"Brothers Under the Bridge," Pittsburgh, September 2011

Between the bridge towers, originally uploaded by DC Products.

I didn't post much on the blog in 2011, but I still wanted to choose a best shot from the year. With two trips to Pittsburgh, and this concert capping a wonderful sixth anniversary day, I decided to go with it.

My gracious, giving and loving wife allowed me to spend part of my anniversary at the Notre Dame-Pittsburgh football game with three college friends. Afterward, we reconvened downtown (my three friends and one of their wives joining us) for appetizers and drinks before crossing back over the river for a Reds-Pirates game. The night ended with a postgame Steve Miller Band concert, which led to this shot.

Another great year.

2010 Winter Solstice Eclipse

2010 Winter Solstice Eclipse

It's not the best shot we'll see of tonight's eclipse, it's not going to win any awards and it's not going to make it onto Gothamist (is NJ eligible anyway?). But it was worth 20 minutes of standing on the sidewalk in front of the house for 20 minutes, fingers going numb, eyes watering, wind cutting through my jeans. We had a perfectly clear night for the event, which is no guarantee (sorry, Midwesterners). This chance might not come again and I was awake anyway, so why not take advantage?

Christmas lights time-lapse, December 2010

Christmas lights time-lapse, originally uploaded by DC Products.

My first time-lapse! I've been dying to try this and decided that putting up the Christmas lights was as good a subject as any. Now I'm hooked.

It's 729 frames, at 2 seconds per exposure, taken every 10 seconds and put together at 18 frames per second. I doubled up (by 10) on a few frames (you'll notice them) for the heck of it.

But here's the lesson to learn: Be sure to check your photo applications thoroughly before buying software. I missed that Picasa -- the awesome free photo editing software -- has a "time lapse" setting in its movie maker and it allows for several speeds of frames per second. So I went and bought QuickTime Pro, which wasn't as flexible (or as easy to add music to). It was a not-cheap (but not outrageous) $30 (anything more and I wouldn't have bought it; if only it were $35). Oh well. Just gonna have to sell some things on eBay.

At least I'm happy with the end result.

"Blue room," New York, December 2009

The blue room

It's not like I have any shortage of images to fit a blue theme, but as I searched through the images, this one stuck out -- just as it did when I first saw it in the West Village.

And no, I never did get to see Nicole Kidman's bare behind on Broadway, even though that was back when I loved going to plays and musicals with movie stars in them.

"Josh on guitar," Maine, July 2009

Josh on guitar

Good summer fun: Rafting the Penobscot by day, sitting around the campfire that night.

"Disappearing Endeavor," March 2008

Disappearing Endeavor

I've posted this photo before, but considering that I've let this blog slide a bit of late (a little over a month, sadly), I thought it was worth reposting the image now that it was selected for a New York Times gallery of reader-submitted photos. It's only 12 images of shuttle launches -- no contest or prize or anything -- but cool nonetheless. Not bad for my one and only launch and a less-than-ideal viewing point and low cloud cover. Not my best night shot, either, but considering the timing, I'm happy to include it.

"Empire o'lantern," New York, October 2009

Empire o'lantern

Every block seems to contain a symbol of New York, especially those that include a view of the Empire State Building.

"Smoke and spotlights," Pittsburgh, August 2008

Spotlight in black and white

Friday night Pirates games at PNC Park in Pittsburgh in summer feature a postgame fireworks/concert combination. The act on this August night was Collective Soul, their few known songs -- "hits," if you must -- interspersed with pyrotechnics so that towards the end of the set, the spotlights reflected off the smoke for a true rock-n-roll effect.

"Golden Dome," Indiana, December 1994

Dome light at night

This shot is among the first batch from my film archives that I scanned in last month, and it was the first of dozens of shots I took of Notre Dame's Main Building at night in the four years I was there. The gold-gilded dome shines every night and once you get your bearings in relation to it, it serves as a compass point for where you are on campus.

"Askew view on the High Line," New York, December 2009

My favorite mistake

I didn't even know I'd pressed the shutter while walking to work along the High Line with my camera in my hand. Only when I uploaded the pics did I see this askew view. I like the result.

"Film Forum," New York, November 2008

Film Forum, W. Houston

New York City has no shortage of fabulous neon signs, so a walk around the city at night can take longer than you expected if you're carrying a camera.

Day 357 of 365

Park between the candy canes

This house is just a few blocks from another Griswoldian effort in the neighborhood. Imagine if they'd been next-door neighbors. The main difference -- other than the 10-foot candy canes flanking the driveway of this house -- is that this house has a speaker on the lawn playing Christmas music, while the other one has a sign telling drivers to tune their radios to 94.1. That's some dedication right there.

Day 355 of 365

Tree rings

I've always been a bigger fan of multi-colored lights than white ones, particularly for photographs, so I changed this one up by going black and white.

Day 354 of 365

Now that's a wreath!

We're getting down to the final days of the year. I took this shot on my way into work to begin my final week of 2009, a lovely, abbreviated three-day week (Sunday-Tuesday). It was my first day in the city after the snowstorm, and while I missed all the whited-out streets and the Times Square snowball fight, I still found some not-usually-seen shots like this.

Day 352 of 365

Jefferson Market tower

Just to make sure I see as much of the city at Christmas as I can, I took the PATH to 9th St. instead of Christopher as usual and walked up Greenwich Ave. One of the first things that caught my eye at the corner of 6th Ave. and 9th St. was the shooting stars on the lamp posts along the avenue. The Jefferson Market tower made for a rather obvious framing option.

"High Line photographer," New York City, November 2009

307: Photographer

Choosing my Best shot of 2009 is a daunting task. I've uploaded 1,658 photos so far this year and taken dozens more than that.

I settled on this one because it is one of my best, for one thing. But it was also taken up on the High Line, which opened this year and has given me a pleasant alternative route to work each afternoon. I was hoping to choose one that I hadn't used as a photo of the day, but the reality is that the best pictures throughout the year were part of that project, so it was unavoidable.

The other finalists, in reverse chronological order:

• The new alignment at Washington Square Park
• Autumn at High Point
• Another amazing Springsteen show
• Sunset at Shake Shack in Queens
• A trip to West Quoddy Head, finally
• Fenway in May
• The new Citi Field

Day 351 of 365

Buy trees here!

Eight days until Christmas and trees are still lining the sidewalks around New York City. I love it.

Day 349 of 365

Streaks in the night

On my way into the city for the company Christmas party, I paused on the overpass while waiting for the train to get some tail lights on the road below, with a house decorated for the holidays in the background, of course.

Day 348 of 365

A little color in a black-and-white night

No adjustments made; that's the way it looked atop a West Village apartment building.

Day 347 of 365

Full-on display

I run by this house often and when I noticed the Christmas decorations up, I made a point to go back at night, with my camera. It was raining steadily tonight, so I didn't get out of my car, but you can see the Griswoldian influence on this one.

So much of the lights blink, including the blue ones dangling from the gutters, and "run," as if they're chasing one another. I wonder what the neighbors think. The lights aren't on all night, but I don't know what time they are turned off.