My faves/best of 2009

So 2009 is over, the "aughts" or 00s are over and the teens are here. Kinda weird to think I was a teen when I started this crazy career, and that was 15 years ago. The meat of my career took place over the last 10 years — a year at the now defunct Springfield News in Springfield, Ore. (I started there in 1999), two more at the News-Register in McMinnville, Ore., and seven-plus here at the CO (by far my longest tenure at any job).
So after going through the 68,105 images I shot last year, I whittled it down to these 22 as the ones I liked best, or thought were my best, from the last 12 months. You know its funny in a way, when I did the first couple of edits I really didn't think I had anything that great, but then I decided to not worry about that so much and look for stuff that I liked and was surprised at how many there were after all. And while some are definitely well-suited in color, the B&Ws were a larger ratio, so I decided to go with uniformity (plus I love B&W). And while some would say that going to B&W is a crutch, I counter with if you can take away the eye-pleasing color and still have a good picture, then it was a good picture all along...

My year (shooting-wise) started out with the flooding of the Naselle Valley. The first sports event I shot was NHS girls hoops at South Bend (I'm pretty sure I'll be shooting that same match-up again later this week). The assignment that received the most shots was my month-long coverage of the final days of the Tlohon-nipts Alternative School, over 2,500 frames, though I woulda sworn it was more. The one-time assignment that garnered the most clicks, 1,235, (and subsequent posting of garnered the most hits, 500-some, to this blog) was the town hall meeting held by Congressman Baird in September. The weirdest thing I shot this year? Probably the thick sea foam that washed up and looked like snow drifts. Favorite story I shot last year? Definitely the Tlohon-nipts story, though its not represented in the gallery above, as I think it should be seen as a whole. My favorite frame this year? Number one in the gallery — which was also, oddly enough, the most controversial pic I took last year too. But like I wrote before, the parents and grandparents loved it, and so do I, it's such a sweet, Americana, small town USA moment IMO. Heck, I even got to shoot a pic of Barack (see last pic in gallery).
I'll probably still end up posting one or two more things that were technically shot last year on here, but otherwise, onward and upward... Happy New Year 2010!
-DKM