2014: A Look Back
Time for my (almost) annual photo retrospective, returning from a year off due to vision problems. For those of you who haven't seen one of these before, I always have two rules in building this collection:
1) One photo per month.
2) None of which has been shown on DU before.
Normally, at this point, I gripe about how difficult it's been to choose this year, because I tend to post every good image I shoot here. 2014 is no exception!
Oftentimes, in the winter months, when unfavorable weather prevents me from going out on full-fledged shoots, I've "made up my quota" with yet another shot of Mount Rainier from the viewpoint a few blocks from my house. In January, I found myself forced to go with the Old Reliable; fortunately, the moods around The Mountain are varied enough that one has a good chance of coming up with something new. This was the first attempt at shooting since my eye surgery that I felt was good enough to be worth posting.
February brought a bitterly-cold, clear day covering the Seahawks' victory parade, during which I took the opportunity to frame a diagonal shot of the Space Needle.
In March and April, I plunged back into photography in earnest; unfortunately, I also was enthusiastic enough to post every good shot (mostly of Water Falling Over Things) here almost as soon as I processed it. Fortunately, local flora gave me the opportunity for close-up flower studies -- Forsythia in March...
...and Rhododendrons in April.
May brought me to Oregon's Silver Falls State Park...
...while, in June, I finally made my long-awaited Eagle Creek hike to Punch Bowl Falls. (As I have mentioned before, this shot -- like others from this trip already displayed here -- has been post-processed to remove an unattractive branch from directly in front of the falls.)
For much of the rest of summer, Rainier was my location of choice. In July, this included a visit to the Grove of the Patriarchs.
August had me finding my "grail" image (obviously, already posted) of Rainier at sunrise from Reflection Lakes; in the hour before sunrise, however, I was able to capture this moody shot of a nearby vantage point, with the lake still shrouded in fog.
And September found me at Tipsoo Lake for this nighttime skyscape.
October was spent mostly on the other side of the Cascades, where this aspen was found on the descent from Stevens Pass.
The first day of November found me, along with countless other photographers, under the canopy of The Tree at Portland Japanese Garden.
Finally, as the first two months of 2014 featured Mount Rainier and the Space Needle, it is fitting that they return together in the final month, as December offered this sunset vista of Seattle.
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really enjoyed the September, November and December ones the most. 
Having stuck to my one-photo-per-month rule above, here are a few "deleted scenes" from the retrospective's last few months. 
In October, I also visited the famed Cedar Creek Grist Mill in southwest Washington, long a favored autumn location for Northwest photographers. Surprisingly, I seem to have never posted any of those images here, so let me make up for that oversight now.
If the first day of November brought images of flame-orange foliage, two weeks later, an arctic blast had brought winter to the region in no uncertain terms. An attempt to photograph a frozen-over Franklin Falls came to nought when I discovered that the approach to the falls was a solid slope of sheet ice. On the way back, however, I was able to capture these ice patterns along the edges of a still-flowing Denny Creek.
I thought long and hard about my December choice above, as I had several worthy images from that vantage point. I elected to go with the earliest, with the city and mountain bathed in "golden hour" light. However, I also thought it worth including this shot, taken the better part of an hour later, with Seattle lit up in holiday colors, Rainier still hovering, ghostlike, on the horizon.
Thanks for sharing them.
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I really like the September night time one and the extra December of the lights coming on in Seattle!
Thanks for posting your restrospective!
Happy New Year!
These are just awesome, breathtaking!!! 
Thank you for sharing them.
Wow, thank you for sharing these...
Now you inspire me to do the same, and since I really haven't posted a lot this year, it shouldn't be too hard. 
