A massive thank you to Steve for guest hosting the Lens-Artists Challenge this week. Please visit Steve’s brilliant site where you can find his best ever photos and so much more. I find his photography both unique and impressive, and extremely inspiring. We look forward to seeing your choices. Please remember to link to Steve’s original here and to use the Lens-Artists Tag to help us find you.
Well, I honestly cannot choose ”best ever” photos from my own archives, so I guess if you asked me next month, they would not be the same. The best I can do (!) is to choose some of my own favourites that I love, and try to tell you why. I am a very emotional person, so, first of all they must touch my heart.
Easy criteria would be prize-winning photos – as this one. But, this is the only picture that I have ever entered into a competition – and in fact – won. It was about very special trees in our life, and this old beech tree that stands in ”my forest” was not already in the book of trees. So, I was the one who filed it in the national site for old trees. I walk past it often and I report if anything has happened to it – like a storm making old branches fall. I do love it.
About the photo: Autumn is the most beautiful time up here, and as this beech is very big, I could see the smaller trees behind it from an interesting angle. Irresistible opportunity.
This caravan spotted in Morocco several years ago was exotic to me at that moment, but what more makes the photo one of my favourites are the lovely memories of that trip and everything about it. The food, the people, the desert itself and its animals.
About the photo: Sheer luck to be in the right place at the right time. This also goes for the next one.
How can I not choose this big yawn? I love cheetahs and had the camera ready when this happened – not a perfect shot, but such a beautiful animal and a fun surprise!
Greenland offered an abundance of spectacular moments and I came back with thousands of photos. The midnight sun among the icebergs was an unforgettable experience, and picking only one photo has been almost impossible. Finally I decided for this special iceberg, not because it is the best photo, but because it took me awhile to figure out that the brownish part on top of the ice must come from a frozen kayak that probably once was lost on the glacier. When? Amazing.
About the photo: I had seen this iceberg when we headed out in the late evening, and kept thinking about it the whole trip. Finally I took some photos because of its mysterious and intriguing history.
Finally, posted a couple of times – but still a favourite – is this family in Bhutan, sitting on the stone wall, looking at a cell phone. I am not sure who is the most fascinated one here, but clearly the thing was not new to them.
About the photo: I seldom take photos of people, but this family was so preoccupied by the phone, that I clicked without asking…
Last week, Egídio asked us for over-the-top photos, and I loved them all. It was great to see such variety and thinking outside the box. We hope you’ll join us next week when Ritva leads us once again. Until then, as always please stay safe, be kind and enjoy the adventure.
Leya 
I thought I could pick a favorite, but nope, love them all!
Thank you, Kristin – I’m glad you enjoyed them!
Ann-Christine, Wow! These are all spectacular. I love all of the images and the stories behind them. The beech tree is my favorite!
Thank you so much! Well, that picture is the only one on my wall!
Beautiful collection Ann-Christine, I really like your Morrocco photo and the autumn tree!
A top-notch gallery, though I would choose the oak. 🌳✨
If someone had asked me to evaluate your images and choose a favorite but ONLY by describing them rather than seeing them Ann-Christine, I’m sure I’ve had said ”a tree” as my last choice. But as always your ability to see and capture beauty turns the ordinary into the extraordinary, and here we are with a tree as one of your 5 favorites and our as well. I also love the texture of the sand in your desert image and that lovely family at the end as well but only you could capture the true magic of that tree!
Oh wow. Your choices are really lovely, Ann-Christine.
Ann-Christine, what a gallery, so filled with personal experience and memories. That’s what photography is all about, isn’t it! Your opening photo is a prize winner, for sure.
Beautiful, peaceful like only you can capture, Ann-Christine. I love all the different expressions on your last one, monochrome works so well but I’m curious to see it in colour too.
Thank you – yes, I guess I chose monochrome because of the faces and expressions.
An excellent gallery. The family in Bhutan is clearly my favorite. A moment in life.
A moment in life – yes. Thank you, Paul – always great to see you here!
These are all great but that caravan image is next level!
♥
I fully understand that you found it hard to choose your best/favourite photos – I think we all did! And now I’m equally struggling to choose my favourite among yours 😀 The cheetah yawning is a great capture but the colours of that autumn scene are glorious and I love that last shot of the family in Bhutan so much too!
Thank you so much, Sarah! My hectic week will end tomorrow, then I can read all beautiful posts!
Wonderful selection of images Ann-Christine. The tree is a favorite by a long shot. I can see why it won. 😉
Thank you, Donna! My favourite too.
Great photos, all of them!
Thank you, Nes!
What a great set of images, A C! I would love to have taken any of them The old Oak in the autumn is a majestic tree, and the yawning cheetah makes me smile every time I look at it
♥ Thanks, Sue – he makes me smile too!
Good!
Ann-Christine, absolutely love your choices. The tree, a big yes. Same goes to the caravan and Greenland, all of them really. But the tree won my heart. and you know what I think about your photography skills.
♥ Thank you ever so much, Ritva! I’ve had a hectic week, but will read more posts tomorrow. Thrilled to look at yours, I bet it is fantastic!
Stunning photography 🥰👌
Thank you very much!
🤗💕
The Morroco image conveys so well the immensity of the desert and the frailty of humans moving through it. Great gallery.
Thank you so much, Marie!
What a gallery of images Ann-Christine, superb. I’ve looked through and re read your blog several times. I then thought to myself ‘which of those images do I wish I’d shot?’ The answer was ‘all of them’ 👏
Well, now you got me blushing…thank you, thank you for a great challenge and for showing us great photography – you are very special.
What can I possibly say? Yes, pure emotion! You do it so beautifully. And now you have me pondering about Greenland. Have a great week, Ann-Christine xx
Thank you, Jo – yes, Greenland was an adventure like no else.
These are all ”the best”!!
Thank you, Nora!
I have scrolled up-and-down three times and cannot pick a ‘favourite’ – these photos are SO different. Perchance the Moroccan one I find most beautiful, the cheetah yawn hugely amusing . . . but the last one teaches . . . perhaps ignorant me would not necessarily have thought of smartphones and nail polish in Bhutan > how very ignorant of me !!!
Haha, well, you know about me and snow in Australia…
Ann-Christine, your choices must have been hard to pick for you. The photos are so expressive and so meaningful to you. To be responsible for that tree is a tremendous honor. The desert scene is something we’d expect to see in a National Geographic magazine. The cheetah was Mother Nature smiling at you. And the closing shots of the iceberg and family are simply priceless.
Thank you for a wonderful comment, Egidio! Means a lot coming from you.
Absolutely beautiful photos, Leya. Thank you for your heartfelt explanations. I love autumn and your photo carried the essence of the feeling of autumn to me.
I am happy you could feel it too!
Great photos and choices. I especially like the Moroccan dunes and cheetah.
I love them too, thank you – and the desert was a wonderful experience – unforgettable.
I can only imagine.