Commons:Commons Photographers User Group/Your most memorable shot 2023

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Your most
memorable shot

It’s that time of the year again: since 2018, we have shared our most memorable shots of the past twelve months with each other. Now in its sixth iteration, the “Most Memorable Shot” has become a tradition we cherish at the beginning of each new year. No matter whether you’re a member of the Commons Photographers User Group or not, please feel invited to share your most memorable picture of 2023 on this page.

Joe Mabel

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Tough choices. Disenchantment Bay and Hubbard Glacier? Crazy low tide in West Seattle? But I think I'm going with something wiki-related. Ward Cunningham, generally consider the inventor of the wiki, at a meetup in Portland, Oregon in June.

Immanuelle

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This one is by far my most memorable one. I specifically went to many Shrines to find an image of Masakaki which as of the time was not present anywhere on wikimedia commons. In competition with File:Onominato Shrine Ujikofuda front.jpg which I bought on ebay to take a picture of, and many of my other pics from my Japan trip this year

Aristeas

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Over the last year we have welcomed many visitors in our small garden – most notably birds and red squirrels. In autumn 2022 I had bought a 100–400mm lens for landscape details, now I dabbled for the first time at taking some snapshots of our feathered and furry friends. I will probably never become a wildlife photographer, but it was a great experience to get some decent images of our guests. This photo was the first one I really liked.

Chris.sherlock2

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Over the last year I have been extensively documenting the City of Liverpool. I have hundreds of photos I really like, but in my travels of Luddenham I found this rural scene quite beautiful.

Kritzolina

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Indian Cymbals called Elathalam waiting to be used at a wedding ceremony in Tamil Nadu

I again take the invitation to join in, even though I am not a member of the User Group. This picture is from a wedding I was fortunate to attend while travelling for the last time as a WMF employee to WikiConference India. I took a lot more pictures at this event, one of them was even featured, most of them are a lot more colorful. However I really love this image, as for me it calls the (often very loud) sounds of the wedding to my mind. It was an (almost?) overwhelming experience and I will always be greatful to have been so lucky and could attend this event. --Kritzolina (talk) 11:52, 16 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Draceane

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It's probably not my best shot in 2023, but it marks my second trip to South America. Flying over the immense green of the Amazon forest I checked the plane position map, we were just about to cross the Amazon itself. “That huge river must be the Amazon!” I excitedly took a photo through the window. But two minutes later, I realised that it wasn't the Amazon… So, here it is, 1.2 km wide in the narrowest point.

Wojciech Pędzich

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Aneta Łakomy, support vocalist for Another Pink Floyd tribute band, photographed late 2023 during a concert at the Baltic Philharmonic in Gdańsk. One of quite a few cool concert shots uploaded to Commons this year.

Herbert Kikoy

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Was for looking for photos about being a mother and bumped into this quite old photograph. I submitted it for contest consideration and luckily it was the 10 Best Photos for the said contest

Gnangarra

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taking a moment

There are many photos in Category:Wikimania 2023 by Gnangarra that are memoriable for varying reasons. This one from Wikimania resonates with my experiences of 2023. The 'taking of a moment' to observe how the community are enjoying the efforts put in behind the scenes to make Wikimania in Singapore happen.

Dietmar Rabich (aka XRay)

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Pocket watch

Several events were certainly memorable, but in photographic terms the year was rather mixed. It didn't quite fit into the usual series of photo projects. Unfortunately, there were no real photo highlights, but a few remarkable shots were taken nonetheless. However, one photo project from the Dülmen-Haltern am See-Havixbeck adult education center has stuck in my mind. The state of North Rhine-Westphalia has sponsored adult education projects that should be of interest to 18 to 27-year-olds. The aim is to raise awareness of adult education centers among young adults, offer an exciting topic and at the same time impart a little culture and history. A team consisting of an organizer and three photo artists (including myself) designed and carried out this project ‒ supported by a make-up artist and a seamstress. (All of whom, however, did not belong to the target group in terms of age.) Several workshops were held under the theme “‘’What if …?’ Alternative world stories in the Visbeck special ammunition camp” with the tenor of self-portrayal in the style of steam-punk photography. The image is from the advertising phase and uses elements of the special ammunition depot in conjunction with an object that fits the theme. The design is kept in such a way that the character of the workshops is emphasized. --XRay 💬 10:49, 18 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

