Michael's Photo parade - Best-of 2023
Every year Michael from Erkunde die Welt [↗] hosts his photo parade [↗] and also this time I'm joining it again. You can find my old entries below in the "You might also be interested in this:" section.
The rules are very simple: there must be at least 6 pictures taken this year. Michael also specifies some themes and additional tasks, but you can expand or modify them as you wish.
This time, to my own surprise, I managed to find pictures for all the themes without bending them too much.
Of course, because the themes are predefined, the pictures shown here don't really correspond to what I would show in a classic best-of, but it's still interesting to see every year whether you can find a photo that fits the predefined category.
But now to the individual tasks:
Landscape
For this section, I selected two pictures that do not show untouched nature, but the embedding of two buildings in it.
The first shows one of the most famous buildings in Japan, Himeji Castle. I also used this picture as the cover picture for the travelogue about my trip to Japan. You can find it here.
The second picture shows the Chapel of the Trinity (Wallfahrtskirche Kappl) in Waldsassen. It is located in the middle of fields a few kilometers outside the actual town. We visited it on a sunny Saturday morning after visiting the Waldsassen Basilica. You can find more pictures of the two buildings and their beautiful interior here.
Delicious
This topic was a bit tricky, as I'm not one of those people who photograph their food. So here are two pictures that take up the theme rather indirectly. Not necessarily photos that would have made it into a classic best-of, but somehow they still fit.
The first picture shows one of the many creative signs that can still be found in Brittany. And no one can deny that crepes are generally delicious, can they?
The second picture was taken in Koyasan in Japan. During the day, crowds of tourists push their way through the town, but early in the morning, when they are still asleep or taking part in meditation exercises in the monasteries, you have the streets and temples almost to yourself. This is also where the picture of this cook was taken as he prepares to open his food stall.
You can find out more about the visit to Kayosan here and in the subsequent post.
Water
Our trip through northern France in particular was very "water-heavy" (both from above and in terms of motifs). So it's hardly surprising that I chose two pictures from there.
Both pictures show the lighthouse in Ploumanac'h. We spent the night in the village itself and I went to this spot, which I had chosen the evening before, before sunrise.
The red rocks also look great at sunset, but I like the cooler pictures from the morning even better. It took me a few tries to find the optimal exposure time for the water, but I think it was worth getting up.
Most of the pictures and the report are still in progress, but will be published here.
Blue
Blue is a very rewarding category. After all, almost anything with a beautiful blue sky can be categorized here. In the end, however, I decided to take a slightly different approach.
The first picture shows graffiti in Lorient. Near the old submarine bunkers from the Second World War, there is a building that has not yet been converted to a new function but is half in ruins. A perfect canvas for large-scale graffiti.
As already mentioned, the travelogue is still in progress, but I can well imagine that this picture will be included there.
The second picture shows the Kakus Tower in Copenhagen, a new high-rise apartment building. The sky was actually much bluer, but the graphic design of the image made it a perfect subject to try out different development options in Lightroom. Here are the other versions.
Cold
The color blue is associated with cold. So these pictures would have fitted into the previous category, too.
The first picture was taken at the beginning of the year and is part of my series in which I photographed structures in puddles of ice. This one reminds me more of a starry sky than a puddle.
The second picture on the other side is one of the last ones I took this year. Lichtenstein Castle sits on a rock high above the village. I photographed it from a hill on the opposite side.
I had the idea for this winter photo for quite a while but the first attempt a few days before failed due to the fog that had formed on the Swabian Alb. A few days later it worked - just in time before the snow thawed again.
Black and white
In principle, you can process images of almost any genre in black and white. In times of digital photography, you don't even have to decide in advance, as (if you shoot in RAW) almost every camera saves color images anyway and you only switch to black and white in post-production.
Nevertheless, some motifs are more suitable, and where I already know when I'm taking the photos I'll create at least one version in black and white. For me, these are mainly motifs with high contrast or somewhat graphic motifs.
As an exception, I have picked out 3 pictures in this section.
I took the first picture in the entrance hall of the train station in Kyoto. I was standing in the basement and photographed through an opening in the first floor towards the ceiling. You can find more, and more typical, pictures from Kyoto here and on the following blog entries.
The second picture shows a rather unusual view of the Peace Museum in Hiroshima and the third picture was taken in the round tower in Copenhagen. You can read about what we experienced there in this blog post.
As described above, there are also some additional tasks in addition to the actual topics. The first one is
Hot
One of the highlights of my visit to Japan was a short helicopter flight over Mount Aso, an active volcano near Kumamoto.
More photos and some background information can be found here.
View
One picture that must not be missing in this collection is the view of Mount Fuji. I was there in spring during the cherry blossom season, a time of year when the mountain is rarely visible that beautifully.
You can take a cable car to a viewing platform. On the last few meters, which you still have to walk, a last tree has survived, which makes a nice frame for the mountain. Here is another version, taken from the lakeshore.
On the same day, we went on to Matsumoto. The second picture was taken the next morning and shows the view of the castle and the Japanese Alps in the background.
Animal
I didn't take many animal photos this year. However, I did find two nice portraits.
Colorful
The first thing that came to my mind for this topic are the many colorful graffiti that I photographed this year. In the end, however, I decided on two other photos.
The first picture shows the portrait of one of the mask wearers at the Hallia Venezia in Schwäbisch Hall. Not necessarily the best one taken there, but the best fitting. You can find more pictures here.
The second picture is again from Japan, this time from Osaka. Shinsekai is an entertainment district with many restaurants. They try to attract attention with oversized neon signs. Absolutely worth seeing! You can find out more here.
But if you would like to see some of the graffiti I photographed this year, have a look here or here. There will also be some more in the upcoming travelogue about the trip to Northern France.
Heart
The fact that I found a picture on this topic surprised me the most. It shows a neon sign for a restaurant. Not much more to say about it.
Modern
For "Modern" I have quite some pictures of modern buildings to choose from, but I wanted a little more variety. Therefore, I picked also a picture of the Shinkansen.
The first picture is a detail of the Osaka Sky Building. It shows a sky-bridge between different parts of the building. The link to the corresponding travel day is the same as for the picture from Osaka under "Colored".
The Shinkansen is the Japanese version of a high-speed train. There are different variants that can reach up to 320 km/h.
Photographing them is not so easy, as the conductors in the stations make sure that you keep your distance from the tracks when the train arrives. The risk of objects or passengers being pulled onto the tracks is probably too great. So the best chance is to catch a train at its final stop.
And what is my favorite picture from 2023?
If I had to choose, it would be this one:
