My Best Photos of 2011…

…And A Brief Summary Of How They Were Made

Curved Shadow On Cliffs At Drakes Beach, Point Reyes National Seashore, California, copyright 2011 David Leland Hyde. Nikon D90.

Last Light On Mount Hough, Arlington Ridge, Indian Valley, Northern Sierra Nevada, California, copyright 2011 David Leland Hyde. Nikon D90.

The Mayan Calendar signals not so much an ending, as many have misinterpreted, but a new beginning in 2012. The Mayan Calendar, besides merely dividing up and organizing time like any calendar, also measured the nature of time. Time periods were represented by architypal glyphs that described the nature of events likely to occur during that time cycle. According to the Mayan Calendar, the current time cycle has certain characteristics, as will future time cycles. Perhaps those who have been paying attention to events around the world have observed the nature of the transition between time cycles. The new beginning already under way in 2011 is characterized by upheaval of various industries brought on by the internet and transparency, development of green technologies, communications technologies and political regime changes.

The Mayans had two calendars. One for measuring in short time intervals such as 26 days, 20 days and 13 days. The 13 day cycle is the basis of this calendar. The Mayan’s second calendar measured longer time spans like 360 days, 7,200 days and

Granite, Pool, Maple Leaves At Indian Falls, Northern Sierra Nevada, California copyright 2011 David Leland Hyde. Nikon D90.

144,000 days. This second calendar the Mayans called their “Long Count.” In 2012 the Mayan Calendar reaches the end of the current Long Count, which began in 3114 BCE, and begins a new Long Count. The year 2012, marks a transition from one world age to another. The smallest unit of time in the Mayan Calendar was 13 days. The next largest measurement was 20 days. The shorter calendar divided the year into 13 months of 20 days. In honor of the Mayan Calendars, the passing away of the old order and the transition to a new way of life on Earth, I have selected the best 13

Grain Processing Plant At Night, Great Central Valley, California, copyright 2011 David Leland Hyde. Nikon D90.

photographs from 2011. Keeping time as the Mayans did, in 13s rather than 12s, as with the Gregorian Calendar, enhances creativity, connection with nature, grounding and expansion of thought to more awareness of the universe and the unity of all things. Whereas the number 12, used in the Gregorian Calendar and our daily time keeping system of clocks, encourages logic, systematization and conformity to the established order.

Clocks and factories developed in Europe at the same time in history. Factory

Thistle Heads And Pines, Northern Sierra Nevada, California, copyright 2011 David Leland Hyde. Nikon D90.

management encouraged town citizens to follow a system of time schedule regimentation. Large clocks in town centers were installed to regulate workers in large numbers. The daily schedule regulated by clocks with time measured in units of 12, brought higher productivity and profitability to the factories, while instilling a certain order in worker’s lives and dependence on the factory system. Today in this time of transition, the human race is reinventing time and the system and thereby changing our lifestyle from

Tent Camp, Night Mist, Occupy UC Davis, Davis, California, copyright 2011 David Leland Hyde. Nikon D90.

servitude to freedom. In that spirit I present my Best Photos of 2011, as suggested by Jim M. Goldstein’s blog project.

All of these photographs except “Dancer Pose, Natarajasana, Black Oak, Mount Jura,” are single image capture with minimal post processing, if any. To read my photography philosophy and artist’s statement see the blog post, “My Favorite Photos of 2010.”

The first landscape photograph comes from Point Reyes National Seashore,

Old Cabin Porch, Feather River Canyon, Northern Sierra Nevada, California, copyright 2011 David Leland Hyde. Nikon D90.

California. I chose it as a tribute to my father, pioneer conservation photographer Philip Hyde, whose photographs originally helped create Point Reyes National Seashore. Point Reyes, on the coast of Marin County just north of the San Francisco Bay Area, is not an easy place to photograph because it is a low moor country of rolling grassland hills. The skies are often drab and the scenery rather subtle in its beauty. I have fond memories of backpacking with my parents on Drake’s Beach, renting bicycles in Olema and riding along the tree lined sleepy roads of

Dancer Pose, Natarajasana, Black Oak, Mount Jura, Northern Sierra Nevada, California, copyright 2011 David Leland Hyde. Nikon D90.

the Inverness Ridge area. Despite the challenges, Dad made some timeless photographs around Point Reyes, including one “quintessential Philip Hyde” that he titled simply, “Drake’s Beach, Point Reyes National Seashore.” Many masters of the West Coast tradition photographed Point Reyes including Ansel Adams, Brett Weston, Edward Weston, Eadweard Muybridge and others.

During our travel adventure in Point Reyes, I was fortunate to arrive with my companions at Drake’s Beach while the low sun angle brought on the evening magic hour. I photographed until Sundown. Before we visited Drake’s Beach, my party and I had walked out to the top of the stairway down to the Lighthouse, but the gate at the top of the stairway was already closed and locked for the evening. On the way out to the Lighthouse, I made the tenth photograph in this blog post, “Sand Fence Near Point Reyes Light House.” After some group photos, rock climbing and other fun around the Point Reyes Lighthouse, we drove down to Drakes Beach where I made the first photograph.

