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A girl watches skateboarders in Keene, New Hampshire, USA.

Parade participants interact with the crowd at the St. Patrick's Day Parade in South Boston, Massachusetts.

Pregnant cattle stand in a holding pen awaiting ultrasounds to determine the progress of their gestation on the Judisch Ranch outside of Ledger, Montana USA. The ranch has more than 700 cattle, primarily Black Angus, most of which are destined to be sold for human consumption.

A young crashed skier lays in powder on a ski run at Showdown Ski Area on King's Hill in the Little Belt Mountains near Neihart, Montana, USA.

People try to get a glimpse or snapshot of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney after the 4th of July parade in Amherst, New Hampshire. Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman walked in the parade as part of their campaign for the 2012 presidential election.

A sign reads "Jesus is Lord" in rural southern Minnesota.

People walk along the beach at Ocean Drive State Park outside Newport, Rhode Island, USA.

A marching band rests after walking through the streets of Boston's North End in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Powerlines stand above a snowy field on the road to Highwood outside Great Falls, Montana, USA.

Unlike the rest of her family, Shayreen Izoli, 16, is very devoted to her Muslim faith. "I feel it's my responsibility as a Muslim to be a positive role model," said Shayreen, "I see a negative energy toward Muslims in the media."

George Kleinsassen, a young Hutterite boy, guides cattle in a barn on the Judisch ranch outside Ledger, Montana, USA.

A marching band waits for the start of the 4th of July parade in Amherst, New Hampshire. Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman walked in the parade as part of their campaign for the 2012 presidential election.

Protesters from the OccupyBoston movement walk through the streets of the Back Bay area of Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

A dog stands inside an insurance agency in Sundance, Wyoming, USA.

Graduating students gather in the Rockwell Cage (Building W33) to prepare for commencement ceremonies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

A man photographs artwork at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, USA.

Jack Ursitti, age 7, poses for a portrait with his iPad in his home in Dover, Mass., on Monday, July 25, 2011. Jack has been diagnosed with autism, and uses the iPad both for leisure activities, such as listening to music and looking at photos of his family, and for educational activities.

Paul LeBlanc, president of Southern New Hampshire University, takes a phone call in the offices of the school's College of Online and Continuing Education (COCE) at the Riverwalk Mills Building in downtown Manchester, New Hampshire.

Badlands at dusk. South Dakota, USA.

Protestors of the OccupyBoston movement sit outside the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston near Dewey Square in the Financial District of downtown Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Skiers and snowboarders on the hill at Showdown Ski Area on King's Hill in the Little Belt Mountains near Neihart, Montana, USA.

Oktoberfest. Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.

Dr. Cornel West, Princeton University professor and prominent political activist, spoke with media and protestors at the OccupyBoston demonstration in Dewey Square in the Financial District of downtown Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

People in a Starbucks coffee shop watch as OccupyBoston marches through the streets of Back Bay, a high-traffic shopping area, in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Art Love has worked in the office of Motel Caswell for six years, seen here in the lobby of the motel in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, USA, on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2011.

Oilfield road outside Pendroy, Montana, USA.

Hunter. Outside Conrad, Montana, USA.

Romney supporter Barbara Clark, of Nashua, NH, waits for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, to at a rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Sat. Dec. 3, 2011.

Dr. Andreas Mershin, professor in MIT's Biological Engineering Department, sits in his office at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. Mershin's current research focuses on photosynthetic photovoltaic power systems. "We would like to be able to grow solar power," says Mershin, "Nighttime access to light is the best way out of poverty."

A small plane flies in the sky above Provincetown, Massachusetts, USA.

I’ve had to wait for a few images to be published before posting my favorite images of last year. A month or so late, here are some of my favorite images from last year. As I’ve written in previous year-end posts, these might not be my best or most widely published or most important pictures of the year, but they’re my favorites. Most of these images are from larger bodies of work or fit alongside other coverage; many are from assignments, but many are not.

It was a year of substantial transition, both personally and professionally. I moved to Boston and developed a host of new assignment clients and stock publishers. I need to send a big thank-you to all the people I’ve worked with over the past year at the Wall Street Journal, Education Week (a couple of my photos are in their Best of 2011), Chronicle of Higher Education, the New Yorker, the Montana Office of Tourism, MIT, Tufts University, BagNewsNotes, CurrentTV, Longshot, Burn Magazine, PHOTO/Arts Magazine, the Ballarat International Foto Bienalle, the New York Photo Festival, Slideluck Potshow, PDN, the Youth Image Project, the Format Festival, 25CPW, the Magnum Foundation and others. 2012 is already off to a bang, and now that I’ve got my feet relatively stable under me in this new locale, I’ll be pushing after some stories I’ve been researching.

You can also see my favorites from 2010 and 2009, posted here previously, and Matt’s pictures from 2011, 2010, and 2009.