It's that time of the year again: since 2018 we have shared our most memorable shots of the past twelve months among ourselves and the interested public. Now in its fourth iteration, the "Most memorable shot" has become a tradition we cherish at the beginning of each new year. No matter whether you're a member of the Commons Photographers User Group or not, please feel invited to share your most memorable picture of 2021 on this page. I'll start:
2021 was my second year in Butte County, California. It was also the second time we experienced living in the midst of several large wildfires surrounding us. When PG&E equipment sparked a fire close to point where the devastating Camp Fire originated, no one thought it would develop into the second-largest fires ever in recorded California history. The shot above is a picture of the pyrocumulus cloud produced by the Dixie Fire at a point where the fire started to create its own weather pattern. I took the shot on July 22 with the help of my mother-in-law who knows the area surrounding Chico best and who drove me around in her car while I was trying to find the best spot to document the cloud for Wikipedia. I can only imagine which emotions she went through, as she had witnessed the Camp Fire that destroyed the foothill town of Paradise in 2018. --Frank Schulenburg (talk) 00:40, 7 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Very rough year for me, in quite a few ways, though not entirely without its rewards. I'm choosing to commemorate it positively, with a photo from an outdoor performance I managed to get to during one of the relatively few times it seemed safe for people to gather in groups: at least for vaccinated people to gather outdoors. Flotsam! River Circus did a wonderful vaudeville which they performed several places around Seattle and Puget Sound, navigating to shoreline performances on a rather precarious barely seaworthy vessel that doubled as their stage. Feels about right. (If you want more of a sense of the performance, check out my several hundred photos at Category:Flotsam! at Commodore Park 2021-08-24.) - Jmabel ! talk03:07, 7 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
2021 was a difficult year for me personally. Photo tours with friends were a pleasant timeout. I took this photo on such a beautiful tour. I remember a warm summer evening at Kieler Förde, an approximately 17 km (11 mi) long inlet of the Baltic Sea on the eastern side of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The photo was planned, but there is so much that can go wrong each time, and that means our work isn't always easy. That evening everything worked out extremely well. I look forward to 2022 and hopefully many photo tours. --Matthias Süßen (talk) 07:11, 7 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Another year with restrictions is over. The photo tours were mainly in the vicinity of the Münsterland. If it hadn't been for the photo tasks that my daughter set me, it might just have been the usual pictures. So creativity was challenged month after month. This was especially true in November, as a surreal photo was supposed to be created that month. And exactly this photo that I like to present here. --Dietmar Rabich💬17:55, 7 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
My first photo tour in 2021 was focused on documenting photos of Institutions of Higher learning in Nigeria and this had me travelling across states. On one such trip while in transit i observed this beautiful scene and because my Camera was safely packed away in its trunk, there was no way i could get it out on time for the shot. Suddenly, i remembered that i could take a picture on my mobile device. So i did, with the vehicle moving and all. Much later when i came across this photo, the memories of that very eventful trip flooded my mind. I am super grateful that i didn't throw away the opportunity to document something this beautiful and memorable. --OtuNwachinemere (talk) 07:41, 8 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Most of my shots were quite bland this year, and this is not spectacular either, but it is connected to a nice event, Wikipedia's 20th birthday. We have made a significant mark on our culture and had a remarkable impact on the world, and I will keep this celebration in my memory as it highlighted those really well.
One of the locations I visit more often for photography is the this railway construction site and on the day the motorway bridge was demolished, traffic was completely blocked. For safety reasons, you never go beyond the red and white barrier, because trains pass through here all the time. On this day, however, I dared to do so because, as you can see, no traffic is possible. One day later, in the lower area of the construction site, I briefly considered climbing over the barrier here as well, when a train thundered past in the same moment. My blood froze in my veins and I realised how quickly fatal errors in thinking can cause accidents despite all the safety precautions and how no one can understand how something like this could happen. The track was only closed for one day. I certainly wouldn't have climbed over the barrier, but the brief thought of doing so was very frightening. Life can be over from one second to the next, even if you think about every step and live as carefully as possible. In 2022, the construction work in this section will be finished. It will take another 20 years until the entire project is completed. --Ermell (talk) 11:23, 8 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
On my daily way to work I have the pleasure to cross Tempelhofer Feld. An empty space in the midst of Berlin. I made friends, sort of, with the falcons there. Every now and then I stop by and take some portraits of them with my phone. And they allow me to:-)
Like many of us, I didn't travel much in 2021, and so my photography was a mix of documenting the area local to where I live and grew up, and finding objects in the home to record.
This dish was my great-great grandmother's (one of my paternal grandmother's grandmothers). We use it every Christmas to serve the turkey (though nowadays with a layer of foil due to all its cracks!)
