I hope you all had some Happy Holidays and are now ready for posting your favourites of 2024! As has become our custom, we are asking our followers to select their favorite images of the last year – whether they’ve been included in previous posts or not. This week, no single host will present the challenge. The entire team will share the challenge topic.
Here are mine – difficult to choose, so, of course I could have chosen other ones… but some of these just had to be in this gallery. I guess you know which ones I am thinking of…
Sometimes you find a door in the place you least expect. In a garden along the road, a short glimpse to the left, and I had to stop – to look, love and take a photo.
Somehow these two are look alikes – at least I think so. Take pride in yourself and let it shine! The Nice Festival was a feast to remember.
A walk in the forest close to my old school always brings many memories. Although I retired many years ago, I still love this place. It’s peaceful, and as always the forest is my temple.
The most wonderful moments of 2024 were captured in Japan. A serene and beautiful country where they highly treasure beauty and create beauty in everything.
My love for Wisteria did not fade in Japan – it reached unknown heights in the gardens we visited.
Kawachi Fujien Wisteria Garden in Kitakyushu was the most impressive one. I left a piece of my heart and soul there in its unprecedented beauty.
We also went to Holland again this year – but now for the Dahlia Festival in the Autumn. Holland is the Mecka of flowers, mostly bulbs like tulips – but wild poppies too.
To savour even more flowers and nature – an English garden tour came true in July. The beauty of an English garden is hard to beat.
And, in one of the castle gardens I fell in love with The Stumpery. It made my creative nerves tingle… and I have already started on my own project!
Swedish Autumn around my well known waters – is a must every year. I passed here every day on the way to my job, and enjoyed these waters and forests in every season. This truly is Autumn at its best.
Walking the cobbled streets of Saint-Paul de Vence in Alpes Maritimes can surprise and mezmerise you in many ways…
This lady unexpectedly showed up on my right side – she looked so relaxed. I secretely wished I could rest like that myself…
Lastly, I love the modern version of ”The Thinker” by Joseph Klibansky. It sits opposite to Rembrandt in Rembrandtplein, Amsterdam. It has got something to tell us, make us think about our ”modern” times, what, where and why…
We thank all of our followers for continued support and look forward to seeing the images you choose as YOUR favorites of 2024. Please remember to link your post to any or all of the Lens-Artists team members. Also, remember to use the Lens-Artists Tag to help us find you.
We offer our best wishes for a New Year filled with peace, happiness, love and friendship. Anne will lead us next week on her lovely Slow Shutter Speed post. Until then, stay safe, be kind and and find joy in the simple things.
Leya 
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Your curated selection of 2024 favorites reflects a discerning eye for beauty and detail. The juxtaposition of the serene Japanese gardens with the vibrant Nice Festival captures a compelling contrast. The inclusion of the modern ”Thinker” in Amsterdam prompts reflection on contemporary society. Your images not only document but also provoke thought, resonating with those who appreciate depth beyond the surface.
Thank you for a positive review. I try to have an ecclectic mix – so glad you enjoyed it!
I had to go back to read your analysis again – thank you for a beautiful and generous comment! I will keep it in my heart.
Ann-Christine
Very nice selection.
Greetings from Finland!
Thank you!
I remembered some of these beautiful images and loved seeing them again. Others I didn’t remember, and enjoyed seeing them for the first time (again). But all of them are spectacular.
♥ Thank you, I.J.
Absolutely spectacular images. I particularly like your forest and autumn images.
Thank you, Paul – they are closest to my heart.
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Stunning and beautiful 🇮🇪🌹
Thank you!
Stunning images, AC. Your artistic eye and sense of wonder and beauty are wonderful! The wisteria, the stumpery, the woods… Wishing you a joyful 2025 and plenty of good health for you and your family.
Thank you, Patti! And thank you for the good wishes – needed indeed. Wish you and yours a great year as well!
You found the magic. Simply breathtaking gallery. Your Autumn river photo is my favourite, Ann-Christine. I look forward to seeing the development of your project this year.
Thank you so much, Tracy! Hope this year will be a happy and healthy one for us and the world.
You have so many amazing shots Ann-Christine, that wisteria is incredible, the trunk of it. I also love the snow photos and the autumn photos and, and, and. You had a great year.
Thank you ever so much, Leanne! – and yes, it was a great year for travel and photography. But I tremble for what is to come for the world this year.
