{"id":14672,"date":"2024-12-27T17:09:51","date_gmt":"2024-12-27T23:09:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/?p=14672"},"modified":"2024-12-27T17:11:39","modified_gmt":"2024-12-27T23:11:39","slug":"my-favorite-photos-of-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/2024\/12\/27\/my-favorite-photos-of-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"My favorite photos of 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is the time of year when anyone who has the wherewithal to do so publishes their Best Of…<\/em> list. Most of them seem to be related to books, movies\/TV shows, and news stories, (and my interest in those things decreases exponentially in that same order), although there are a few lists of photos, like this one<\/a> from Car and Driver<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I take a slightly different approach in that I have no credible method for ranking photos by quality, which is implied in a Best Of<\/em> list. Instead, I scroll through pictures I took during the year and try to decide which ones I really liked, but just as important, which ones I think you, dear reader, might enjoy seeing. I did this last year<\/a> and got some positive feedback (thanks!!) so I’m going to try it again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Last year, I organized the photos by general theme or subject matter, but this time around, I’m simply listing them in chronological order, for no other reason than I’m lazy. I’m also too slothful to create a slide show or provide links to full-sized versions of the photos, although you can right-click (if you’re using a desktop browser) to open a slightly larger version in a new window or tab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, many of these photos have previously appeared in the Gazette, so either pretend you’ve not seen them before, or, if you’re like me and can’t remember what you had for breakfast this morning, view them as an entirely new experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OK, enough with the housekeeping. Here’s the equivalent of 22,000 words, plus some actual words.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
\"B&W
Storm clouds gather over Marble Falls, Texas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Photo
You should know by now that I love a foggy morning. This is a view from our back yard.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Photo:
Here’s a double rainbow, again viewed from our back yard.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The next photo needs an explanation, as I can’t remember why it’s in my collection. It’s a picture of the members of Los Texmaniac in a concert at Stable Hall in San Antonio, Texas. The band was joined by legendary Texas musician Augie Meyers (shown in the photo at right, on keyboards). I reviewed the concert<\/a> in more detail back in February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, I’m pretty sure I didn’t take the photo, as I’m also pretty sure I didn’t have a backstage pass — I think<\/em> I would remember that — but my wife and I were definitely at the concert. In fact, you can see her standing in the audience to the left of the bass player. I should be standing by her side, but I’m not in the photo. The only explanation I have is that the long hoped-for telekinetic superpower finally manifested itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless, this is the only photo in this collection that I didn’t take. Or did I?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Photo:
This one is a mystery…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Every spring, Debbie and I trek through the woods looking for deer shed (i.e. antlers that the bucks have dropped). We almost never find any, but she still manages to find a something of interest, in this case, the bleached skull of a whitetail deer. She seems inordinately happy about this discovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Photo:
Auditioning for the Texas version of Hamlet<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Photo:
Turkey vulture, aka buzzard, guarding a squirrel carcass behind our back fence<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The next three are part of the same event, and they merit an explanation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You might recall the hoo-haw over the eclipse in April. I started preparing for it months in advance, with a new camera and filter and research into the proper settings. I practiced taking photos of the sun in order to nail down those settings, so that when the time came, I wouldn’t have to fiddle with the setup. I learned that simply finding the sun through the camera’s viewfinder was a challenge, thanks to the filter that protected the camera (and my eyes), so I knew the importance of locking down the rig on a tripod once I had things in focus was critical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The day of the eclipse arrived and everything went according to plan…until a minute or two before totality. That’s when my tripod inexplicably malfunctioned and allowed the camera to slip just enough to lose focus on the almost-obscured sun. I was unable to get refocused in time to capture the totality; the picture below is the closest I came to it. But the partial cloud cover along with the partial eclipse still provided a photo with some drama that I like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Photo:
So close, and yet so far…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But the camera woes were the least traumatic thing that happened during the eclipse. As I documented in detail here<\/a>, the eclipse somehow disrupted the signal that connected my drone to its controller, sending it careening away. I was unable to locate it until the next day, when I discovered that there was the equivalent of a “Find My Drone” feature that kicks in whenever it loses contact with the controller. That feature not only shows the location of where the drone finally lands, but also records a video of its last moments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I used that feature to locate the drone in a foot of water in the nearby creek. It was starting to rain when I pulled it out, but that was pretty irrelevant to the health of the drone at that point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Photo:
There’s never a drone flotation device around when you need it.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This is a screen capture of the last frame of the video the drone took. It’s now underwater, looking up at the sky which it unwisely had abandoned. The drone was unsalvageable (but I quickly replaced it, confident that when the next total eclipse occurs in twenty years, I’ll be better prepared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Blurry
A drones-eye view of the tree through which it crashed on its way to a watery demise<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We spent a few days in May in Gruene, Texas. It was hotter than blazes but the Guadalupe River provided a cool respite, at least for the two miles we floated downstream. We lost our cool, figuratively AND literally when the pick up from the rental company was two hours late.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Photo:<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This is the weathered exterior of our lodging in Gruene. It was much nicer on the inside that you might expect from this view.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"B&W<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

We thought that the drought had been broken in 2024 with the appearance of the El Ni\u00f1o weather pattern, and heavy rainfall in the late spring and early summer supported that conclusion. The respite was only temporary, as it turned out, as we’ve received less than 2″ of rain since the second week of September. But in May, a deluge brought minor flooding to our neighborhood, and resulted in a very sprightly creek behind our house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Photo:
Foam on the creek as it overran the low water crossing <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Aerial
My new drone captured this scene the day after the heavy rainfall.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Summer meant pool time, and pool time was enhanced by various nieces and nephews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Photo:
Our great-nephew striking a pose under water at one of the Resort’s swimming pools<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"B&W
Fog completely obscures the hills in the distance.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Photo:
A wasp appears to inspect its reflection in the glass.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"B&W
This fountain is located in the plaza of the Pearl District in San Antonio.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Photo:
A Carolina anole and a tree frog share the relative safety of a wall on our back porch.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We spent a pleasant week on Maui in October, and the northern end of the island was subject to high surf warnings the entire time. We spent an hour or so one afternoon watching the crashing waves from Ho’okipa Beach Park<\/a>, and the brave souls trying to surf them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was struck by the contrasting colors of the sky, ocean, sea foam, and rocks in the following view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Photo:
Don’t be fooled by the apparent placidness of the water.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We also drove to the summit of Haleakal\u0101 to marvel at the desolate beauty of that volcanic crater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Photo:
Gazing down on clouds is always a treat, especially when an airplane is not involved.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Photo:
A whitetail buck checks out the breakfast buffet in our front yard.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Debbie and I were running down Red Sail, a city street with views of Lake LBJ on both sides, and we spotted a Great Blue Heron<\/a> standing on the bank. The morning sun generated a light fog on the water and bathed the entire scene in gold. As we turned around at the end of the street, I decided I’d try to photograph the bird on the way back. The heron had other ideas, and attempted to flee the scene before I could compose a photo. It wasn’t until I got home that I realized I had managed to get one decent picture. Kudos are due to the excellent camera on the iPhone 16 Pro!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Photo:<\/figure>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

And in conclusion…I hope you enjoy this scene of lighted trees and their reflection in the San Antonio River near Hotel Emma. Grace and peace to each of you and your families in 2025!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Photo:<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A quick lookback at 2024 through the lenses of my cameras.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14702,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nature","category-photography","category-travel","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/header_preservationjazz.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14672"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14672\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14715,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14672\/revisions\/14715"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}