It’s the final day of 2014 and that means only one thing: it’s time for all the “top 10 blahs of 2014” lists that you can handle. Oddly I’ve never actually done this on my site. Every year I’ve reviewed my work to ensure I’m still improving, noting my mistakes or ways to simply get better at what I do, but usually I’m a little to humble to just outright say “these are my best”.

And I’m not going to do that here. These may not be my best, that’s up for you to determine but these five pictures are my personal five favorites from the year that was 2014.

One

Firstly it has to be something from my first time in Labrador. During a job which required a little travel I managed to tick not one but two boxes on my bucket list, not only seeing the aurora borealis in all its spectacular glory but also doing it in Labrador, somewhere I’d never been.

The show lasted for hours and it was one of those times where I fought my inner desire to just sit back and watch, taking it all in, over fumbling with my camera in the -27°C temperatures.

Two

In case you haven’t noticed, I love airplanes and anything to do with flight. My respect and appreciation for what pilots do on a daily basis is only dwarfed by how mind boggling I still find it that we can get into a steel tube and soar effortlessly around in the skies.

This picture stands out to me because of two things. One, aesthetically it’s eye pleasing: Signal Hill and Cabot Tower in the background, the lovely blue sky, the heat waves glazing the tarmac and of course the pilots of the Provincial Airlines Dash-8 pulling off a text book cross wind landing on what was a very, very gusty day at YYT.

Three

This skyline is no stranger to most of us, it’s the city of St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada. What is quite foreign however, is the sheet of ice that’s taken up residence in the St. John’s Harbor. In a rare event that only happens about once every 20 or so years, the entire harbor was completely caught over.

There’s nothing I love more than a rare event and sitting in such a pretty place with such a beautiful backdrop is the icing on the cake.

Four

When you set sail on a short weekend cruise out of Port Canaveral you just never know what you might see, but rarely do you see a man made object leaving the earths atmosphere bound for space.

The Delta IV rocket launched from Cape Canaveral and carryed a payload consisting of one GPS Satellite and appeared out of no-where. I instantly knew what it was and instantly began bragging to all my nerdy friends about what was unfolding in front of my eyes.

It was a complete fluke and pure luck in that it had been rescheduled three times leading up to this date of launch. Simply amazing (and another one off the bucket list!).

Five

Last and certainly not least it’s this rather simplistic photo from Washington, D.C and the National Mall overlooking the Reflecting Pool with the Washington Monument set in the background.

What is particularly neat and meaningful about this photo is the rather sneaky shadow bottom right that is my father and I, just chillin’ at the Mall people watching and enjoying the sights.