Favorite Photo of 2023?

I may have photographed my favorite photo of 2023 last week. And it wasn’t even the one I thought it would be. So I’ve got two that I really like, and that will be hard to beat. But there are still five months left of the year.

On Friday, we were supposed to have thunderstorms all day. But there was supposed to be a small window of no rain around sunrise. So I set my alarm (for earlier than I have to for the day job) and planned on going out.

I was going to go to Winnebago County Community Park, but as I was heading that way, I saw where the light was starting to come from, and that park wasn’t going to work this time.

Instead, I went to Menominee Park on the other side of town. I honestly thought I was going to miss the short window before sunrise because of my last-minute change of location. Thankfully, I made it with plenty of time.

I found my first image of the lake and got my camera set up. When I put my camera on the tripod, I realized that I hadn’t turned my camera off from the last time I uploaded photos to my laptop. The battery said it was ok, so I didn’t think too much of it. But then my remote didn’t work.

I looked in my bag for a spare battery, and they weren’t in the pocket they were supposed to be in. I thought for sure, I was going to have to use my phone for this sunrise. Thankfully, I found the batteries in my bag. They had just fallen out of their usual pocket.

Favorite Photos

Here is the first photo I took. I enjoy the color of the sky and the way the clouds interact with the sun. It was a little windy, so the waves were a little choppy.

I walked a bit down the path and I saw this image below. The clouds were threatening more rain, but there was still a hint of the sun above the trees. This second image is my favorite so far.

This third image was supposed to be my favorite photo of 2023. I love everything about it. Almost. I don’t like that concrete square thing behind that row of trees. But there isn’t anything I can do about that.

I do love the gray sky and water, the dark trees, and the small little bit of pink just above the horizon.

Once I got this photo, the wind started to pick up, and I decided that it was time to head back to my car. I didn’t really want to get caught in the rain.

But then it turned out to be a beautiful day, and the thunderstorm didn’t come until just before bedtime.