It’s the end of the year (actually, already the start of a new one) and time for me to review my photos from 2021 and pick my favorites. This is something that I didn’t even bother to do at the end of 2020 although I did write a “Goodbye 2020” post that included some images.
2021 was certainly better in many ways than 2020 was (for us) but never achieved anything close to what I expected (more of an expectation issue on my part than an indictment of the year). Even though we were completely vaccinated by the end of February ’21 (owing to our advanced years, of course) vaccination progress across the country seemed less than ideal (my understatement of the year) and we continued to cancel anticipated travel during more than half of the year and what little photography I did in that earlier half year continued to be very home-focused.
Our Backyard
The image at the top of this post is not, strictly speaking, in our backyard, but is in the yard of a next door neighbor and is very close to our fence (so, it was ‘captured’ from our backyard). Many kinds of trees leaf in the early spring and that is followed by buds which become flowers (on trees which flower) and maybe even fruit. That photo was taken in late February and is of a single Magnolia blossom from a “Cultivated Magnolia Tree” which buds and flowers first, followed by eventual leafing.
Half Moon Bay
In very late August, we decided to venture out for our first, very brief trip, to a hotel on the coast within a 40 minute drive from home. That travel “excitement” is documented in my Finally, a (brief) trip to blog about post. My favorites include:
New England Road Trip
Extending our “explorer bones” beyond the short drive from home trip, in late September we met up with our travel buddies in Boston and visited places primarily in Massachusetts. You can read more about that adventure in A Longer Trip to Blog About. Here are my fav’s from that trip.
This first image is not my normal kind of (mostly landscape) photo but while on Martha’s Vineyard, while we were waiting for a taxi, I noticed this weather vane (maybe also a lightning rod?) and decided it was one of the most unusual I’d ever seen so I moved about to get the best angle I could manage and captured this…
The next two photos were taken in the more northern Massachusetts town of Rockport, on Cape Ann.
Maui
Finally, in early December, we returned to Maui for a much anticipated visit after having not traveled there since May 2019. My recent blog post about that trip can be found at Return to Maui – after 2.5 years. Each of the photos below were taken from the beach at Napili Bay.
Strictly speaking, I wasn’t on the beach for this first shot but standing at the entrance to the Sea House restaurant — it is really that close to the shore. The other two shots were much closer to the water (in one case, almost too close).
I hope you enjoyed my view of favorites of 2021. As I’ve mentioned before, when presenting my favorites in previous years, I fully understand that my choices may not be your favorites (and I may have left out one or more that you felt were better or just more interesting). If you’ve any comments on this topic, feel free to leave me a note in the Comments section, below.
Ced's Blog 
What incredibly beautiful scenes you have artfully captured, Ced. You are able to feature the sheer beauty of nature in both its simplicity and complexity. Thanks for sharing.
LikeLike
You are too kind, Judie, but that’s what I remember most about you. Thank you very much.
Ced
LikeLike