My favourite image of 2014

Posted by Brendan Ó Sé on January 7, 2015

12 months of photographs from Wicklow, Dublin, London, Copenhagen, Berlin, Hong Kong, Seoul, Busan, Geochang, Tokyo, Kyoto, Taipei and the People’s Republic of Cork. Having gone back over the images I posted in 2014, the DSLR image I keep coming back to is this:

My favourite photograph of 2014 (DSLR)

I gave it the title Slow releasing melancholy. There is something so soothing about melancholy. In the distance, through the dribbling raindrops you can see Tokyo in the evening high up from Roppongi Hills Mori Tower. Tokyo does mood so well. The observation deck of this skyscraper had low lights and the gentlest of jazz music playing in the background. I could go on and write more about this image, but it is all yours. See what you want to see and feel whatever the image frees in you.

I posted an iPhone photograph of my son in the art gallery of the university I work in on the last day of 2014, not only because I love the image, but because I knew I wanted to have it posted in 2014 because it is my very favourite image I took with the iPhone in 2014. James is four now and a happy and healthy, little boy. He is curious, but quickly distracted and this image captures it all for me. The framed photographs got his attention for a few seconds. He scanned them and disregarded them and moved on.

My favourite photograph of 2014 (iPhone)

So here you go, here are the 12 images for DSLR and iPhone which stood out for me. Thanks for all the visits and feedback. Here’s to 2015! Everything will happen. Believe – achieve.

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My favourite iPhone images of 2014

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My favourite DSLR images of 2014

2014: My favourite images – December

Posted by Brendan Ó Sé on January 5, 2015

And on to the final month of the year: December. This will bring a total of 11 images chosen for both DSLR and iPhone. 11 months as I didn’t post anything to Flickr in the month of April. My friend, Michael Veltman, suggested I should choose my favourite image of 2014 to make up the 12 photos for the year. So, tomorrow I will try to choose one image that is my very favourite from 2014. This will not be easy. Maybe you could help me. What is your favourite image of mine in the past 12 months?

In December, I had a short visit to Berlin to attend a conference and in the evenings I got out shooting. One evening I took a walk along one of the main shopping streets – a street whose name I cannot recall. This wonderful building lit up in white stripes to contrast with the black of the building was eye catching and I knew I had to get a few shots of it. I got a few of passersby blurred out as they crossed the intersection in front of it and headed up the street. Passing a black van and seeing how the lights of the store lit up on the side of the van got me thinking and composing. I stood on the side of the street and waited for cars and passersby to come. The results are below. Click on them for the large version.

And in this little series the one I like most is this:

December

December was probably the best month for images posted to the iPhone account. There are so many that I really like and choosing a favourite from this month is very difficult. I could easily choose any of the following images. Click on them for the large version.

Also, any of these could easily be my favourite:

But the one which I like most is this taken in Copenhagen. Reflections are another way of seeing and so often they can transform the ordinary to the extraordinary. Any time I see glass or a shiny surface I am looking to see what it reflects. This old and dirty window in Copenhagen had not been cleaned in years and the grime gave such a beautiful texture. All I had to do was wait for someone to enter the scene and in what was a ready-made frame.

December

2014: My favourite images – November

Posted by Brendan Ó Sé on January 4, 2015

November saw more photographs from Copenhagen. Choosing my favourite DSLR for November is very easy for me.

November

I struggled with processing this image and wrote about it here in November. I posted other similar images in the month which I also like:

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November has been the easiest month for me to choose my favourites. This iPhone image stands out for me. It is a simple, straight-up street shot.

November

Only one month left and then to choose my favourite image of 2014. Thanks for all the visits.

2014: My favourite images – October

Posted by Brendan Ó Sé on January 3, 2015

October saw me visit Copenhagen for the first time and how I loved the visit. It is one the coolest cities I have ever been to. The people are calm, friendly and also very cool. In the week I was there I managed to get in as much shooting as possible and had some good fortune while doing so. Having cycled all my life, Copenhagen was a delight for me. The guy who I was renting an apartment from left me use of his bike for the week. This allowed me to get around the city with ease and to see as much as possible in a short time.

