So, I’ve had a lot of opportunities to take pictures this year. While my instagram may not show it (“only” 58 posts this year-haha!), I’ve done a lot of snapping. I even bought a new DSLR after using the one Evan proposed with for the last 9 years (it’s now my backup body, which helped when I shot a freaking wedding this year!) I originally set out to post one favorite picture from each month of the last year, in order to send off 2018 properly. What you’ll get instead are about 22 of my favorites. Oh well-rules were meant to be broken. There are a lot of friends (the essence of my life), and soccer (which is what happens when you take about 125 GB of soccer photos in a year).
January:
Playing in the snow with Ella: it’s her smile, the sunset in the background, her red coat that makes me think of The Snowy Day-I love it all.
February:
A foggy morning at Furman; simple, quiet.
March:
More Ella, this time at soccer practice. Something about these girls sharing a snack and some gossip makes me fast forward to high school-same girls, same pose. This stolen moment tugs at my heart.
April:
Ella’s last game culminated in a sprinkle doughnut. That sprinkle plunging towards the ground, Ella’s mouth open as wide as humanly possible, her still making eye contact.
May (here’s where my discipline went off the rails):
GVLFC’s first home goal: the excitement of the guys, the despair of the defender, the light coming across the boxNever not loving smoke pictures-I love Goose’s expression as it all swirls around him.
June:
Malcolm Frago making a break for it; a very common sight this season.I can smell the smoke and hear the drums in this picture.
July:
Sheer elation, more smoke-this is soccer.This always feels like less of a picture at a soccer game, more like a Burning Man photo.I took a lot of shots of Lugnut over the season, but the lighting, his and Chris’ expressions, the colors-this one might be my favorite.I’d be remiss if I didn’t include this one. GVLFC has used it multiple times, and it perfectly encapsulates how we all felt after we won the first Carolina Classico.
August:
The lighting was perfect this night, and I love the motion of her hair. One day, I will own the lens that took this picture. The entire football team came out to support the women’s soccer team (plus the front row are all mens soccer players!) and to celebrate some goals. Again: smoke pictures.
September:
Lugnut again, dreaming big dreams while watching his role models.
October:
This was a sidewalk at work after the rain-but looked so much like a forest that I had to take a picture with my phone.
November (again, lots of pictures):
Evan indulged me a lot of pictures this year, but this is my favorite. Autumn light, taken before work in our backyard. It was foggy and the sun was just peeking through the trees. I looked over after church one day, and told Lucy just to stay exactly where she was. Something so simple, not even posed, yet elegant. The Rampeys have known Evan for what feels like forever, but I had the pleasure of taking their Christmas card pictures on a rainy Saturday after Thanksgiving. The easygoing love they have for each other is amazing.As I said, I had the privilege of taking wedding pictures for some friends last month. Redemption and grace at work. Still makes me teary.
December:
We took a lot of pictures at Christmas this year, but my sister’s dog Ziggy stole the show. The tree lights twinkling in the background, the lighting…I am proud of this one.Of course, I have to end on one more of Ella, this time with the rest of the family. All laughing, while sitting in front of a tree that fell in their yard during our big snowstorm this month. You don’t have to have everyone (or anyone) looking at the camera to have something special. It’s intimate and joyous, and I love it.
So there you have it; it was very tough to whittle the hundreds of gb of pictures (not counting what I shot on film) down to these, but I feel that I’ve learned and grown a lot this year. Here’s to more in 2019.
