BEST 3 ARCHITECTURAL - AVIATION - TRAVEL - STREET PHOTOS of 2016

As a yearly tradition I will try and identify my best 3 Architectural, Aviation and Travel images for 2016; the three categories of photography I'm been known for.

However 2016 is also the year, where I started shooting more and more Street Photography; I therefore decided to add this category to the yearly " Best of " blogpost!

A quick look in my Lightroom catalog shows that I have 12437 keepers in there; up from just over 10.000 in 2015. Of these, 233 have received a 5 star rating; the highest score I allocate to my images. Again up from last years 170 potential portfolio images. Although less than 2%, this is a good indicator of the quality of work I was able to shoot in past year.

All of the images below were shot with Fujifilm X-series cameras; mainly the X-T2 but some also with the X-T1 and X-Pro2. I you think one needs a big DSLR camera to get great images, you might want to reconsider... 

For the best viewing experience make sure you click on the images to see them full screen. Here we go!

ARCHITECTURAL

1/ BURJ AL ARAB MOONRISE
Shot last winter, the image was one of my first ones shot with the Fujifilm XF100-400 super telephoto lens. More about the image here





2/ MINIMALISTIC LOOK AT THE DUBAI CANAL FOOT-BRIGE
In the last part of 2016 we started seeing a lot of Architectural images of the Dubai Canal and its bridges. This is my personal minimalistic look. Check out the Pic(k) of the week here


3/ CLOUDY SKIES OVER MEYDAN
One of my favorite bridges all over the world is the Blue Meydan bridge in Dubai. Shooting with a dramatic sky during the blue hour, was something I had been waiting for, for a while. More here





AVIATION

I didn't attend as many Aviation events as last year, but the three main ones were:


I also managed to tick of a few new Aviation Museums of the bucket list; the main ones being:


Lastly, as part of my Aviation Photography, I also had a look in my Aerial photography images; something that has become more important in my photography of the last year.  


1/ BEECH G18S at PLANES OF FAME 
This detail shot of a vintage Beech G18S, stood out as a great fine-art print!  

Planes of Fame airshow 2016, Chino, CA

2/ MIKAEL CARLSONS FOKKER DR1 AT SUNSET
I've been a great fan of the Swedish aircraft restorer Mikael Carlson. Seeing him fly his World War 1 Dreidecker was clearly a highlight of the year! Check out the Pic(k) of the week post here. 

Oldtimer Fliegertreffen Hahnweide 2016


3/ REFLECTING ON THE AIRBUS A380
Not shot at an airshow, this is the airliner I fly for a living... More about the water reflection can be found here




TRAVEL

1/ PORTRAIT SESSION WITH A LION
Even though I get to travel a lot as an airline pilot, my number one photo-adventure was the 2 week long trip to Tanzania last November. The winning shot of the Travel category has to be my portrait session with a wild male lion. More on my blog here.  


2/  CAMEL ROAD, UAE
These camels came out of nowhere when I was about to return home without any keeper images at the start of the summer. More in the Pic(k) of the week here


3/ DUBAI CREEK SUNSET
The image is a great illustration of the potential of Fujifilm X-Trans III RAW files used in the X-Pro2 and X-T2 cameras. Although shot at my home city, I do believe it does classify as a travel image. 




STREET PHOTOGRAPHY

1/ DUBAI CONTRAST
Contrast not always being about shadows and highlights, this is my favorite Street Photography image of the year... An entire blog-post was dedicated to it here


2/ CANDID IN ZANZIBAR
Shot in Stone Town, Zanzibar, I like the natural feel and Classic Chrome colors of the image; the lady was day-dreaming and never noticed I framed the shot. Kudos to the tilt screen of the Fujifilm X-T2! 


3/ SHOE SELLER, TEXTILE SOUQ, BUR DUBAI
My favorite place for street photography is the area around the Creek; an entire gallery (Life at the Creek) is being dedicated to this place. More about this specific image here




Most of the images above made it into my online portfolio; a direct link to the three categories can be found below:


BJORN



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