meadows:

#2:


This image quickly became my latest print, and it looks particularly good in a metallic print on paper, selected from my SmugMug site. New places were featuring prominently in my favorites, perhaps partly because they're new, but also I think that it's easier to take an entirely fresh look at a location when it's your first time there. Although I've visited White Pocket, Arizona before, this was my first clear night there:

#3:


I had just picked up the Nikon D850 in December, and not only was this one of my first Milky Way images captured on it, I was interested in testing its dynamic range on the Milky Way reflection.

#4:
I like a good challenge, so Milky Way reflection was on the menu again in June in Bodie State Historic Park:

#5:
 Every year I run across new time-light dependencies in Yosemite National Park. Fall opportunities in particular can rely on a single set of vegetation getting spotlighted with light for a few minutes, like these young cottonwood trees by the Merced River:



While opportunities based on sun position are repeatable and predictable, other times an opportunity is more serendipitous, like sunset color on complex storm clouds in Bodie:

#6:

Sometimes we revisit a favorite spot, only to be treated with exactly the kind of lihgt we like to see from it, like this Belt of Venus effect captured at Mono Lake:

#7:

Weather can enhance our compositions, like this third brief double rainbow that appeared one evening in Bodie:

#8:

Other compositions can be anticipated months or even years in advance, you just have to allocate time in your schedule to go get them, like the Milky Way rising over this mine in Nevada:

#9:

Even locations with iconic compositions can offer great results if you look a little harder at what else is there, like this downstream composition at Kanarra Creek in Utah, which works well without Upper or Lower Kanarra Falls:

#10:


I still have dozens of places on my "to do" list, come experience the thrill of discovery! So that last image was a bonus, and the one prior isn't really one of my "best" photographically speaking, but you can find dozens of contenders in my 2018 Favorites album.

2019 Runners-Up

Other 2019 images I liked but didn't quite include:



For some reason Thor's Well seems frequently enough captured that it needs particularly good atmospheric conditions to make it stand out. No doubt I'll revisit the place more to see what else the site delivers in light and conditions. Sometimes there's no place like home, like this winter storm reflected on Topaz Lake:



Prior Years' Images Discovered or Reworked

 Sometimes I can't get to a particular image in the year I captured it, either because I lack a sufficient tool to do it justice, or I simply don't have the time required to work on it. My "new or improved" images from past years included some real stunners, particularly ones re-imagined in black and white:




Honors & Recognition

 

View this post on Instagram

 

“Sunrays On Yosemite Valley Morning Fog” By Jeff Sullivan. Find out the story behind the shot in our latest issue, which covers all areas of black-and-white photography. . . . . . . #OPNovember #OPWildlife #landscape_lovers #landscapephotography #fantastic_earth #landscape_captures #ic_landscapes #ig_exquisite #ourplanetdaily #landscape #landscapelovers #instanaturelover #welivetoexplore #allnatureshots #specialshots #landscapestyles #nature_perfection #explorecreate #artofvisuals #wonderfulplaces #wildernessculture #lifeofadventure #travelstoke #liveessential #peoplescreative #visualgang #welltraveled #NationalParks #wanderlust

A post shared by Outdoor Photographer Magazine (@outdoorphotomag) on Nov 28, 2019 at 12:01pm PST

Photo Of The Day: “Sand Dunes Black and White 2015” by Jeff Sullivan. Location: Death Valley National Park. View our Photo Of The Day gallery at https://t.co/Kp4tdqKo1L pic.twitter.com/Iegz4Y794e

— Outdoor Photographer (@OutdoorPhotoMag) December 5, 2019

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Congratulations to @jeffsullivanphotography for winning the recent Your Best Photo of 2018 Assignment with the image, Golden Hour on the Oregon Coast. “Sometimes, the most interesting photos we take are from a new location or from a fresh look at a place that we haven't visited in a long time,” says Sullivan. “In 2018, I took a 2,000-mile road trip to revisit some of my favorite places in Oregon. Although I lived in Oregon for years in the 1980s and revisited a lot in the mid to late 2000s, I hadn’t been to some of these places in years. I had a great time on this latest lap, but even with 2-plus weeks it wasn’t enough time, so I’ll just have to go back soon! “My main exposure here was 1/8th of a second at f/16, ISO 200, and that produced a useful result, but HDR processing in Photomatix provided more shadow detail and highlight color, for a better overall result. The images were adjusted in Adobe Lightroom prior to HDR processing, then additional adjustment was conducted afterward as well.” * * * #OPAssignments #Oregon #landscape_lovers #sky_captures #landscapephotography #fantastic_earth #landscape_captures #ic_landscapes #ig_exquisite #ourplanetdaily #landscape #landscapelovers #instanaturelover #welivetoexplore #allnatureshots #specialshots #landscapestyles #nature_perfection

A post shared by Outdoor Photographer Magazine (@outdoorphotomag) on Feb 26, 2019 at 10:30am PST

Now it’s time to go out and capture another 100+ from 2020! To join me in the pursuit of images like these, check out my workshops listed at the top of the blog on my Web site.

My Favorite Landscape / Travel Photos from Each Year, 2006 – 2018

Here are some of my collections from prior years.  It has been a great 14 years of adventure, I can’t wait to see what I can find to show you in the years to come!

