My 21 Favorite Purdue Images Of 2021

I had a fun year making images at Purdue this year, but I don’t know if I will ever top what I did last year. I made some images that might be once in a lifetime photos because of the pandemic. This year though I am still very proud of what I was able to make. Here are my favorite photos of campus from 2021. As always you can click on any image to bring it up on my site for purchase.

21. I need to make more photos like this in 2022. I like the small scenes on campus. I used to want photos with no people in them, but sometimes the people can add something to the frame.

20. The Boilermaker statue seems to be a place where I go to make images when I just need a good image. Here the sky didn’t quite turn out how I would have liked it too, but it still was pretty darn good.

19. Fall at Purdue is always a good time. This year I was in quarantine during the real peak colors on campus, but I managed to get out and make a few photos before that happened. This is a great campus to make photos on, and this is another reason why.

18. When I go up to campus to make photos I usually park across from the athletic venues in the neighborhood because it is usually available and still gives me easy access to campus. That also means that I walk by a lot of the athletic venues once on my way there, and once on my way back. On this trip I came up with a different way to frame this scene both times. This was by far my favorite. The clouds streaking by just adds to it all.

17. For most of this year the area around the Neil Armstrong statue was under construction. That means that for most of the year I stayed away from there because you don’t want scaffolding in your photos. On an icy night I made this photo of Neil with some new jewelry.

16. The Purdue Christmas tree returned this year after a year off. I love this tradition and everything around it. This is usually where my Christmas posts really start to pick up on this blog. This year I was so in the spirit that I started much earlier.

15. One of my favorite things to do in the winter is to make snokeh photos on campus. I just love trying to make little scenes using the snowflakes to give me a snow globe effect. This year it seems as if I made more photos of campus in the snow than anything else.

14. Here I tried something new with the snokeh photo. The lights were giving off an amber hue so I decided to lean into that a little. It made for an image that I really liked. The mask on the John Purdue statue also gives you a time period when it was taken. I wish that he would wear it over his nose though.

13. The talking heads outside of Pao Hall are one of my favorite subjects. I don’t visit them as much as I should, but this is the first of two images of them on this countdown. On this night the clouds were going by so fast I decided to go out late and make some photos of them streaking over campus. It was also supposed to snow, but that never panned out. I still like this image.

12. This was the year that I was determined not to take so many photos of the clock tower on campus. I tried my best, but sometimes things are too good to pass up. Here is one of those times as the sun is setting. I loved the rays of light coming from it. The tower can be in silhouette because we all know what it is.

11. There is a little church near the Purdue Union that I love photographing. I usually go up on this garage for photos of campus, but here the incoming sunset storm went by the church giving me a great chance to make a photo of the steeple. This church has seemed like it might be torn down for years now. Luckily it is still standing. The school has recently bought it though so I would bet that it comes down sooner rather than later.

10. This photo was a long time in the making. Every time that I thought that we would get a rainbow I would drive up to Mackey to make a photo of it. The rainbows rarely panned out though. This was a spot where I knew that the rainbow would be directly over the place, and the shape of the building was close to the rainbow. Finally this summer I finally had my image. I spent a lot of nights down here waiting for the light to hit just right so it was nice to finally make the image. Now I just need to find a new spot to run to when things look good.

9. As I said above this was the year when I started really experimenting with my snokeh photos. This was going to be a throwaway image until I started playing with it. Once again the lights really give off an amber hue here so I really leaned into that. What I ended up with was one of my favorite images of the year.

8. I tried to make a point to visit new places on campus this year for my snokeh photos. I started to feel like I was doing the same thing over and over. On this night the snow was really blowing in so I slowed my shutter speed way down to let the snow make the photo for me. I love the way that it worked here. This was a fun photo to come up with, and probably could be a little higher on the countdown.

7. This photo happened by sheer chance. I was not planning on making a photo of the new arch on campus this night, but when I saw the way that the columns were wrapped I knew that I had to. With all of the construction in the background I needed to get a little creative to get it out of my frame. I think that it all worked out here. After spending a lot of time at the new arches the last couple of years I really didn’t get up here much this year. For this photo though things really worked out for me.

6. Losing Leroy Keyes was a blow to the athletic department in many ways. He was an amazing man that we still continue to miss. When I saw that they were honoring him at the football stadium I wanted to go up and make a photo for him. This was the result. This is the second year in a row that I have done this for a Boilermaker great that has passed. Hopefully I don’t get that chance again this year.

5. This was a fun photo to make. The night before I was at this spot watching the International Space Station fly over campus. I noticed this tree that still had its leaves on it and it still was very colorful. I made a point to go back the next day to use it to frame the Purdue clock tower. After trying not to use it so much this year it shows up on the countdown five times.

4. This was part of an amazing snowy night on campus. I went up to make snokeh photos, but I ended up just watching the kids have fun during a huge snowstorm more than anything. Here at the VOSS Model I found this snowman that someone had made. This was too good of a photo to pass up. I walked a little around campus from here after making this photo, and when I came back by the snowman had been knocked over. I had good timing to make this photo before that happened.

3. I made this photo on my first visit to the Amelia Earhart statue on campus. I can’t believe that it took me this long to get there, but I am glad that I did. I made this photo the same night as the photo above as a heavy snow was coming down on campus. Some students were working on a snowman at the base of the statue so I decided to use the hedge around it as a way to get a clean image. I really like how this photo turned out.

2. I can still feel the warmth of this night on my face as I type this. After having dinner on campus at the gardens just across the street we were walking back to our car as the sun was setting. I had my new tilt shift lens on my so I decided to try it out on the sunset. The result was one of my favorite photos of the year.

1. At number one of course is the clock tower. When the sky catches fire though you know that you have to make a photo of it. This was part of a magical night on campus watching the many way that the sky lights up as the sun sets. Here it looked best just after the sun went down. The best part about this photo was my little one next to me making photos with her phone because everything looked so good. I say it a lot, but when the kids come along on these trips they are always better.

There are my favorite images of campus this year. I always say this, but I didn’t get up there enough this year. It is so close you always can say that you will go some other night. This year I should have more free time to get up there and show off this beautiful place where we live. There is always something new up there to show as well. There are a couple of new buildings that I haven’t really photographed yet.