Always h
ard to pick one or even a few but since we can submit up to 3, I'm putting in my top 3 here:
1) "Rise and Shine" - sunrise sky over an endless field of giant sunflowers, from Nebraska. I went searching for the sometimes elusive giant sunflower fields that the Plains are known for, at the tail end of the season, hoping to find at least one still going strong, and did I ever with this one. I arrived the previous afternoon to scout it out and take some test shots, then planned to return the following morning for sunrise. I don't know how many acres this particular field was, but it was massive, as far as the eye could see in three directions. I positioned myself near the far edge, along a dirt county road, and the sky exploded in color as the sunflowers seemed to literally "rise and shine."
2) "
Buffalo Roam" - I was thrilled to catch this American bison the one time it looked up from noshing on the lush green grass in Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota this past spring. The look is almost one of "don't you dare even try me" or maybe just bothered by me trying to get its picture. This was taken handheld at 200mm from the safety of my vehicle. Just love the expression of this majestic animal surrounded by the spring greenery. Later that evening, I witnessed a stampede of bison further inside the park, and indeed they ran a good 35mph or so!
3) "Haunted Glow" - this photo is from an all-night Aurora chase in Washington state this spring. The Northern Lights danced all night long and somewhere around 1 in the morning I was driving down rural farming road and came across this abandoned farm and shot it with the night sky and the colors of the Aurora overhead. It was so eerily quiet at that hour, yet enchanting, watching the Northern Lights among the billions of stars. I took a lot of Aurora photos this year, and this is arguably my favorite one.