Year's Favorite HNT '09

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It's that time of year again when all good HNT-ers follow the rules guidelines and post their favorite HNT of the year. Not their favorite HNT that someone else posted, but their favorite that they posted.

Y'all know about my love-hate relationship with HNT. There is so much good about it, yet there is a side of it that I struggle with and that began outweighing the good. I'm not saying that HNT is bad, just that it became bad for me, yet I thoroughly enjoyed looking back through my 2009 shots. Each one has a story and sometimes the story is far better than the picture.

I wasn't able to narrow it down a single favorite, so instead I am re-posting three of my favorites that are favorites for very different reasons. Just remember that clicking may piss of your IT folks if you are at work or damage your children for a lifetime if you are at home and they are peeking over your shoulder!

I've pulled most of my HNT's back into draft, and this post will likely see the same fate, but for now ...

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I had fun with the "retro" HNT's this year - attempting to go back to what I interpreted as the original intent of HNT. This was by far my favorite of that genre.

**click**

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I used a LOT of Gimp and Paint.net with this photo and in doing so managed to capture exactly how I was feeling - minimized, isolated and alone. It took feeling like this, and being able to capture that feeling in a photo, for me to get the courage to move forward.

**click**

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One of the things that really challenged me was finding an HNT opportunity that others might miss. If I had to pick an overall favorite, this one might just edge out the other two based only on composition.

**click**

It was a good HNT year - one that allowed me to fall in love with photography and afforded me personal growth through that medium.

Who knows, there might be an HNT or two in my 2010 future, but for now I'll just appreciate all that it was!

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