2018 Favorites photo album on Flickr 
2018 Top 10 Landscape/Travel Blog Post

2017 Favorites photo album on Flickr 
2017 Top 10 Landscape/Travel Blog Post

2016 Favorites photo album on Flickr 
2016 Top 10 Landscape/Travel Blog Post

2015 Favorites photo album on Flickr 
2015 Top 10 Landscape / Travel Photos Blog Post

2014 Favorites photo album on Flickr 
2014 Top 10 Landscape / Travel Photos blog post

2013 Favorites photo album on Flickr 
2013 Top 10 Landscape / Travel Photos blog post

2012 Favorites photo album on Flickr 
2012 Top 10 Landscape / Travel Photos blog post

2011 Favorites album on Flickr 
2011 Top 10 Landscape / Travel Photos blog post

2010 Favorites album on Flickr 
2010 Top 10 Landscape / Travel Photos blog post

2009 Favorites photo album on Flickr
2009 Top 10 Landscape / Travel Photos blog post

2008 Favorites photo album on Flickr
2008 Top 10 Landscape / Travel Photos blog post

2007 Favorites photo album on Flickr 
2007 Top 10 Landscape / Travel Photos blog post

2006 Favorites photo album on Flickr
2006 Top 10 Landscape / Travel Photos blog post

My most popular photos on Instagram in 2019. #bestnine2019[/caption]

Top 10 Travel Photos: 2013

Fall colors season came early and went really fast in 2013

Continuing the retrospective look at my last decade of travel and landscape photography, 2006 - 2015, here are some of my favorites from 2013.

The most amazing sunset I've experienced in Bodie so far!

This is during that same June 2013 sunset in Bodie as the photo above!

What amazing light at Yosemite's Valley View!

I don;t know how many times I've pursued the moon rise at Mono Lake, but it's different every time!

Amazing sun rays over Ebbetts Pass, as seen from Monitor Pass

Gower Wash below Zabriskie Point

Light Painting on the Badwater Salt Flats in Death Valley National Park

Lenticular clouds at sunset in my front yard at Topaz Lake, on the California / Nevada border.

The "potholes" on the California Coast near La Jolla

This was a selection of a few of my favorites from an album of over 45 photos from 2013, so there are many more that you might prefer over these. To see more of them, click on the link or album photo below.

More of my favorite photos from 2013:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffreysullivan/albums/72157651147968922

Top 10 Travel Photos: 2012

Mid-October, 2012, about a week before a storm dropped 3 feet of snow on the Sierra Nevada.

I was out camping to catch the Lyrid meteor shower in April, and this storm started as I was cooking dinner on the campfire!

Continuing the retrospective look at my last decade of travel and landscape photography, 2006 - 2015.  Here are some of my favorites from 2012. My second full year covering Southern California for my guidebook "Photographing California Vol. 2 - South, A guide to the natural landmarks of the Golden State", I still had an absurd amount of ground to cover for the book.

I pursued a lot of astrophotography in 2012, including many moon-landmark alignments, which change every year

These fishermen didn't even see the coyote on the beach behind them!

In 2012 I started my night photography workshops in the authentic Wild West "ghost town" of Bodie. Join us this year!

This alignment I anticipated weeks in advance was photographed from over a dozen miles away.

Sometimes the soft  light of twilight can be better then the adjacent sunrise or sunset!  Mono Lake.

Lake Tahoe in sunrise light

Bodie during golden hour, after the park visitors have left and we have the place entirely to ourselves!

Everyone was going to shoot Venus crossing in front of the sun, but I added earth to the composition as well!

This was a selection of a few of my favorites from an album of over 50 photos from 2012, so there are many more that you might prefer over these. To see more of them, click on the link or album photo below.

More of my favorite photos from 2012:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffreysullivan/sets/72157651147837112

Top 10 Travel Photos: 2011

Yosemite Falls Moonbow Star Trails, finalist in the 2011 Astronomy Photographer of the Year contest

Continuing the retrospective look at my last decade of travel and landscape photography, 2006 - 2015.  Here are some of my favorites from 2011. This was my first full year covering Southern California for my guidebook "Photographing California Vol. 2 - South, A guide to the natural landmarks of the Golden State", so naturally I cris-crossed the state with much enthusiasm, to find the best possible sites to include, in the best possible conditions.

Skeleton of an Inland Sea, Death Valley National Park

Rainbow Over Font's Point, Anza-Borrego State Park

Earth, Wind, Fire and Water on the Big Sur Coast

Morro Rock from Montana de Oro, California Coast

Alien Terrain, Mojave Desert, California

Goldfields and Poppies at Sunrise, Antelope Valley

Out of This World, Mono Lake, Eastern Sierra

First Light on the Dry Lake, Eastern Sierra

Spring Storm Arriving in Yosemite Valley

This was a selection of a few favorites from an album of over 50 photos from 2011. To see more of them, as well as some of my road trip itineraries, click on the link or album photo below.

More of my favorite photos from 2011, including my Outdoor Photographer Magazine cover: 
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffreysullivan/albums/72157650751241608

Stargazing

This image won the People and Space category in the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2011 competition conducted by the Royal Observatory, Greenwich (home of Greenwich Mean Time and the Prime Meridian).

My daughter Nicole Sullivan won Runner Up (second place) in the Young Astronomer category. They sent a film crew up from Los Angeles and interviewed her for 7 hours! Here's the video: www.vimeo.com/28740663

Full results including all awarded images: www.nmm.ac.uk/visit/exhibitions/astronomy-photographer-of...