Chuck’s best blog posts of 2014

Normally I would post this on New Year’s Day; however, because that falls on a Thursday, and I’ve reserved Thursday for the “Best of our TU Community Bloggers” feature, I’ve moved my “Best of Chuck’s 2014 blog posts” up a day.

This is the sixth year in my Times Union tenure that I’ve created this December 31st year-end wrapup of my best blogs and blogging moments.  So come share these moments with me once more.  One more look back before I start crafting more blog posties for 2015.

• 10.  How well did my trivia adventures go this year?  We won at the Big Brothers Big Sisters trivia tournament in January, lost on a heartbreaker at Trivia Bowl X (congrats, Stern Fans), got royally shafted at the Catch the Mania tournament, and went wire-to-wire for my trivia team’s third Summer Bowl win in five years.  Kind of a mixed bag, wouldn’t you say?
• 9. Still working on those Dream Windows, and one of them ended up selling at Historic Albany Foundation’s BUILT charitable auction.  I chronicled its construction in this post here.
• 8. How did one of my Collarworld stories end up as a “secret message” post for fans of the jam-band Phish?  Yeah, caught me off guard, but apparently some fans thought I really had a connection here.  Go figure.
• 7. Once upon a time, a little camera chronicled its adventures in World War I.  I found the camera, blogged about it, and now it’s enjoying retirement in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where its journey originally commenced.  Heartwarming story.
• 6. My 2013 photo The Three-Two Pitch, featuring an Albany Twilight League baseball pitcher as he fires a fastball across my slitscan camera, didn’t exactly light up the world in 2013… but in 2014 the photo was named one of Reddit’s Top Photographs of 2013, and it also earned an award from the San Francisco International Photography Competition.
• 5. Once again, I earned three ribbons for my photos at the Big E; and snagged two silks at Altamont (yay!).  Those wins, however, were tempered by getting completely shut out at the New York State Fair photo competition, and running into a poorly organized Vermont State Fair photo show.  Must try harder in 2015.
• 4. The best star trails photo I’ve ever taken, at Brown Tract Pond in the Adirondacks.  Combine that with the best waterfall photo I’ve ever captured, with the successful Beecher Creek Falls shot, and the “Jesus Saves” Revolog Tesla photo, and I’ve acquired my three best photos (and best performing photos in competition) this year.
• 3. Saying goodbye to Hoffman’s Playland wasn’t easy; but I did get a chance to take a few photos of the Ferris wheel… and I walked around the park on its last day of operations (at least at the Latham grounds; I’m sure it will find a new base of fans at its new location at Huck Finn’s Warehouse).
• 2. My first attempts with lenticular “magic motion” photographs began with Fagbug and Vaudeville, which almost ended up at the New York State Fair… almost ended up at the San Francisco International Photography Competition… but, in the end, the artwork was sold to raise money for the Albany Damien Center.  And in the end, that’s all that really matters.
• 1. After ten years in minor league sports… I received a championship ring for all my efforts.  How ultra-cool is that?

And this is my wrap-up of what I did in 2014.  There’s a lot more I could have mentioned, and a lot more that I should have chronicled… but this is where I stand.  And this is where I’m moving forward for 2015.

See you all next year.