I was also reminded how thankful I am that, even during lockdown, being online allows us to stay connected to both real-life friends and those with whom we only interact virtually; several of whom helped to identify the dish as 'Asiatic Pheasants' pattern, by Barkers & Kent. Its maker's mark (seen in other images) means that it can be dated to the period 1889-1898.
File:DEU-LOS-Woltersdorf-Bundestagswahl 2021.jpgIn 2021 I took almost no new pictures due to Corona. The focus was more on writing articles and editing older images. So this documentary recording from the Bundestag election campaign in Germany is really my "outstanding" Picture of the year.
Rocket Thrower and Unisphere in Flushing Meadows/Corona Park, Queens, This revisits my favorite subject in Queens. I take so many images of mundane things it's a chore finding the gems to display. Normally windmills are what I search for, but in keeping with the OP's post, just one image, and the others are in the category.
I also did not have many occasions to take pictures in 2021 (although we had a great Wiki Takes in summer, but i don't like my pictures). I took most of this year's pictures at work and this is one of them, taken with a camera trap.
The pandemic meant that I had to stay a lot closer to home, which lead me to scout a few protected areas that I for some time wanted to visit but never found the time. In the end it is a tossup between this picture for its content and another of an inscription above a door of a listed building which I suspect to be refering to my great-great-great-great grandfather or one of his siblings
I think I will always remember 2021 as the year I got into drone photography. I bought a DJI Air 2S in September and have been flying it ever since. I took it on a trip to New England in early October, and I think this shot can be said to be the first drone photo that I am truly proud of. King of ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠19:21, 8 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
This is an old fountain in the historical center of Odessa. For over 100 years, romantic dates have been assigned to this place. The fountain is one of the symbols of the city of Odessa. Photo taken while on vacation on a very hot day. I like water droplets hanging in the air due to the very short shutter speed.
First I wanted to show my first photo from a photography project since the pandemic. But it is not really memorable. But I think that I will never forget how this 12 years old boy rushed me on top of the diving tower in 10 m (~ 33 feet, 11 yards) when I asked his trainer to get there. It's been the first time ever for me at that level! And I had the chance to take some nice photos, including that one here (no, I did not jump!). He and his team mates invited me to their next competition in Switzerland and I am eager to see them again. Making new friends even during a pandemic is possible! :)
The second year of the pandemic was lazy and unproductive, at least in my case and when it comes to serious photography. I didn't do much except for (re-)discovering some local points of interest. I do like this picture (that didn't even make FP), as it illustrates a fine example of commonly disliked, misunderstood and underrated brutalist architecture.
I don't know if it would be ethical to post my most memorable shot here; it is the last time I saw my grandmother after her body had been embalmed. She is the most important person in my life and a big part of who I am. This shot was taken two days after my grandmother died and two days before my grandfather died, and it is about the closest that is published. I went walking in the woods a few times to be alone and cry. Too early for the well-known bluebells but at the right time for those pretty unknown yellow daffodils. --Trougnouf (talk) 21:32, 10 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
I was thinking between the Devil's Wall, whose structure resembles the Great Wall of China, and the Kamnik Canyon, which is locally called the 'Macedonian Colorado' as it looks like a miniaturised version of the Grand Canyon. After a long thought, I decided to go with the latter mostly because of the more difficult terrain and a small accident without major consequences I had while walking through the trail inside the canyon before reaching this place.--Kiril Simeonovski (talk) 13:08, 11 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Most memorable would've been a picture I took of my dog, who died in November, at the beach. But I'd have a hard time justifying uploading a smartphone picture of a dog to Commons. 2021 was also a year of birds for me, though -- even more so than 2020. The green heron here narrowly edges out this flicker and this killdeer chick gif as my favorite of the year. — Rhododendritestalk | 20:02, 14 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Armenia is a mountainous country, and I have always seen different but "healthy" mountains. I have shooted the mines tailings from car. These are the sources of toxic chemicals that would eventually cause environmental disasters. The photo is not of good quality, but I presented it to show the scale of the environmental horror. --Beko (talk) 16:17, 18 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
2021 will be remembered in the history of Indian politics as the year-long farmers' protest at the borders of the national capital finally forced the government to retreat and repeal the three farm laws. This photo captures the emotion at the protest site where farmers from Haryana are sitting and smoking the hookah while the farmers from Punjab are standing alongside. There is a feeling of unity and respect for the differences amongst each other. - Satdeep Gill (talk) 15:26, 19 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Like 2020, 2021 was a very lean year for me in terms of photography. Since spring 2021, more and more people here just ignore or even deny the pandemic. Obviously I was a fool, because I was still careful, not out of fear, but mainly in order not to endanger others either. Therefore, for another year, I have mostly confined myself to solitary walks, as people in the city are simply unable to keep a bit of distance from each other. This means, however, that I could hardly take any photographs – my main subject are buildings and urban spaces, of course. This (not very good) photo shows how I will remember 2021. --Aristeas (talk) 12:02, 27 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
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