W.carter

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I'm not a member of this group, but thanks for the invite, that's nice of you. My whole year revolved around getting my eyesight back. From the first contacts with opticians and doctors at the beginning of the year to the big operation in late November and healing in December, with a lot of frustrating waiting in between. I got to know the bus terminal in Uddevalla pretty well, since it was the hub for getting to specialists and treatments. Its glass ceiling and architecture would have enticed scores of photographers had it been in any other place, but in this miserable rundown former ship-building town, I'm always the lone photographer. When I took this photo and edited it, I was almost blind, trusting my memory, experience and The Force. Now that I can see again, I think it turned out rather well.

Yann

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Col du Cendrié, vue sur le Pic de la Saume et le Vieux Chaillol

Most probably this shot, where I grossly underestimated the time needed on this snowshoes hiking day. I finally walked 11 hours... Yann (talk) 14:44, 19 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Rhododendrites

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Triq il-Merkanti in Valletta. I don't get the opportunity to travel outside the US/CA very often, but took a trip to Italy and Malta in October, which was also my first real vacation since pre-covid times. In Italy we had a packed itinerary with little downtime; in Malta we made no plans at all before getting there. The view from this intersection made quite an impression -- it was our introduction to Malta after settling at our hotel and captures a lot of what I liked about the city: the stone architecture, narrow roads, mix of new and traditional, ubiquitous religious iconography, and the copious details worth exploring. I still need to figure out where in the US I can get Kinnie...

PantheraLeo1359531

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First of all, thanks for the invititation! I thought a bit longer of what I want to contribute here, and I decided to choose this image. I chose this photo because it symbolizes the global rising separation in societies well. There is a sense of division in many societies around the world, and increasingly so, even though there are fewer physical walls. Especially on days with demonstrations in Mödlareuth, I noticed it very much on the ground. Mödlareuth was also divided during the divided Germany and is therefore referred to as "Little Berlin". The division of society became also clear in the formerly divided village.

Ailura

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I took this picture during the Wir machen blau! Event organized by WMAT where we took pictures of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Blaudruck and completed Lists of cultural heritage monuments of Upper Austria together.

Ermell

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Floods occur frequently in this area, which is why there is also a fixed footbridge for pedestrians. However, I have never seen anyone dare to drive through in a car. The water was already receding and the car was an off-road vehicle.

Diego Delso (Poco a poco)

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Assasi triggerfish (Rhinecanthus assasi), Red Sea, Egypt. This species of triggerfish reaches up to 30 centimetres (12 in) long, which makes them of the smallest in the family. It is tan above and white below with blue stripes between and below the eyes. R. assassi mostly lives in or near coral reefs. It occurs in the western Indian Ocean, including the Red Sea and Persian Gulf.

Of course, my most memorable shot had to be of marine life underwater, that's the area of photography where I'm focusing now. And this shot is a good representative of why. To be honest, the most memorable shot (also underwater) is still to be uploaded (maybe next year, same site, will tell you more) but this one I also liked a lot. I'm working to close gaps of underwater species with good quality material for the movement for a few years now. At the same time, and for those who are not experts in marine life, the beauty (this can be a subjective opinion, of course) and diversity of life down there is overwhelming. And, in my opinion, only when going down there and observing these creatures in freedom will make the experience unforgetable (on top of the zero gravity feeling underwater).

Tournasol7

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Town hall of Mont-de-Marsan, Landes, France.