Truly a spectacular post Ann-Christine! I love them all but forced to highlight a few I would mention the door in the snowy field, the second wisteria image, the English garden and your own beautiful autumn scene. No doubt Mother Nature would choose you to be her only photographer if she had the option.😊. This one is beyond words.
Tina – you made my day! ♥ Thank you ever so much… that was so needed right now. Life is extra trying at the moment. I hope you and yours are all well and already loving the new year. We are struggling, but hope for better days. Thank you again.
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These are marvelous, A-C. Loved them all.
♥ Thank you!
A beautiful gallery, Ann-Christine! I was struck by the look-alike photos, and the Japanese wisteria. I must admit to never seeing wisteria in such beautiful displays. I’d love to visit Japan someday.
Thank you, John – you would love Japan! The trains have a beautiful design too – something for you!
I’d love to ride one of those high-speed trains!
♥ If the comparison is like the one to our trains in Sweden… you would want to stay in Japan!
A wonderful selection – I’ve spent some time trying to isolate favourites among so many great images! The peacock and Nice Festival pairing, I think, plus the second of the Japanese wisteria shots, the poppy petal among the grass, the Stumpery and that last shot of the Thinker with the people reflected in it and so perfectly framed by the gardens 🙂
Thank you, Sarah! Always fun this challenge, but also a bit difficult. I had to put in something that wasn’t Nature too…
Good morning, dear Ann-Christine,
Thanks for showing us your fine pictures. We love the snow picture and your abstract picture the most.
All the very best
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
Thank you, wishing you the very best as well! ♥♥♥♥
I love how you see nature, Ann-Christine: the Wisteria, the poppies, or the river in fall. Top!
I published my review of 2024 already on Thursday: https://solaner.wordpress.com/2025/01/02/reviewing-2024/
Thank you!
😊
I have no idea how you choose your favourites. All are wonderful!
♥♥♥
Such a beautiful collection Ann-Christine and the wisteria gardens you visited in Japan are truly amazing 💜 Wishing you a blessed, joyful, healthy and happy 2025 too! 💖💫 xxx
Thank you, Xenia – I wish you and yours the same! ♥♥♥
Thank you kindly dear Ann-Christine! ❤❤❤ xxx
I would love to visit Japan, so I’m very envious of you. These are wonderful photos, a lovely summary of the year.
Thank you, Ana – and I am sure you would love everything about Japan. I regret we didn’t find time to see the snow monkeys, but otherwise I am so grateful for our visit. You can’t have everything!
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I love how you say you left a piece of your heart and soul in Japan, some places have that effect on you and your wisteria photos shows us exactly why. They are gorgeous. You had a wonderful photographic year, Ann-Christine, hoping for another one this year too.
Thank you, Sofia – and I hope you will too. And a less stressful one! I cannot treasure my retirement enough.
A year well lived. Lovely.
Thank you, I am very grateful.
You have some wonderful photos – the wisteria is quite beautiful
Thank you, Nora, I still dream of that wisteria…
That peacock one was just magestic
You have a thing for mysterious doors- two in one post! And, oh, that haunting wisteria. What a year, Ann- Christine! What a year!
Thanks, Jo – and I had no idea about my doors – were there really two of them? Mysterious? I like that.
Absolutely stunning photos. I don’t think I could have picked a favorite, they were all beautiful.
Thank you, Tina! Happy you liked them all!
Ann-Christine, your selections here are stunning. The wisteria is always impressive. I also loved the doors you photographed. From start to finish, I kept saying wow, wow.
Thank you, Egidio! This is always a fun challenge. To see everyone else’s favourites tells something about us.
What a lovely collection of photos Ann-Christine. I especially like the Japanese gardens and Swedish woods.
I am glad you like them – thank you!
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I thought I loved the simple trees in the mist . . . and, then, came upon the wisteria in Japan . . . have no words . . . but, thank you!
Eha, they were so glorious I had no words there either! I am so happy you liked them!
Anne-Christine, what wonderful images from last year!
Thank you so much! Hard to choose for us all I think. Glad you liked them.
A truly wonderful gallery for 2024 Ann-Christine. The photos evoked memories of your previous posts for me 😀
♥ Thank you, Brian. Nature is with me everywhere, and I know your love for it as well.
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