City Daily Photo Theme Day - Best of 2017

January 1 is the day City Daily Photo members post their best work of the year. It's theoretically supposed to be one picture, I think, but I'm greedy. These are my favorites. 
       

There is a tie for first, two photos taken a short time apart in Canyonlands National Park In Utah. The first is the baddest of the badlands. The second shows two men playing with their cameras, while only a child appreciates the awesome beauty of the scene.     

Portrait Of The Year

Our friend Olivier Perrin on the tramway between Governor's Island in the East River, New York City, on our way to midtown Manhattan.      

Leading to the Travel Photo Of The Year

Taken seconds after the last one with a 180 turn - the Queensboro Bridge from the tramway heading into midtown.      

Best Theatrical Picture

I've done a lot of theatrical photography in last year and this shot is my favorite - Chicago performer Matthew Markum doing Pollack: A Frequency Parable. Free jazz with words and abstract expressionist art.   

Best Grandchildren, Period

Audrey  and Ellie, taken in Clare, Michigan, within a few days of their second and fourth birthdays.

And last, another best picture of paradise, Playa Langosta, Tamarindo, Costa Rica. It's been here before. Thanks, Dave and Julie! 

More adventures await.

Model By Chance

It's legal in the US to photograph anyone in public spaces with the usual restrictions on commercial use. It's not like that everywhere. (Don't photograph other people's kids in the UK without permission!) So when I was presented with someone else's model overlooking the Canyonlands bottom I took what was offered. 

Gotta get out on the streets of STL again this weekend. There are a couple of things going on.

    

Would You Drive This Road?

That dirt road is the Schafer Trail. It zig-zags down from the mesa on top known as the Island In The Sky to the floor in Canyonlands National Park, a drop of nearly a mile with sheer drop-offs throughout. We did it as passengers in a heavy four wheel drive vehicle. That was scary enough.             

Canyonlands In Bad Light

While Tuesday was brilliantly sunny, most of yesterday was hazy and covered in wispy cloud. Not the kind of light you're looking for on a day trip to Canyonlands National Park. So, to paraphrase an old saying, when life gives you lemons, open Photoshop. Try B&W, bump up the saturation and contrast, leave it dark, sharpen like crazy.

And by the way, I was wrong when I said yesterday that there are only two national parks with arches. The second photo is Mesa Arch in Canyonlands. A commenter told me that Bryce Canyon, to the west in Utah, has some, too.