The votes are all in and counted, and here are my top photographs of 2019!

We had a great response this year: over 360 people looked through my initial selection of 44 images and voted for their favorites here on the blog, Facebook, Instagram, and through email. A big thank you to everyone who took the time to look through these photographs and voice your opinions! I also really appreciate all the kind words so many people included with their votes. I wish I could respond to every comment and email, but please know that I’ve read them all and am very grateful for all your support. And also, many thanks to my wonderful assistant Claudia who tallied all those votes!

To express our gratitude we’re giving away a print to one of the voters. We assigned a number to each person who voted, and used a random number generator to pick the recipient. And the winner is… Elaine Calvert! Elaine will receive a signed and numbered 16×20 print of her choice from among the 44 original selections. Congratulations Elaine!

Here’s the list of the ten images that received the most picks, and the number of votes they each received:

1. Image # 11, Misty trees from Tunnel View, Yosemite, 215 votes
2. Image # 24, “Twins” – sun breaking through fog in a redwood forest, northern California, 193 votes
3. Image # 10, Sunrise from Tunnel View, Yosemite, 166 votes
4. Image # 33, Autumn lakeshore, Yosemite, 165 votes
5. Image # 42, Pintails at sunrise, San Joaquin Valley, California, 150 votes
6. Image # 20, Swirling Clouds and Mist, Sunrise, Yosemite, 148 votes
7. Image # 30, Autumn waterfall, Colorado, 136 votes
8. Image # 31, Lenticular cloud at sunset, Mono Lake, California, 127 votes
9. Image # 14, Stars, Orion, and zodiacal light over an eroded gully, Death Valley NP, California, 126 votes
10. Image # 8, El Capitan by moonlight, winter, Yosemite, 125 votes

Filling out the top 15 were numbers 36, 21, 19, 12, and 4.

The top vote-getter was a surprise, because it’s a smaller-scale landscape, and in black and white no less. It’s not the Tunnel View image from this collection that I expected to get the most votes! But I’m glad to see that people appreciated this rather subtle, abstract photograph.

Of course two “grand landscape” photographs from Tunnel View did make this final ten. I would have been surprised if those images didn’t get a lot of votes, since I think they’re two of my best from that spot.

And I’m glad to see that number 24, “Twins,” received the second-most votes. It’s probably my favorite photograph of the year. And I’m also happy to see that number 14, “Stars, Orion, and Zodiacal Light” made the top ten, since that’s another favorite.

I was also pleasantly surprised to find that number 33, “Autumn Lakeshore,” got the fourth-most votes, and number 42, “Pintails at Sunrise,” got the fifth-most votes. Those are favorites of mine as well, but intimate landscapes and bird photographs sometimes get overlooked, so it was great to see those images get so much support.

Overall I think it’s a great collection. Good work everyone! 🙂

I’ll be submitting this post to Jim Goldstein’s blog project shortly. Thanks to Jim and G Dan Mitchell for providing the original inspiration for putting together this list back in January of 2011, and helping to start this tradition.

Again, thank you so much for your participation. This has been really fun for me, and I hope you’ve enjoyed it also. Here are the top ten images:

11. Misty trees from Tunnel View, Yosemite NP, California

24. “Twins” – sun breaking through fog in a redwood forest, northern California

10. Sunrise from Tunnel View, Yosemite NP, California

33. Autumn lakeshore, Yosemite NP, California

42. Pintails at sunrise, San Joaquin Valley, California

20. Swirling Clouds and Mist, Sunrise, Yosemite NP, California

30. Autumn waterfall, Colorado

31. Lenticular cloud at sunset, Mono Lake, California

14. Stars, Orion, and zodiacal light over an eroded gully, Death Valley NP, California

8. El Capitan by moonlight, winter, Yosemite NP, California

Related Posts: My Best Images of 2019: the Nominees; My Top Photographs of 2018;My Top Photographs of 2017; My Top Photographs of 2016

Michael Frye is a professional photographer specializing in landscapes and nature. He is the author or principal photographer of The Photographer’s Guide to Yosemite, Yosemite Meditations, Yosemite Meditations for Women, Yosemite Meditations for Adventurers, and Digital Landscape Photography: In the Footsteps of Ansel Adams and the Great Masters. He has also written three eBooks: Light & Land: Landscapes in the Digital Darkroom, Exposure for Outdoor Photography, and Landscapes in Lightroom: The Essential Step-by-Step Guide. Michael has written numerous magazine articles on the art and technique of photography, and his images have been published in over thirty countries around the world. Michael has lived either in or near Yosemite National Park since 1983, currently residing just outside the park in Mariposa, California.