Favorite Images of 2014: Top 5

This year was perhaps the first year in quite a while that I took a photo and knew exactly that the photo I just took would be my favorite photo of the year.

Here are my Top 5 Favorite photos/moments of 2014. 

5. Under a Train at Night

Over the Thanksgiving holiday I spent time with my family in New Mexico. Every year my brothers and I go to exploring the desert and ranches of New Mexico. We typically find some pretty cool things. This year we found a tunnel running underneath the railroad. When I saw the tunnel, I told my brother, "we have to do some light painting in there"! So a couple hours later, we returned with a clear sky and bright moon above. I gathered some steel wool, twine, a whisk, and of course my trusty glow-stick flashlights. The only thing I couldn't coordinate was the train passing over, but lucky, in New Mexico, there is a train every 20 minutes. So we just waited, and created this image with my brother spinning the steel wool, and me running around with the flashlights.

4. Long exposures at Zuma.

I truly enjoy long exposure photography. Especially with moving clouds and amazing colors. This shot is well over 2 minutes long. I took it about 15 minutes after perhaps the prettiest sunset of the year. Taken with a 5D Mark iii and a 16-35mm 2.8 L ii lens. I love to use ND filters, and this image is an example why.

3. The Sierra Nevada Mountains...

El Capitan at sunset. This view, in my opinion, is on every photographers bucket list of captures. 

Large panoramic image of Chickenfoot Lake in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. This pano consists of 12 images taken with a Canon 5D Mark iii and Canon 16-35mm L ii lens.

I spent a lot of time in the Sierras this year. Those trips were definitely memorable and provided me with some views of California I never realized existed. Little Lakes Valley, Yosemite National Park, and the surrounding sites like Mono Lake and Alabama Hills are absolutely a photographer's heaven. The above photos are a few of my favorite images from the year. I couldn't decide which was my favorite so I attached a handful.

2. Clouds over Malibu...

I spend a lot of time photographing sunsets along Malibu's coast throughout the year. But one location is often a missed wonder among so many that live in and around Malibu. It is at the top of Piuma Road. The road snakes it's way to the top where there is an amazing view of the Pacific Ocean and the mountains. When a marine layer sits over the coast, that layer swoops down over the Santa Monica Mountains and dissipates into a waterfall of clouds. It's a beautiful sight that I simply refer to as "Clouderfall". I captured some of my favorite images and timelapses of "Clouderfall" in 2014. It's a location I always take friends and family up to when they visit. Something I did often in 2014.

1. The Northern Lights...and a DC-3

Never have I planned and executed a photo precisely as wished as the photos above. They are of a crashed DC-3 that sits abandoned on a volcanic plain in the South of Iceland. Behind the plane are the Aurora Borealis; the most beautiful nature phenomenon I've ever seen. This is most certainly my most memorable photography moment of 2014. It is also yielded my favorite photo of 2014.  

Getting to this location was fun. Finding this location under a new moon is next to impossible because of the pure darkness that exists. But with proper planning, my friend Jason and I, mapped the location 3 days prior during the day and in a snow storm. We recorded the GPS route and returned at night by simply following the GPS path we created in the day. 

We spent a total of about 3 1/2 hours photographing this plane, light painting it, and admiring the Northern Lights display above. 

The first photo above is my favorite of 2014. It was featured on National Geographic's website and I await to see it in the print publication itself. 

As we enter 2015, I can only get excited about the images that await me. A return trip to Iceland with my brother during the total solar eclipse in March is certainly something I can't wait to do!

Happy New Year and may many exciting photo opportunities come your way in 2015! 

-cg