Here again is my annual attempt to sum up 12 months of visual output into a set of favorite images. This group of pictures looks far different than my typical favorite photos from past years, just as this year was far different for me as a photographer. I left my staff job at a newspaper, trading it in for a life as a freelance photographer. Only a half dozen of these 34 favorite photos were produced on assignment for a newspaper. A dozen are from weddings, the rest are images I made for myself. I’m encouraged by this transition, and I look forward to a creative and prosperous 2012. And I wish you all the same.

I took my camera-on-a-stick to the fourth annual Luna Park Chalk Art Festival Saturday, Sept. 24, 2011, at Backesto Park in San Jose.

The “stick” in my camera-on-a-stick is a painter’s pole, and it can extend to nine feet. When I hold it up, that’s plenty of reach to look straight down on subjects, especially subjects who are sitting on a chalk-covered sidewalk.

Normally when I use the camera-on-a-stick setup, I get some funny looks. At the Chalk Art Festival, the funny looks quickly turned into nodding approval, as people seemed to instantly understand what I was up to.

Images from the candlelight vigil on the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, at Oak Hill Memorial Park in San Jose.

The third annual Zombie-O-Rama crawled through downtown San Jose tonight. I missed the big crowds, but managed to shoot a few.