First, Arnie and I want to thank all of you who have supported Barefoot Contessa Photo Adventures, both in our workshops and on our blog.

We have had many conversations through the year — but especially at the year’s end — about how lucky we are to have met and worked with so many interesting people. There are friendships that have come out of these workshops that we treasure. It is also wonderful to see how the groups gel so quickly and to hear of friendship made that last well beyond the workshop experience, just as ours have. We know some keep track of each through e-mails and Facebook. Others plan photo trips together. There are some who get together for a day of photography with Arnie and me perched on each shoulder (this means something to those who have joined us). And on it goes.

We love watching our participants grow as photographers, whether rank beginner or seasoned pro. We enjoy challenging them to go beyond their comfort level. We urge them to seek their own vision and make unusual photographs.

The images you see here are only some of the many stunning ones our students produced — just a few examples of how our students took their photography to another step. More can be found in the Student Galleries, but these are among the more unusual views they presented.

We enjoy their collective sense of humor and willingness to postpone supper to catch the gorgeous light, as Karen Geswein did at one our locations near Moab.

Regardless of the scene and how often it has been photographed, we urge our participants to seek their own vision and make something unusual, as Goodloe Suttler did in Savannah.

It’s interesting to observe those among our participants who stay in one spot and look around slowly until they find something that grabs their attention, as Dave Enochs did in Spain.

It’s inspiring to watch someone make a beautiful abstract by turning something upside down, as Barbara Beyda did at one of the cascades we visit in Virginia.

Some keep working the scene and refining their composition to come up with just the right balance of shapes, as Alain Roy did on the Maine coast last summer.

We keep reminding people to look behind them and see what the light is doing, as Jack Tierney did last spring in Maine instead of photographing the lighthouse.

Some of our participants are fascinated with textures and patterns and create a compelling design using light to bring it out, as George Dalsheimer did in a private workshop on the Outer Banks.

It is terrific when someone succeeds in making an elegantly simple photograph out of something potentially confusing, as Lauren Golden did in Canyon de Chelly.

We talk about the Magic of Light all the time and love it when our participants really explore what light does, as Marg Wood did in New England during Leaf-peeping Season.

We also urge people to find unusual patterns and use their post-processing skills to bring them out even more, as Cam Garner did this fall on the Outer Banks.

There are those who work to create drama in a very simple scene using light, patterns, and color, as Jim Crowley did last spring on the Outer Banks.

It’s fun working with our participants to help them refine a scene to produce an arresting image like the one Jeffrey Wilkes did in a private workshop in Charleston.

There are many other photographs that could just have easily qualified for this blog, but you can see them in the various Student Galleries.

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