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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.

Here’s a continuation of the previous roundup of dvafoto’s friends’ and readers’ favorite/best photos of 2010. Keep them coming!

Matt Mallams, Bryan Mitchell, Wendy Marijnissen, Lianne Milton, Noah Darnell, Nathan W. Armes, Clayton Hauck, Shaena Mallett, Todd Spoth, Evan Gilman, Helena Franke, Nathan Weyland, Josh D. Weiss, Pete Carr, Patrick Smith (and part 2), and Luka Knezevicstrika.

Thanks to everybody for sending in their favorites from 2010. Here’s hoping 2011 will bring great light, beautiful pictures, and plenty of tearsheets.

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Crowds of people reach to grab discount coupons and jewelry in a merchant's giveaway in the central shopping district of Kunming, Yunnan Province, China.

A tiger skeleton stands in a vat of tiger wine at the Siberian Tiger Park in Haerbin, Heilongjiang Province, China. The wine is said to imbue drinkers with various health benefits such as strength and virility. The wine sells for 780 renminbi (about US$110.00) per half kilogram of liquid. The Siberian Tiger Park is described as a preserve to protect Siberian tigers from extinction through captive breeding. Visitors to the park can purchase live chickens and other meat to throw to the tigers. The Siberian tiger is also known as the Manchurian tiger.

A public service film about medicine, health, and hygiene, plays on a temporary screen in a park in Hekou, Yunnan Province, China, on the Vietnam border.

A public health notice in Kunming, Yunnan, China, depicts an airplane representing the AIDS virus running into a skyscraper which is protected by a condom.

Women shop at a market in Pangzhihua Village, Yuanyang County, Yunnan Province, China.

A boy stands in the muddy streets of Sheng Cun, in Yuanyang County, Yunnan Province, China, while workers unload a truck full of concrete to be used to improve roads in the area. "Sheng Cun" is translated as "Successful Village" in local tourist brochures.

People argue with a policeman on the night of Lunar New Year celebrations in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China. The policeman confiscated fireworks and tore up lanterns. The man in a parka and beanie (right) was seen to speak with the policeman after the confrontation, likely an undercover policeman. Lunar New Year is also known as Chinese New Year. 2009 is the Year of the Ox, the Year of the Cow, or the Year of the Bull, according to the Chinese zodiac. Niu is the Mandarin word for ox/cow/bull.

An imam speaks at a small mosque in Pingliang, Gansu, China.

Workers wait in line at the border to take goods into Vietnam from Hekou, Yunnan Province, China.

Li Bing Feng, a migrant restaurant worker from Gansu Province, rides his bicycle through the streets of Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China. Shoot was directed. Clothing (pants by Diesel Black Gold, shirt by J Crew, shoes by Converse Jams, hat by New Err) provided by Fader magazine. Model release available on request.

Mannequins display clothing for sale in a window display in the Bund area of Shanghai, China.

A man's hat rests on a fence post during work outside a small house in Pangzhihua Village, Yuanyang County, Yunnan Province, China.

Rescued dogs gather for feeding time at Ha Wenjin's animal rescue farm outside of Nanjing, Jiangsu, China. About 1000 animals, both dogs and cats, live at the no-kill shelter where they have spacious indoor and outdoor living areas. At times other than feeding time, the animals are not as crowded as this picture depicts.

People ride a sleeper train in Shandong Province, China.

Spanky Spangler comes up short on a 200-foot daredevil jump at the culmination of Evel Knievel Days in Butte, Montana, USA. Spangler survived the crash.

The dunes of the Gobi Desert at night near Dunhuang, Gansu, China.

Crowds wait for their trains at the Shanghai Railway Station in Shanghai, China.

Tourists ascend the Great Wall at Badaling outside of Beijing, China.

A small boat travels on the Jialing River between Langzhong city and the surrounding agricultural areas in Langzhong, Sichuan, China.

Bride Ren Jing and her friends walk toward the mosque for Ren Jing's wedding to Da Fen in Pingliang, Gansu, China. The newlyweds are members of the Hui ethnic minority, a Muslim ethnic group in northwestern China.

Black Angus beef cattle graze on land outside of Fairfield for the Malek Angus Ranch operation. The Malek Angus Ranch operates Big Sky Montana Beef, a high-quality jerky and other processed meat business.

Young Hui minority Muslims sing karaoke songs in a KTV room in Pingliang, Gansu, China.

A family lights sparklers and other fireworks in the crowd gathered in Stalin Park on the banks of the Songhua River during Lantern Festival celebrations in central Haerbin, Heilongjiang Province, China.

Buddhist pilgrims walk among the guesthouses surrounding the Labrang Monastery in Xiahe, Gansu, China. Xiahe, home of the Labrang Monastery, is an important site for Tibetan Buddhists. The population of the town is divided between ethnic Tibetans, Muslims, and Han Chinese.

Young Tibetan Buddhist monks and Chinese military soldiers wait for an attendant in an internet cafe in Xiahe, Gansu, China. Xiahe, home of the Labrang Monastery, is an important site for Tibetan Buddhists. The population of the town is divided between ethnic Tibetans, Muslims, and Han Chinese.

Workers construct a building in Xiahe, Gansu, China. Xiahe, home of the Labrang Monastery, is an important site for Tibetan Buddhists. The population of the town is divided between ethnic Tibetans, Muslims, and Han Chinese.

Crowds gather on a hillside to watch a motorcycle performance during Evel Knievel Days in Butte, Montana, USA.

Men fish in the Yangtze River as barges pass by Chongqing, China. Increased river traffic and nearby manufacturing in the area has threatened the river's long-term ecology.

Seen through a bus windshield, a man and dog walk down a road in mountainous rural southern Yunnan Province, China, near the Vietnam border.

Following Matt’s lead, I’ve collected a few of my favorite photos of mine from 2009. It was a relatively good year, with a few assignments, corporate shoots, other gigs, and an award and exhibition or two. Always room for improvement in that respect, and 2010 seems to be off in full swing. The work here is mostly from China, with a little bit from the northwestern United States thrown in. These aren’t necessarily the best photos I took, or representative of everything I photographed, but they’re favorites nonetheless for various reasons.

The Year in Photos packages are trickling out. Thanks to Filmoculous’ great annual List of Lists, here are a few of the collections released so far.

• MSNBC’s Year in News Pictures (watch out for the way over the top music…)
• MSNBC’s Year in Sports Pictures
• Time’s Top 10 photos
• Time’s Top 10 election photos
• National Geographic’s Best Science Images
• Pitchfork Media’s Year in Concert Photos