I took this photo one morning at the blue hour in Mont-de-Marsan during my little road trip to the Basque country in January last year. I like this photo very much, mainly because of the colours.

Fuzheado

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Giovanna Battaglia Engelbert, creative director of Swarovski

I was attending the opening of a fashion event and took portraits of some notable folks for Commons. I was struck by the deep stare of the subject here and the incredible floral work of her dress. I was fortunate that the lighting situation worked out on my Canon DSLR and flash to pick up all the details. - Fuzheado (talk) Fuzheado (talk) 15:29, 31 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Matthias Süßen

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Lake Bossee, Germany

The past year was quite challenging. I found solace in nature, including this morning, which I fondly remember. --Matthias Süßen (talk) 09:17, 1 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Jan Ainali

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This video was shot at a peaceful climate protest, but yes, blocking a street, in the Netherlands. The police decided to use water cannons on the protesters on the street before starting to carry them away. One other video where the muzzle is shown closer is perhaps more encyclopedicly interesting, but the way the crowd on the sides were chanting the support gave me goosebumps and still do. The shot itself is just a mobile camera on a selfie stick raised over the crowds and stabilized with the native camera software. I intentionally cropped out all the protesters from the video.
Deforested area, Thuringia
Deforested area near Goldisthal, May 2023

Deforestation without reforestation

Due to climate change and the resulting drought, the bark beetle has spread throughout the Thuringian Forest in recent years. The damage was irreversible, and much of the forest had to be cut down. However, the promised reforestation with mixed cultures of various conifers has not yet taken place, which has led to protests by citizens in many places. They appealed to the Thuringian state government to speed up the reforestation process so that the deforested areas are not left vulnerable to soil erosion.

The depicted area 170 meters above the Goldisthal lower reservoir, which is part of Germany's largest pumped-storage plant, shows the bleak situation. Since I hadn't been in this part of the Goldisthal area since my youth, I was quite shocked by this sight when I visited the area last year. -- Radomianin (talk) 22:22, 18 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

For the past three years, I hadn't been active on Wikipedia. During a trip to Mumbai with my friends in November 2023, I snapped some photos for my Instagram page. Among them, this particular image stood out to me. After a couple of months, when I had some free time, I edited the photo and uploaded it to Commons. When I submitted it for Quality Images, PantheraLeo left a comment suggesting I nominate it for Featured Picture candidate. Somehow, it ended up becoming my first featured Picture on Commons --iMahesh (talk) 16:20, 24 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Wikimedia Commons Logo as a part of an 'artistic' experiment

Dear wiki friends, I understand that this is not a typical contribution for "my most memorable shot". But experimenting with Artificial Intelligence in general and Stable Diffusion in particular, that is very much representing the year 2023 for me.

It was a lot of fun figuring out elements and styles from art history that may fit for our logo. Sometimes I even see the opportunity to use such a logo for promotional and educational work. Ziko van Dijk (talk) 17:58, 24 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

A couple of face-painted humans happily gazing into each other's eyes (Yvoir, Belgium)

First hike with a very dear friend I had then recently met (but sporadically conversated with for years). We ended up not doing an excessive amount of walking but took a lot of time to observe and enjoy our surroundings, ourselves and each other. We had a photoshoot near our campspot after she had face painted us. (I had no idea what my face looked like by then.) This picture successfully captures our very happy emotions. --Trougnouf (talk) 18:04, 24 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

A duunnock perches in the hoarfrost

I travelled to a lot of countries in 2023 but was at home in Oxfordshire, England in January. The hoarfrost was amazing and I went out into the garden to see who was around. There was a pretty great tit but the dunnock calling at the bottom of the lane was nice to find. Charlesjsharp (talk) 19:00, 24 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Full moon view over Danube in Linz

This picture not only reminds me of the fantastic events during WikiCon 2023 in Linz, but also illustrates my commitment to wiki projects. I'm not a professional photographer, but I love taking pictures from different perspectives and being part of this community. Thanks to everyone who helps and accompanies me.--Cookroach (talk) 19:24, 24 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

