This week, for the last photo challenge of 2022, Tina asks us to consider publishing photos from 2022 not previously published. She writes, “We hope you’ll join us this week with your previously-unused favorites of 2022.” You can view her entire challenge post here.

For this final challenge response of 2022, this post contains mostly unpublished images captured this year, but a couple of them feature previously published full-color images. With the prodding of a comment from a reader on one of my images a few weeks ago, I decided that I will not only include images not published before but share them in black and white.

For my opening image, I decided to feature a modified version of a photo I first shared in a different photo challenge. I’d taken a daytime shot and using Lightroom Classic and Luminar Neo turned the day into night and illuminated the lamp in the light station. In the comments for that post, someone asked me if I’d considered doing a black-and-white version. As much as I like black and white photography, I admit I hadn’t. I set about to fix that but didn’t take the opportunity to share it. So, anyway, here it is after processing in Silver-Efex 3.

Most of these images will likely be reposted in the coming year as part of my Travel Tuesday or Cellpic Sunday features, but they will likely be in color. It has been a while since I’ve considered using Silver Efex 3 for black-and-white conversions. I decided that it was time I refamiliarized myself with that tool. Since it was released earlier this year as version 3, I even watched a YouTube video or two to learn about how it changed from previous versions.

On our overnight stay in London, one evening I went for a walk near our hotel across from the Tower of London. I captured several views of the neighborhood including this image of a street that has a traffic-carrying bridge overhead.

I was especially moved by a diorama of a slave auction in the Lincoln Presidential Museum. The presentation was already low-key with a bright spotlight on the family being separated and sold into slavery. I decided to further enhance the black-and-white image with a low-key preset in Silver Efex 3.

On our stay in New York City, we walked 5th Avenue on a Sunday morning and as luck would have it, arrived when I could capture parishioners leaving the church after Sunday Mass. To capture the entire height of the building’s spires, I purposely tilted the composition. The tilt turned out to be much more pleasing than the stitching of two images to create a vertical panorama.

One of our excursions in New York was a tour of the city on a boat that takes passengers on the Hudson River past famous landmarks in the city. We originally thought of going to the island but decided we would get better views and much less crowding by viewing the statue from a distance. It was a good decision.

On our Canadian cruise, we visited Peggy’s Cove, just outside of Halifax. The bus ride to the seaside community gave me the opportunity to capture images of some of the working boats in the sheltered bay.

Another stop on the cruise was New Brunswick at the port in Saint John. As we entered the harbor area early in the morning, I spotted a lighthouse in the distance that was actually operating. I snapped several images trying to capture the light as it pointed directly at our ship.

On a short cruise on Lake Superior, we exited and re-entered the harbor by crossing the channel by going under the lift bridge. When it is carrying traffic, the roadway is almost all the way down at the water level. After we re-entered the harbor area, I captured an image off the stern of our boat as the lift bridge roadway was slowly being lowered back into place.

You can click on any of the above images to view them in 2K HD via my Flickr site. The black background Flickr uses is especially useful in pixel-peeping these monochrome images. You can also click here to view and scroll through the entire album.

Thanks to Tina for this week’s challenge topic, Last Chance 2022. The team is taking some time off for the holidays so this is the last Lens-Artists challenge as we will be on hiatus for the remainder of 2022. I am looking forward to reconnecting with everyone when I lead our first 2023 Challenge on Saturday, January 7.

Also in January, the team is pleased to announce that Donna Holland of Wind Kisses will join the Lens-Artists effective in the New Year. Donna has been a loyal follower of our challenge, has previously Guest-Hosted, and consistently delivers thoughtful and beautifully illustrated posts. Be sure to follow her at her site, windkisses.com.

All of us on the Lens-Artists team send the warmest holiday greetings to all who celebrate and our best wishes for a Happy and Healthy New Year.

John Steiner