The second landscape photograph of the Sun hitting just the very top of Mt. Hough in the Northern Sierra Nevada did not result from careful planning, studying a photographer’s ephemeris or long

Japanese Maple In Upper Garden Against Forest And Sky, Northern Sierra Nevada, California, copyright 2011 David Leland Hyde. Nikon D90.

waiting for the right moment. I was driving home from Greenville one day and looked up and there it was. (View this photograph large: ”Last Light On Mt. Hough, Arlington Ridge.”) Photographs like this are gifts from Nature, God or whatever you believe in or call it. The photograph comes through me and I merely receive it. I am the creator, yet not the creator.

“Granite, Pool, Maple Leaves” surprised me. That day at Indian Falls I thought I had made a number of excellent photographs, but none of them turned out to be all that great when I opened them in Photoshop. However, “Granite, Pool, Maple Leaves” grew on me and people I showed it to liked it. (View large:

Sand Fence Near Point Reyes Lighthouse, Point Reyes National Seashore, California, copyright 2011 David Leland Hyde. Nikon D90.

“Granite, Pool, Maple Leaves At Indian Falls.”) The seventh and 12^th photographs, “Old Cabin Porch, Feather River Canyon” and “Indian Creek Above Indian Falls” came from around the same area on a different day.

Rolling through Central Valley towns on California State Highway 113 on my way to Occupy UC Davis, I noticed these strangely shaped and colored shadows on this odd industrial farm building. I stopped and made, “Grain Processing Plant At Night, Great Central Valley.”

Arlington Ridge, Oak Knoll, Indian Valley, Northern Sierra Nevada, California, copyright 2011 David Leland Hyde. Nikon D90.

Once I arrived at UC Davis that evening about 10:00 pm, I found the main Quad and made photographs there and in front of the Financial Aid building until around 2:00 am, then got up later that morning at 7:00 and photographed most of the day. I share more about the experience of photographing Occupy UC Davis in my blog post, “Occupy Wall Street At UC Davis.” Both of the Occupy UC Davis photographs that made it into the top 13 group here, I made the first night I arrived within a few minutes of each other. Number 13 at the end of this blog post, “Tents, Fountain, Dutton Hall Financial Aid, Occupy UC Davis” was one of the last few I made at the Financial Aid Building before I wandered back out to the Main Quad. On my way out to the Main Quad a group of campus Policemen pulled up in two police cars and asked me if I was photographing for my own purposes or for the media. I said that I was a blogger but I didn’t know yet how the photographs were going to turn out. I made “Tent Camp, Night Mist, Occupy UC Davis” shortly after.

Last week, after playing ice hockey and making a series of action photos at a local pond ice hockey game, I noticed these thistle heads next to the pond backlit by the sun. The beauty of the golden illumination around the edges of each thistle head caught my eye, but I made quick exposures not thinking much of note would result. The moment I reviewed this photograph after

Indian Creek Above Indian Falls (Vertical), Northern Sierra Nevada, California, copyright 2011 David Leland Hyde. Nikon D90.

pressing the shutter, I decided it was one of my best of the year.

The ‘nude in nature’ photograph of a friend is a tribute to Edward Weston and Kim Weston, who showed me excellent hospitality last year when I visited Edward Weston’s home where Kim Weston now lives on Wildcat Hill in Carmel Highlands, California. Kim Weston leads photo workshops on the spot where Edward Weston lived. Kim Weston is also known for his nudes in nature, as of course was his grandfather.

My mother, Ardis King Hyde, descended from four generations of farmers in California’s Great Central Valley. She excelled in the art of gardening and farming, as did all of her three brothers. She studied and planted ornamental shrubs and trees, flowers and vegetables. She planted a number of Japanese Maples that put on a brilliant display every Fall color season without fail, even on a lesser Fall color year like this one, where most of the other trees leaves turned quickly from green to brown in a matter of less than

Tents, Fountain, Dutton Hall Financial Aid, Occupy UC Davis, Davis, California, copyright 2011 David Leland Hyde. Nikon D90.

a week without stopping at yellow, orange or red in between. I have made many photographs of Mom’s Japanese Maples, especially in the Fall the last several years. This year’s photograph, “Japanese Maple In Upper Garden Against Forest And Sky” in my opinion is the best.

Unlike this winter, which so far has proved to be mainly dry and cold, last winter proved heavier than many with snow after snow hitting the Northern Sierra Nevada. During the many weeks when not much else could be accomplished outdoors, I went out photographing often. “Arlington Ridge, Oak Knoll, Indian Valley” was one of the gift fruits of these labors of love. Thank you for sharing in this love. To view more of my photographs see the blog post, “David Leland Hyde Archival Prints Prelaunch” or my portfolio on the Philip Hyde website.