A motorcyclist in motion on the corner of W 42nd St and 6th Ave in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. I took this image during a short break while on a work trip to New York. It very much reminds me of the work of Austrian-American photographer Ernst Haas (1921–1986). I believe that we can learn a lot from past photographers. That's why I've been building my own little library of photography books over the past couple of years. Be it Martin Munkácsi, Josef Koudelka, Thomas Hoepker or even more well known people like Stieglitz and Weston… there's always something to discover that's worth thinking about. And sometimes, as in this case, you're lucky enough to stand on a corner of two busy streets in Manhattan for half an hour while completely getting absorbed in the experience of shooting a scene like the one I captured in this photo. --Frank Schulenburg (talk) 19:43, 24 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
This house is also called Villa Saint-Firmin, was built at the beginning of the 20th century, by the Arrageois architect Paul Ridoux, is located 2 avenue Duguay Trouin, Touquet-Paris-Plage, Pas-de-Calais (62). This picture illustrates my commitment to wiki projects using the database of French monumental and architectural heritage. I'm not a professional photographer, but I love taking pictures from different perspectives and being part of this community. Thanks to everyone who helps and accompanies me.--Pierre André (talk) 23:05, 24 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Aerial photograph of Perth, Western Australia, in October 2023

In late October 2023, I flew from my home city of Perth, Western Australia, to Taipei, Taiwan, via Manila in the Philippines, to give a presentation at WikidataCon 2023. The first leg of that trip, a flight operated by Philippine Airlines, took off from Perth Airport's runway 21 (which runs approx. north-south), turned right, and then headed towards the Indian Ocean over Perth's southern suburbs. I had chosen a window seat near the back of the aircraft, to enable me to take photographs without a wing in the way. Additionally, it was a lovely spring morning with clouds in exactly the right places. So I was able to capture a number of very nice aerial photographs looking towards Perth's CBD from the south, including this one, as the aircraft flew by. Bahnfrend (talk) 03:55, 25 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Saint-Charles Cemetery

Technically, this photo was taken in 2022, on the last day of the year, but I only uploaded it to Commons on the first of January 2023, so I'm going to consider it was really taken in 2023. This photo is not just a cemetery landscape, but also a reflection of the significant changes that were happening in my life at that time: the loss of a child, the end of a relationship. For the most beautiful flowers to bloom, they need a lot of dead matter. Often, behind that death, there is also a birth, a new opportunity, a new hope. Photographs express our internal pain and this photo was taken at the most difficult moment of my life. The loss of a child can be devastating, and that day I forced myself to go out and take pictures, but my subconscious screamed loudly, showing what I really felt --Wilfredor (talk) 14:14, 25 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Damage to California State Route 84 from the 2022–2023 California floods near Woodside, California

After several years of drought, the 2022–2023 winter was one of the rainiest in recent California history. Multiple atmospheric rivers battered the entire state of California, downing trees and washing away roads in many areas, especially in the mountains. After hearing about the closure of CA-84 (a mountain pass from Woodside up to Skyline Boulevard in the Bay Area peninsula), I grabbed my drone and cycled to the area where I took this shot. -- King of ♥ 16:26, 25 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Containership Hamburg Express at Singapore Harbor 1973/74

As a kind of little present to the host of Wikimania 2023 I decided to try out a new method of digitizing my old collection of slides from my previous, past millenium, pre-Wikimedia life. The setup is - from my experience - faster and more efficient than using flatbed-scanners, but is still laborsome, if you have 5 digit amount of old slides. So hopefully I will still get some of them done in the rest of my remaining time. The originals from the 1980's and later are usually also in better shape. Sometimes, just because they haven't been looked as much as the older ones.

