architecture,  Black and White,  Cactus,  Candid Portraits,  Canyon De Chilly,  Cityscapes/Urban,  clouds,  coffee shops,  desert,  Documentary/Street,  flowers,  fog,  fountain pens,  Great Sand Dunes National Park,  HDR,  journal,  landscape,  lifestyles,  mountains,  National Monuments,  natural areas,  Plants,  sunrises,  sunsets

Happy New Year!

I do not normally post favorites of the past year as it just did not interest me. However, it is a good exercise to reflect back over the past year because we can assume nothing much happened. Reflection is wonderful so here are a couple things that happened this past year.

I had a chronic medical problem reach a critical stage in late May and needed to have surgery. The surgery was a success and the quality of my life improved greatly.

I did take in a couple of trips. One trip took me the Phoenix area for about 6 weeks. I did some camping on my drive down; one night in The Great Sand Dunes and one night at Canyon De Chelly National Monument. I was able to spend quality time with my parents which is always good. Then my sister and I flew down to Phoenix for Thanksgiving with family. Awesome time and way to much food consumed.

I’m enamored again with fountain pens. Had several given to me and purchased six of my own. Now have 14 to choose from each morning when I pick up my journal. Let’s see, what color of pen and ink to want to use today is the biggest decision to start the day. 🙂

Most of my photography seemed to be focused on the street scenes, candid portraits and fewer landscapes. I also did a few portraits. I worked more with black and white images for the year. Anyway, below are a few images I like from this past year.

It is my hope everyone has a wonderful 2017 filled abundantly with joy, love, peace, serenity, adventure, family, friends, new beginnings and dark chocolate.

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Retired. Having fun with photography. Journal daily. Meditate daily. Learning haiku/poetry. Have a love for fountain pens.

7 Comments

  • Mark

    A very nice set from the year Monte! I really like the sun on wall and desert landscapes. Happy New Year to you sir, and glad to hear your health is on the upswing.

    • Monte Stevens

      Thanks, Mark. Just as in the past I’m not sure where I’m going in the coming year. Each day is new and can be exciting as anything before. Most of that is our attitude! No resolutions. As for the health issues, I’d forgotten what it is like to piss normally. 🙂

  • Tom Dills

    Very nice collection of photos, Monte. And I liked the captioning for a sense of your thoughts. Hope your year has more adventures of the pleasant sort!

  • E.Brooks

    All-in-all it sounds like a pretty good year, Monte. Even with the medical problems the outcome was good. I hope 2017 is even better for you. Thanks for sharing your favorite photos…a very nice group of images.

  • David Leland Hyde

    Enjoyed seeing what you picked as your retrospective images for the year. I love your blog and feel you could just as easily pick a lot of others you posted this year, but that doesn’t take anything away from the quality and beauty of these. My favorite is the black and white in Ft. Collins. May you have a prosperous and rewarding 2017. Glad to hear your surgery went well and it helped you feel better. Hope we finally get a chance to meet this year.