Top five lists: my all-time top five photos

Welcome to my top five. These are my top five shots of all time. From time to time, I will update the photos here. Some shots may be bumped off as I refine my skills but this doesn’t mean photos might not return. As I learn, I may realize some of the hidden gems in my collection and gain a new appreciation for former top-five photos.

Note that the photos are in no particular order. All images are linked to a full-resolution file in Flickr.

Hello window!

Lumix G9 & Olympus 9-18 mm f/4.0-5.6 | Taken on October 27, 2018 in Arches National Park, Utah

Hello Window! will always have a special place in my heart. This was the first time I took my Panasonic Lumix G9 to a trip for serious travel photography. Prior, most of my travel photography was tourist-y. When I finally had the Lumix G9, I found myself more interested in pushing the technical limits of my camera and new post-processing techniques. Combined with the ease of use of uploading via Wifi to post on Instagram, it made story telling and sharing really fun.

Hello Window! is a bracketed shot. I took 5 photos with 0.3 stops of changes and merged it using Photoshop Classic. These three things, the first photo-minded trip, the first shoot with my G9, and the first time actively uploading photos to my phone, it has a lot of memories tied to it.

View Hello Window! on Flickr.

First morning at the Grand Hotel

Lumix G9 & Olympus 12-40 mm | Taken on February 4, 2019 in Vung Tao, Vietnam

Vietnam was the first time I traveled internationally with my Panasonic Lumix G9. It marked the first time I had traveled to another country with intent to document not only the tourist events, but take scenic and creative photos too. It was also a family milestone with my in-laws. I spent a lot of time with the immediate and extended family and really felt at home thanks to all of them. Last, this was also one of the vacations were I felt really relaxed (after overcoming some terrible flight delays).

One of the flaws that I am interested in nailing in future shots is the focus. I mistakenly shot at f/2.8, but it looks like the focal length was wide enough to keep most of it sharp though.

View First morning at the Grand Hotel on Flickr.

High contrast doggo

Pen F & Olympus 45mm | Taken on March 9, 2019

This was one of the first photos shot when I picked up the Olympus Pen F. Even just shooting around, I fell in love with the monochrome profile 2 in their creative dial. One thing I hope to learn from the high contrast of this filter is how to use space to compose shots.

This is a photo straight out of the camera. While I do keep some .jpegs if I do some camera to phone to Instagram sharing, this was really the first SOOC picture I fell in love with.

View High contrast doggo on Flickr.

Cheers to the start of summer

This photo was first featured as a top photo in May 2019.

I think seeing the two photos side by side reveals a really important aspect of black-and-white photography: it removes some of the most distracting elements from a colored photo to put more emphasis on the subject. In this photo, I noticed the lighting can be distracting due to the purple tinting (thought it was how I perceived that evening).

Composition wise, I really like how the people in the background add to the business of the downtown nightlife which really helps to emphasize my friend as the subject.

You can also view these photos on Flickr: color and black & white.

Queen Mary

O-MD E-M5 Mk. II, Olympus 12-40mm | Taken on May 17, 2018 in Long Beach, CA

This was taken while our cruise ship was docked before leaving. This was the first cruise I went to and I really wanted to capture a lot of photographs with my friends. I just ended up shooting this really crisp photo of the Queen Mary. I didn’t think it was much, but I always get compliments from friends and family when they see it in my photobook.

View Queen Mary on Flickr.