That was a tough assignment, since I took probably 10,000 photos in 2016.  Hard to narrow it down...someone in the club likened it to choosing your favorite child, just not possible. And if I chose them today, I'd probably choose different ones than I chose yesterday.  So MANY photos that I love! And while not all of the ones I chose are technically terrific photos and would never be in the running for a National Geographic cover, they each have personal meaning to me and trigger memories of a special time. 

And that, for me, is what photography is all about.

So, without further ado, here are my choices.

#1 in the "People" category...nothing in 2016 tops the birth of my darling granddaughter Lucy in April...

#2 in "People"...Kalahari Bushman, Botswana 2016.  I don't know exactly why I love this photo so much, except that it transports me to a magical place and time on the other side of the planet...

#1 in the "Nature" category..."The Pollinator", April 2016.

#2 "Nature"...technically there are many things wrong with this photo, but I love it nevertheless.  Again, it evokes wonderful feelings of my happy place, the beach...

#1 in "Places" category...bedtime in the Kalahari Desert, Botswana, September 2016.  One of the wildest (literally!) experiences of my life...

#2 in "Places"...Emerald Isle morning, July 2016. No explanation needed....wish I were there right now....

#1 in "Wildlife"..."Stalkers", Okavango Delta, Botswana, September 2016.  Hard to choose favorites among the thousands of animal photos from our safari, but I just love everything about this photo.

#2 in "Wildlife"..."Snorkeling", Okavango Delta, Botswana, September 2016.  We were floating in a mokoro (canoe) alongside this swimming elephant.  If you have even the slightest adventurous bone in your body, you must add Botswana to your bucket list!

#1 in "Anything Goes"...Summer Shindig at Sulphur Springs Christian Church, July 2016. Again, lots of photographical elements aren't perfect, but I love the story this tells...a parking lot full of people in our small community, watching a spectacular fireworks display put on by our small volunteer fire department. It reminds me of everything that's RIGHT about small towns...

#2 in "Anything Goes"..."Jumping Jonah", Makgadikgadi Salt Pans, Kalahari Desert, Botswana, September 2016. Our guide Jonah showing us white folks how it's done...

"Picture of the Year"...my favorite/best photo.  Just seeing this photo makes my heart skip a beat...it was a VERY CLOSE ENCOUNTER with this lioness, as she was literally 5 feet away from me.  One small leap and she would've been in my lap! Thankfully her belly was full of dead elephant, so she was curious and not hungry. Those EYES...connecting with my human ones. A moment in time I will never forget, and definitely one of my most memorable experiences from our September Botswana safari!

And a few runners-up that didn't quite make the 2-per-category cut yesterday (but very well could if I were making my selections today)...I love each one of them....

"People"...I've got oodles and OODLES of people photos, mostly of my own peeps who are so dear to my heart! It would be difficult to choose just one, but I kept coming back to this photo of my 2-year-old grandson Abram in our beach house.

So many things in this photo I love...the colors, the innocence, the beach experience, the eyes, and yes, the BOY!  Missing my little Abram fiercely (but I get to see him next week! Cue Happy Gramaw dance!)

"Wildlife"...my backyard pond friend "Jeremiah".  I hope he survived the winter... he's brought me lots of joy just being his froggy self!

"Animals"...a close second to "People" in sheer numbers of photos.  Again, so many special ones...

I do love this one of the yawning leopard...tired after a big kill...

Lilac-breasted roller...my favorite African bird...

And then again there's THIS leopard...Botswana safari...I like that he framed himself perfectly in the tree just for me.

"Nature"...Cosmos...one of my artsier photos...actually, now that I look at it today I'm not as crazy about it as I was yesterday.  Fickle, I know...

"Places"...so many amazing ones in the world!  I love this sunrise through papyrus reeds in Botswana's Okavango Delta...

...the quiet, mystical beauty of Florida's Suwanee River inlet....

...an overgrown abandoned home in the middle of a northern Florida field...

...black Angus and a red barn on new spring green grass in Indiana...

...Mama's house, the home where I grew up...

But no place on earth is more special that my own corner of the world! It may not be exotic but it is, by far, my favorite place!

And there you have them, my friends, my picks (for this particular moment in time, anyway) for...

...Pictures of the Year, 2016.