I went through my blogposts for 2011 with the idea of making a top 10 list of photography adventures, and ended up with two lists. I suppose that means it was a good year. I use Goodreads to keep track of my reading. I suppose I could sort iTunes chronologically to see what music I’ve been listening to. Before I started blogging I used a paper calendar to track my activities — everything from photoshoots to concerts to bike rides. But Google Calendar or iCal aren’t the place I want to store this information. Online calendars feel mostly like work-related tools to me.

Deadpan monologist Joe Frank had a great episode about how you determine what makes your list of memories, and what almost makes the list. I wish I could remember the name of the episode. What tools do you use to capture the highlights of your year?

Part I: January through June

1. Photographing the BLF for Hi-Fructose Magazine
2. Night photography workshops at Paul’s Junkyard with Troy Paiva
3. The desert trip diaries are my favorite blog posts to look back on
4. A few nights in a desert airplane boneyard
5. We said farewell to the Pearsonville junkyard
6. The demolition time-lapse video of Oak Knoll Naval Hospital
7. Cutting cars in half at Paul’s Junkyard
8. Another crazy desert trip with astronauts and tequila
9. Back to the desert with film sets and mining ruins and Llano
10. Hanging out at an old Nevada mine and at Bodie Ghost Town and sharing epiphanies

Part II: July through December

1. A private tour of Alcatraz at night
2. The abandoned cement plan 360 degree night photo that got me going on panos
3. Up above SFO with a time-lapse from Sweeney Ridge
4. A lightning storm over Paul’s Junkyard
5. Discerning the complexities of California by repeatedly firing a camera out the car window
6. The sadness of a head-on collision while shooting at night in a junkyard
7. Revisiting 360 pano post-processing with a photo of the Jeremiah O’Brien
8. Mare Island 360 degree night panoramas while celebrating The Nocturnes turning 20 years old
9. Night 360 panoramas at an abandoned desert mining area
10. A Dumbarton swing bridge 360 panorama and night 360′s at The Big M