2021 was another challenging year. We decided against any international travel and only did a few domestic trips so many of this year’s photos were taken close to home. Most photographers are collectors. One of the things I collect are images of tree trunks. I found this one at the Bellevue Botanical Garden. I think it almost looks like a beautiful porcelain vase.
It has been difficult to travel this year so I spent a lot of time this spring photographing flowers nearby. This is a star magnolia I found in Bellevue. Such a beautiful flower!
In April we took a brief trip to Hood River, OR in the Columbia River Gorge. Hood River is known for its cherry orchards and we timed our trip to be there when the cherry trees were blooming. I like this shot of the cherry blossoms with Mt. Hood in the background.
In our new house’s garden we decided not to have any lawn, but we do have several different ornamental grasses. This is called fountain grass and it does resemble a fountain. I like the selective focus of this image.
In July we took a brief trip to Mt. Hood to do some hiking. This is Trillium Lake which has a wonderful view of the mountain. I like the red & yellow kayak in the foreground of this image.
The Dahlia Association of Puget Sound maintains a dahlia garden at Volunteer Park in Seattle. I always try to go there in August when the dahlias are blooming. This is my favorite for this year.
In October, I took a brief trip up to Mt. Baker. When I arrived at Picture Lake I was disappointed that the sky was overcast, but as I was shooting the sun broke through the clouds to illuminate parts of Mt. Shuksan. Such a beautiful sight to see with the mountain reflected in the lake!
We visited Sedona in November & one morning I got up early to shoot the sunrise. I found a nice spot looking down on Cathedral Rock & shot this image just before the sun rose over the butte in the distance.
Sedona is high desert country so the climate is quite arid. But there is a large creek which flows through the valley. Oak Creek is like an oasis in the desert. I like this location with Oak Creek in the foreground and Cathedral Rock in the background.
In Sedona we visited Tlaquepaque a high-end shopping district which is designed like a Mexican village. They had some interesting illuminated decorations so I got up early and to catch the illuminations with a deep blue dawn sky.
Happy New Year Everyone. I would be interested to hear which images you like the best. Please leave a comment with your favorites.
I hope 2022 will bring an end to all the COVID restrictions and with some luck our paths may cross.
Rob Tilley Photography News & Recent Photos 
You have a beautiful and quite diverse selection of photographs! Our year looked pretty much the same — domestic travel and local day-trips only. I see more booster shots in our future! 😉 All the best for 2022, Rob.
Thanks Alex! Hopefully 2022 will be better than 2021!
I’m voting for Fountain Grass as #1 and Trillium Lake as #2 in my favorites. I have a jigsaw puzzle app that lets me make puzzles of photographs, and Trillium Lake made a rather tough puzzle — but fun. Fountain Grass would probably be even harder, akin to my puzzle called polar bear in snow. Happy New Year, Rob, and thank you for another year of enjoyment of your work.