I really do not think I have ever visited anywhere and come back with so many images that I liked. With the DSLR, I loved these images taken on a sunny evening on the main shopping street in Copenhagen. You can click through to see the large images.

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But the image which I like more than any that I got in Copenhagen has no recognisable features that can link it to the city of Copenhagen. It is a classic bokeads image. I have been doing fewer and fewer of those in recent times, and I do think it is something I need to get back to. I gave this one the title of “The weight of other people”. There is a theme of loneliness in these images, a yearning to be able to hide; hide from others and hide mainly from ourselves. Other people should keep us buoyant. If they don’t, cut them loose.

October

As I was saying, I was so pleased with the images I got in Copenhagen and those shot with the iPhone were also great. Here are some of my favourites – you can click through to see the large images.

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But the one I like most (even more than this one) again has no recognisable features of Copenhagen, but it is my favourite.

October

Only two months to go! What will be my overall favourite from 2014?

2014: My favourite images – September

Posted by Brendan Ó Sé on January 2, 2015

September saw 58 photographs posted to Flickr. A perfectly even split of 28 to each account. This is probably the hardest month yet to choose a single image. I had the great fortune of getting some good night shots around Shibuya, Tokyo. Is it OK for me to say that I love some of my own images? I think it is. And this short series of three, I just love.

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And here are others which sing for me too.

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These three are special for me also.

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But the image which gets my vote, the one which brings me in and keeps me there is this one. Taken on a rainy day in Tokyo, you can see Tokyo going about its business in the distance through the raindrops on the window.

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Of the 28 iPhone images posted to Flickr in September, the one I like most is this one, taken on a wet night in Shinjuku. This girl appeared from around the corner behind me and I had to quickly snap to get her in the frame. It is a lucky shot, not in focus, but who cares about that. This photograph hit Explore number 1, a nice little bonus.

Shinjuku

2014: My favourite images – August

Posted by Brendan Ó Sé on January 1, 2015

Writing about August on January 1st, 2015. Happy New Year! It is going to be a great year. Believe and achieve. That is my maxim for 2015. Everything will happen.

The first thing to happen is this continued review of last year’s photographs. In August, 54 photographs of mine went up on the two accounts. There was a mix of images from Cork, Dublin and Korea posted to the DSLR account. Photographs created on the iPhone followed the same pattern.

Looking back now, I see the short series of images I tend to present. There were these images taken in Korea of people with umbrellas.

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But the ones that I love from August are those in this series taken in Daegu. These images are me getting close to my vision of how beautiful photography can be.

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And my favourite image of the month: A Daegu delight.

August

With the iPhone, the one I love most is this taken of my brother in-law’s wife.

August

Thanks again to all. Happy New Year!

2014: My favourite images – July

Posted by Brendan Ó Sé on December 31, 2014

July was all Japan. I posted 56 photos to Flickr in 28 days. Choosing a favourite from the DSLR images is easy for a change. I’ll never forget the excitement I experienced when I first caught a glimpse of Shibuya Scramble Crossing. The black and white lines of the pedestrian crossing were vast open space as the traffic stopped for the red lights and then those lines were eaten up as hundreds of people hurriedly crossed. I watched it over and over again. Later I crossed it over and over again. I could never get enough of the place. Nothing makes me feel more alive than being in the swell of humanity surging across the Shibuya Scramble Crossing. I got so many photographs of it in the two times I have been to Tokyo, but this one is my favourite.

July

Finding a favourite from the iPhone images of that month is not so easy. There are so many I really like. I could have chosen any of these:

Ununiforming the individual

In life it is not what happens to you

Shibuya

Distances

Street Portrait

Faint heart

This nagging knowingness

But the one I keep coming back to is one I wrote about when I posted in July. One that is part of a series of images I am working on related to the concept of distances. There is something which captivates me about this.

July

Here’s wishing you all a very Happy New Year! Thanks for all your support and kindness in 2015.

Kiss that future…

Photographic Punctuation

Trying to see what can be seen and how to see it.

Category Archives: A Flickr Year