If these old images can also be used to illustrate Wikidata Items or articles in Wikipedia, it is even more satisfying. --Wuselig (talk) 17:53, 25 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Red Banded Polypore (Fomitopsis pinicola) on a dead tree

Air raid sirens sound every day in Ukrainian cities and towns. A man with a camera on the streets arouses suspicion and scrutiny by military patrols. Therefore, only nature shots and studio photos remain.
This photo shows the unstoppable force of nature. The mushrooms started growing before the tree fell, and then changed their direction of growth. I love the vibrant colors in this shot. --George Chernilevsky talk 05:56, 26 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Chicken with veggies and oil beans

A special delicacy of the Igbo people in South Eastern region of Nigeria. It is served in occasions, eateries, or relaxation outlets. It is also used as a snack. This delicacy is a combination of boiled and well seasoned chicken, palm oil, onions,scotch bonnet pepper, sliced oil beans, veggies ( spinach) and salt to taste .--Olugold (talk) 08:13, 26 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

A stilt house in Lake Dojran

I remember it was mostly a cloudy day with a dull light and short sunny periods, and I really did not expect that a good shot could be made. However, it seems like the cloudiness perfectly contributes to the calmness of the ambience and improves the overall composition.--Kiril Simeonovski (talk) 08:59, 26 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The regional administration building in Kherson, Ukraine, damaged by a russian attack.

The regional administration building in Kherson, Ukraine. The picture shows a banner with a photo from the roof of the building on the day of liberation from russian occupation on 22 November 2022. The people on the roof have proudly raised their fists in a gesture of victory and are flying the Ukrainian flag. The banner on which the photo is printed is as high as the building. It now covers the huge hole torn in the building by a russian missile. However, in some lighting conditions, like the one in which my picture was taken, light shines through the hole so that it can be recognised through the banner. The text on the banner means "Free together"--KH32 (talk) 13:48, 26 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

German Women's Beach Handball National Team IHF Global Tour Winner 2023

I did not made that much in this field in the last year. I only participated at one event as accreditated photographer, but this was important to me. The european tournament of the 2023 IHF Beach Handball Global Trophy. And the tournament were won by "my" german team, the current World and European Champion and World Games Winner in 2022. Was hard to get these shots of the medail ceremony, because the officials did not let photographers on the field. But with some relations ... -- Marcus Cyron (talk) 13:54, 26 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

View of ARS Electronica Center and Danube river

It was a nice evening in July with some Wikipedians on the terrace of Linz Castle with a view of the colorfully lit Ars Electronica Center and the Danube river--Isiwal (talk) 17:06, 26 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Arístides Rojas Natural Monument, also known as Morros de San Juan. Venezuela.
A flock of Northern lapwing, their black and white plumage against the pale sky made a strong graphic impression.

A flock of Northern lapwing, their black and white plumage against the pale sky made a strong graphic impression.

Commons Photographers going for Photowalk at Wikimania Singapore 2023
The Fullerton Hotel photo during CPUG photowalk, Wikimania Singapore
This picture was taken during the Glam-Event "Wir machen blau!" organized bei WMAT. The Event documented the Intangible Cultural Heritage Blaudruck (an indigo printing) that's used in many European countries. The pictures shows a block print.
The tower of Tsikourios in Mani, Greece. Mani is known for its stone tower houses but this one, having being abandoned for many years and lying isolated from modern tourist development, shows the harsh realities of living in this remote region before the 20th century. --C messier (talk) 08:54, 29 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Lower Beaver Pond, in Chesterfield County, Virginia. I picked this up as the sun was going down, having stopped by at the last minute on my way home from work. Somehow I captured this strange beam of light during sunset, banding across the sky, with a beautiful pond below it. It's still February 29 local time when I'm posting this. Hope that's okay.
Unusual trails and rippled cloud formations at sunset

2023 brought us some spectacular skies here in Texas. On this particular evening, the sky was all-consuming. It felt as if the clouds had laid a trail for us earthlings to follow. We also had some incredibly breathtaking red skies as well. Atsme Talk 📧 18:20, 15 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]