Happy new year!

The new year is a good time to reflect on the year past and think about what’s next. As humans, I feel we strive to create, develop, and complete projects. Completed projects are accomplishments we carry around as gems in our heart, fulfilling our aspirations as free-willed beings. Since we view years as iterations or cycles of life, it only makes sense for us to reflect on the previous cycle and be resolved for even more accomplishment ahead.

This post, similar to one I created last year around this time, is to reflect on my work in photography from 2011. So without further discussion, here it is, my Top 10 from 2011, in no particular order:

#10 “Lasting Memory”

[fancy_images width=”640″ height=”427″][image title=”Lasting Memory” alt=”During a fall sunset, vistors walk the passageways of the Arlington Cemetery, and pause with solace.”]http://navinsarmaphotography.com/wp-content/gallery/places/dc/arlingtoncemetery.jpg[/image]
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During a fall sunset, vistors walk the passageways of the Arlington Cemetery, and pause with solace. [Purchase/Download]

#9 “Living on the Edge”

[fancy_images width=”655″ height=”427″][image title=”Living on the Edge” alt=”A Great Blue Heron scales a strip of bedrock alongside the violent currents of Great Falls.”]http://navinsarmaphotography.com/wp-content/gallery/places/northamerica/great_falls_blue_heron.jpg[/image]
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A Great Blue Heron scales a strip of bedrock alongside the violent currents of Great Falls. [Purchase/Download]

#8 “Two Worlds”

[fancy_images width=”640″ height=”960″][image title=”Two Worlds” alt=”
The lowest of tides reveals a gorgeous underwater display of green sea anenomes and pink seagrass.”]http://navinsarmaphotography.com/wp-content/gallery/places/northamerica/pacnw/shi_shi_beach_tide_pool_sea_anemones.jpg[/image]
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The lowest of tides reveals a gorgeous underwater display of green sea anenomes and pink seagrass. This tide pool contrasts with farms of mussels and a foreboding sea stack at Shi Shi Beach. [Purchase/Download]

#7 “Hidden Paradise”

[fancy_images width=”655″ height=”960″][image title=”Hidden Paradise” alt=”A climb down into the gorges of Blackwater Falls State Park in autumn reveals Elakala Falls: a gem of water, rock, and warm-colored foliage swirling in multiple eddies.”]http://navinsarmaphotography.com/wp-content/gallery/places/northamerica/elakala_falls_eddy.jpg[/image]
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A climb down into the gorges of Blackwater Falls State Park in autumn reveals Elakala Falls: a gem of water, rock, and warm-colored foliage swirling in multiple eddies.

#6 “Awakening”

[fancy_images width=”640″ height=”427″][image title=”Awakening” alt=”
Sunrise at the Tidal Basin illuminates a row of pink cherry blossoms near the Washington Monument.”]http://navinsarmaphotography.com/wp-content/gallery/places/dc/washington_dc_cherry_blossom_sunrise.jpg[/image]
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Sunrise at the Tidal Basin illuminates a row of pink cherry blossoms near the Washington Monument. [Purchase/Download]

#5 “Dreams of the Tropics”

[fancy_images width=”655″ height=”960″][image title=”Dreams of the Tropics” alt=”
A pelican rests on a distant broken down pier at sunset at Puerto Morelos, Mexico”]http://navinsarmaphotography.com/wp-content/gallery/places/carribbean/puerto_morelos_sunrise.jpg[/image]
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A pelican rests on a distant broken down pier at sunset at Puerto Morelos, Mexico. [Purchase/Download]

#4 “Dramatic Rapids”

[fancy_images width=”640″ height=”960″][image title=”Dramatic Rapids” alt=”
Avenues of sunlit clouds channel across the sky over intense river flow at Great Falls, Virginia.”]http://navinsarmaphotography.com/wp-content/gallery/places/northamerica/dramatic_rapids.jpg[/image]
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Avenues of sunlit clouds channel across the sky over intense river flow at Great Falls, Virginia. [Purchase/Download]

#3 “Fragile Falls”

[fancy_images width=”640″ height=”427″][image title=”Fragile Falls” alt=”
Aqua-colored, but coal-polluted water turns rocks a bright, unnatural orange at Douglas Falls, in West Virginia.”]http://navinsarmaphotography.com/wp-content/gallery/places/northamerica/douglas_falls_autumn.jpg[/image]
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Aqua-colored, but coal-polluted water turns rocks a bright, unnatural orange at Douglas Falls, in West Virginia.

#2 “Leave Traces”

[fancy_images width=”655″ height=”512″][image title=”Leave Traces” alt=”
At Blackwater Falls State Park, a lone autumn leaf lays upon delicate ridges of sandstone, created by sediments from ancient, shallow seas and slowly revealed by the constant flow of the Blackwater River.”]http://navinsarmaphotography.com/wp-content/gallery/places/northamerica/sandstone_leaf_blackwater_falls.jpg[/image]
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At Blackwater Falls State Park, a lone autumn leaf lays upon delicate ridges of sandstone, created by sediments from ancient, shallow seas and slowly revealed by the constant flow of the Blackwater River. [Purchase/Download]

#1 “A Portal to Heaven”

[fancy_images width=”640″ height=”427″][image title=”A Portal to Heaven” alt=”
Clouds and the blue sky are reflected in a tidepool in front of towering sea stacks at Second Beach in Olympic National Park, Washington. “]http://navinsarmaphotography.com/wp-content/gallery/places/northamerica/pacnw/second_beach_sea_stack_reflection_tidepool_clouds.jpg[/image]
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Clouds and the blue sky are reflected in a tidepool in front of towering sea stacks at Second Beach in Olympic National Park, Washington. [Purchase/Download]

 

So, what do you think of my top 10 from 2011? Any improvement since 2010? Check out all of my shots from 2011 and see if you think other shots were more deserving. I love hearing from you, so don’t feel shy to give me your thoughts!

Happy 2012!