At the end of each year, the "BestNine" website will scan through your Instagram posts and create a mosaic of the 9 photos that received the most likes. Many people download their mosaic and post it as a way of looking back on the past 12 months. It's a nice free feature that someone created and shared with the instaworld. I posted mine earlier today and thought I'd write a quick blog post on these shots, and share the photos here on my website also. For each one I include a link to the original post if you'd like to read the descriptions I wrote for each one.
The first one (top left) is a really old photo from many years ago, before I took photography seriously. I dug it out last summer and gave it a quick once-over in Lightroom and shared it. It quickly ramped up over 1000 likes, more than double anything else I've ever posted. It's a photo of the dragon, an phenomenal serpentine-like fold of amphibolite mixed in granite gneiss. The dragon is a "famous roadcut" in Ontario, in one of the Grenville shear zones. These layers were rolled up like a spaghetti noodle on a fork.
The second (top center) is another #FridayFold photo from the dragon roadcut; this is the serpent's tail.
The third (top right) features the rhyolite dikes of the Homestake Mine in Lead, SD.
Left side of the center row is a set of folds found below President Washington's nose, in a roadcut just outside of Mt. Rushmore.
The central photo is the only mineral post that made the top 9 this year, a schist with incredible, beautiful, large garnets embedded within. This sample is held at the Dice Museum at Calvin College, a sample from Wrangell Island, Alaska.
The 6th photo (center right) is yet another fold in Precambrian basement within Rocky Mountain Natl. Park.
Along the bottom row, we begin with a photo of bedding/cleavage relationship from the southern Appalachians. The cleavage throughout these folds is strongly axial planar.
Bottom center is another fold in Precambrian gneiss, this time from the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming.
Finally, the last one, which mustered up 361 hearts, is of tilted Cretaceous strata from Dinosaur Ridge, CO.
I've got several field trips coming up in this next year that will provide ample photo opportunities, which I'm looking forward to. I'm also taking some time to reflect on the past year. Thinking about how I might take this geophotography hobby of mine to the next level. Thinking about goals, dreams, & wishes. I'm looking to continue pushing myself creatively with my camera. I'm thinking of doing a lot more video in addition to still shots. I want to write more. I'm also curious about printing more of my photos. We'll see where 2018 takes us! Thanks to all of you who've come along for the ride!