My favorite shots from the last year.

A few years ago, I started picking my eight favorite shots from the last year instead of the automated top 9 that had become popular on Instagram. I’ve written about the process* before so I’m not going to recount that here, but here are my favorite eight shots from the year. (I took lots of shots I liked this year and it was actually really tough to narrow it down to eight shots. I could have picked eight shots just from just our New York trip.)

Cocky. The year started with a photoshoot with Cocky and we used FaceTime to call my Cocky-obsessed niece.

Carolina Coliseum. On the same day as the photo shoot, I grabbed this shot of the empty hallways of the Carolina Coliseum. That’s where the journalism school was when I was an undergraduate student.

Masters. This spring, I graduated from my MA program. The commencement ceremony was held at Williams-Brice Stadium because of COVID.

Beach. The family at the beach in Charleston. Love this shot of everybody.

Lacrosse. Norah’s club team won their bracket at a tournament in Lake Norman, North Carolina. They rallied to win four straight and she played really well. The team posed with their championship shirts after the final.

Ruby. Our cat. Love the detail in this super close up shot.

The Big Mo. We weren’t ready to return to the theatre, but we wanted to see Shang Chi. So we headed to the Big Mo, a drive-in theatre in Monetta, South Carolina.

Lady Liberty. We made a trek to New York with the family right before Christmas and visited Liberty Island.

* One change from my previous process: I made this years collage in Affinity Photo instead of Photoshop.

Bob Wertz writes about design, technology and pop culture at Sketchbook B. Bob is a Columbia, South Carolina-based designer, University of South Carolina Ph.D. student, mass comm researcher, husband and dad. He’s particularly obsessed with typography, the creative process and the tools we use to create. Bob occasionally and begrudgingly posts to Twitter and Instagram. He got vaccinated and boosted to protect his community. #TeamModerna