It's been a really good year for photography for me, the first good year really since 2013/2014 when I did my 365 project. Finding the Steem blockchain has rekindled my love of photography and content creation in general, teaching me that I don't have to choose music of photography but can do both and let them feed one another as creative outlets.

I've been doing top 12s since 2013, skipping 2017 when photography was on the shelf for me.

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Broadway Tower

The first picture is from a trip to an annual guitar gathering in the beautiful Cotswolds area of England. It's Broadway Tower, shot early in the morning as I started my long drive home again. This is the only shot in the Top 12 on my Nikon D300 and my favourite lens for that, which was the 40mm f/2.8 Micro lens. I sold all my Nikon gear not long after this to @barge, making way for my Sony α7 III.

Matt Flinner

Matt plays mandolin and banjo with the Carpenter & May band, a bluegrass band from the USA who came over this year and played one night in my village and the next night in a church near Glasgow. I ran sound for them when they came to Arran and it was an amazing night. I did the same for them when they came over a few years ago and it was so cool to get to see them again in such a small venue. This shot is from the church in Rutherglen the following night with Matt on banjo.

Crazy Golf

The old crazy golf course in Brodick was given a much needed overhaul this year. The whole thing was destroyed and built again from scratch. This is my boy Hamish on his maiden round of the course. I have a nice artsy shot of him printed on the wall from that day, but this one captures his cheeky grin so well that it made the cut over the arsty monochrome shot. And that hat - I just love it!

Rodney Worley

Rodney's a mandolin and guitar player and was over with the bluegrass band Midnight Run. Once again I was on the soundboard for their local gig and I got to spend some time with them the next morning over breakfast when I had the pleasure of interviewing Rodney for my Acoustic Guitar IO podcast. I love the colour in this shot and the look of enjoyment on Rodney's face.

Cìr Mhòr

I got into the local mountains a few times this year, a real achievement for me. This shot is from the peak of Caisteal Abhail and is of another of Arran's famous peaks Cìr Mhòr. This was an amazing moment of sheer joy of living. On my way back down, I got another shot, which was ...

Suidhe Fhearghas Peak

Looking out over the Firth of Clyde and into the mainland of southwest Scotland in the distance.

Hector

And we're in Kraków for the next six photos, showing just how powerful and inspiring that festival really was. This is Hector, who posts on Steemit as @hedac. I just love the colour here and feel like it's a good capture. It was such a treat to get to meet him and his other half Priscilla at SteemFest.

Katrina

This is @katrina-ariel playing my SCGC Vintage Artist guitar outside on Day 1 of the festival. She asked if she could borrow my guitar to practice her set for the next night's Night of Steem concert. I said of course, and was just heading inside when she started playing. I sat straight back down again and listen to her practice her entire set, a real magic moment for me. I just love the composition of this one and the highlights on her forehead as it really brings back the feeling of that moment.

Birkenau

We took a daytrip to Birkenau and Auschwitz and I shot many photos there in beautiful sunshine. I'm not sure why this one stands out to me so much over the others; the quality of the light and the colour of the brick against the green grass and blue sky I think. These were the accommodation blocks, one of which we got to see inside. Chilling.

Pinstripes

Street photography is my favourite genre and the one that's most elusive to me. This is not a fantastic street shot by any means, but it evokes something in me that most of my other street shots don't. It wasn't so hard on the centenary of Polish Independence Day on 11/11 to get some interesting street shots. The place was absolutely heaving and the weather was perfect. Such a great day that I was privileged to attend.

Sunset

Just a simple sunset shot in Kraków, Poland. I have this as my Windows desktop wallpaper right now.

Artakas

And last one, @artakush, a kid from the world and a @DDaily founder. Meeting the DDaily crew and sharing the DDaily Mansion with them was an experience of a lifetime. This was in the Warsztat Restaurant & Café in the Kazimierz area of Kraków, just along from DDaily Mansion, our Air BNB, at our farewell breakfast. A natural light portrait over breakfast that jumped right off the screen at me when it first loaded. Breakfast was pretty tasty too.

Conclusion

So, there you have it: my top 12 photos from 2018. It took me a few solid days to whittle them down to 12. All but the first one were shot on my Sony α7 III and the Tamron 28-75mm F / 2.8 Di III RXD E-Mount lens. If you want to see the ***** photos that were my first pass through the year, I've made an album on Flickr.