Best Images of 2017

Each year I take a while to reflect on the year in passing and consider all the blessings that have been poured out on my life. And, I have much to be grateful for. Yet, I am also reminded that each passing year also brings sorrow and pain. 2017 was no exception.

I was listening to a radio program and the commentator asked if 2017 was a year that the listeners couldn’t wait to end because there had been so much pain or if they wished 2017 would hold on just a bit longer because it had been full of such joy. I was reminded at that moment of a truth that a friend of mine shared with me. He says that life is like a parallel set of tracks. On one set of tracks runs pain and sorrow and on the other set of tracks runs joy and fulfillment. Both go on simultaneously and sometimes seem to contradict each other.

I think my friend is right. 2017 has been one of loss and heartbreak. And yet – at the same time – I’ve experienced great joy and contentment. One of the sources of my joy is the time I spend behind the camera capturing scenes of beauty – at least to my eye. Here are twelve images that stand out to me as I reflect on the year that will soon pass.

I hope that this year has brought at least some joy and contentment to you and that 2018 will be healthy, prosperous, and joyful for you and your family.

This beautiful lighthouse stands at the entrance to the Coquille River in Bandon, Oregon

First light of the day on the alley of oaks at Tomatley Plantation

The sun rises through and over the Folly Beach Pier near Charleston, SC

An old stone house overlooking the valley below Troutbeck situated along the old coach road from Windermere to Penrith

A steam locomotive and American flag on a run in coastal Oregon

Heavy snowfalls are rare here but when they come they turn the landscape magically beautiful.

Cumulus clouds on a beautiful summer day in the Lake District reflected in Tewet Tarn

The Roaring Fork near Gatlinburg, Tennessee in spring

An iconic view of the Atlanta skyline that never gets old to shoot. Clouds were still illuminated by the setting sun thirty minutes after the sun had dropped below the horizon.

The sun settles below the horizon formed by the Cowee Mountains in western North Carolina

The scale of the Columbia River Gorge is put into perspective by the single hiker on the ridge in the foreground

Latourell Falls as viewed from the approach trail through the surrounding forest

Advertisement