One of my favorite "outtakes" of 2010.

Well another year is behind us. It’s hard to believe. Time flies, I guess. If you were to ask me a year ago to predict where I would be right now, I would be way off the mark.

This year brought a ton of changes, surprises, and detours, but it was a great year nonetheless.

During my archive search for the year’s best images, I began to wonder (like any artist I’m sure) if I progressed from last year. Did I make better images than last year? Have I evolved in my style? My first instinct was “no”, given the fact that I traveled so much during 2009 versus this past year, but after pondering for a week or so, I realized that the images that I made in 2010 were by and large a better representation of where I am taking my work. The portraits are stronger and more focused, and I like that.

Included in the mix are images from my Canon point and shoot G9, my Lubitel twin-lens, and my trusty Polaroid Colorpack III land camera as well as a few editorial event images, editorial portraits, images from advertising campaigns, experimental images, a few personal images, and even (*gasp*) a wedding photo. It’s a motley crew of images, presented in chronological order that I dug from 2010.

I have provided two ways to browse my favorite images from this year. In keeping with tradition, the first method is a simple slideshow set to the lovely music of Australia’s Bag Raiders. It’s definitely a lot more upbeat and fun when compared to last year’s slow, instrumental track. The second method is the usual Photoshelter slideshow. So whether you want to just hit play and dance while checking out my favorites or silently click-through at your own leisure, the choice is there.

Heres to an even better 2011!

Check out last year’s “Best Of” post, check it out, and let me know which set of images you prefer. Todd Spoth Photography’s “Best of 2009″ blog post.

BEST OF 2010 – Images by Todd Spoth

No, this is entry has nothing to do with the USSR or the Cold War, but we do like red. Libby and I have some bold red curtains that span an entire wall in our living room, so we decided to have a bit of fun with some gear that was laying about being inventoried. These past few weeks have seen little shooting as I have been laboriously preparing my entries into the various photo contests that all have deadlines either fast approaching or shortly past. I had some lighting gear laid out over our living room floor space so during a break in the editing action Libby (and in a few frames TT) graciously posed for me during an impromptu portrait session. The trick here was that I used my point and shoot Canon G9 camera instead of my big cameras. I’ve had the G9 for a little over 2 years now and still love it. I used to use it for multimedia projects back when I was in Colorado, but now that my main camera bodies both shoot full HD video, Libby has taken over the G9.

One of the major benefits of the G9 is its hotshoe and its ability to sync with a flash up to 1/1000th of a second +. Knowing this, I slapped a pocket wizard on the G9 (which looks silly as the wizard is just about the same size as the camera itself) and went to town. The background light is a little harsh, partially because the G9 doesn’t render colors as well as a proper camera and partially because the light was just thrown up there, but you get the drift. After several different expressions we wrapped up and I went back to editing.

I put together 9 that I particularly liked into a little grid, which is below, along with a slideshow of the individual images.

I have finally begun working on putting something together using my stills and video that I gathered on my trip to Rio de Janeiro back in January. Not exactly sure what direction it will end up taking, but for now here is a teaser of my introduction thus far.

I had a great time visit my Dad and friends for Father’s Day on Sunday. I finally got a chance to use the underwater housing for my CanonG9. It definitely takes a bit to get used to the variables of underwater photography, but after I got used to what the housing and environment could and could not provide, I began to focus and make some interesting images. These two are of my little brother Zach playing in the pool. The first was a playful color image of him making a funny face. I dig the rainbow aberrations and distortion the water and sunlight created. The second is my favorite, by far, of the take. I don’t think Zach even knew I was snapping it. The black and white adds a level of drama and mystery that I am a fan of. Its abstract and eerie and everything I could have hoped for out of a $450 camera. Look for more underwater adventures as our temps climb close to 100 degrees + soon.

…or maybe it’s just jet lag. I haven’t blogged in more than a few days, mainly due to the fact that I haven’t really been shooting much save the lot of cheesy family snapshots with my new Canon G9. I had been meaning to buy a smaller Canon compact camera for some time and the G9 was the perfect (partial) Christmas present to myself. While it may not be as compact as the smaller SD series, it has a lot of familiar control features that allow myself not to be alienated every time I pick it up. I have also been meaning to really start to teach myself video capture and production and it seems I’m using the G9 for mostly its video capture capabilities of late. It shoots with excellent video quality for such a tiny camera. I put a short piece together while on a 12 hour plane ride from Houston to Rio de Janeiro earlier today. I am here visiting my parents who live in Brazil. My goal is to be more proficient behind a camera capturing video frames as well as Final Cut, however this piece was put together entirely in iMovie. Rio is a plethora of photo opportunities so expect more frequent updates for the next two weeks.

Here is a very nice comment I received when I originally posted this on my older blog. Received from “moto” on January 20th, 2008:

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“That little film was absolutely and amazingly good. Very impressive. Can’t wait to see more of your work, (play?)”