We have to admit it was kind of cool to see Air Force one fly in overhead. Also: AF1 is a large airplane. | post: 
We're a sucker for good sunset pics. This one is from January at Capital Hills. | Tweet: 
In February we got an email from a guy named Jeff in Guilderland: "I just wanted to let you guys know that my neighbor built a snowman that is about a 1 1/2 stories high in his front yard." He wasn't kidding. | post: 
The Kegs 'n Eggs party/free-for-all/riot probably would have been a story without all the videos posted on YouTube. But with the video? It exploded. This still is grabbed from video uploaded to YouTube by user yz125motoracer. It's been viewed more than 500,000 times there. | post: 
Through the Lens Studios' Neil Grabowsky passed along a photoset from the Tour de Troy cycling race in downtown Troy. We liked the way the cyclists curve around the building. | post: 
This TulipFest photo from Sebastien made us laugh. (What's the best way to draw in the ladies? A lasso. Obviously.) | post: 
The ever popular weather photo. But we liked this one because of the light. And the bug. It's from a storm in June that dropped quarter-diameter hail. | post: 
Chuck got this photo of the historic Trinity Church in Albany after it had partially collapsed in July (it was later completely demolished). William Leue would use Chuck's photoset of the building to 
Hat Day at The Track is worth at least few fun pics. These ladies -- Anne Marie Mitchell of Stillwater and Debbie Lurie of New City -- won the "Uniquely Saratoga" category with hats that included working fountains. | post: 
One of the photos Rob included with his Soapbox post about the cricket matches in Schenectady. It was one of our favorite posts of the year. | post: 
From the Warrior Dash at Windham in August, by Sebastien. Fun. | post: 
It's kind of amazing that the B3nson crew was able to pull off the Restoration Festival during a tropical storm. But they did. And it was great. We liked this photo by Bennett of Titus Andronicus' Amy Klein -- it looks hot and loud. | post: 
Irene flooding, in Schenectady. There was an unreal quality to these scenes, like this street in the Stockade. | post: 
More Irene flooding, in Troy. This was the site of the former city hall. The backhoes involved in the demolition of the building ended up on an island. | post: 
As bad as things were after Irene in Troy and Schenectady, parts of Greene and Schoharie counties got hit even harder. The Batavia Kill consumed Windham's downtown -- and left behind all sorts of grim scenes, like this half-buried station wagon. | post: 
We liked this moment Siobhan captured at the Columbia County Fair. | post: 
Living Walls was one of the most interesting projects of the year. And it was remarkable how fast some of the murals went up. Mary captured this photo of the two artists from Broken Crow creating The Elk on Spring Street in Albany overnight in September. | post: 
It was an odd, funny scene outside Proctors: clouds of bubbles, a crowd of young women asking to hug people, and kids running all around. We liked this photo because of the way the boy in the middle has taken a moment to watch it all. | post: 
From the Tournament of Pizza judging at EMPAC. The TOP can be a slog -- but the judges are great. They make it fun. (Obviously, Hello Kitty has been added to this photo to protect the identity of the mysterious Albany Jane.) | post: 
Katie passed along this photo of a rainbow over Central Warehouse during some rainbow weather in October. | post: 
Katelyn won lunch behind the GE sign in Schenectady in an office charity auction. We liked her photo because it captured a place everyone knows, from an angle very few people have been. | post: 
Cute little girl + cute rabbit = awwwwwwww. We took this photo while touring the Radix Center's greenhouse in Albany's South End. The little girl, Violet, is the daughter of Radix founders Stacy Pettigrew and Scott Kellogg. | post: 
This LEGO version of the Saratoga Race Course took the prize for complexity at the Albany Institute's building competition. | post: 
This was one of the crazier things we saw in 2011: the fire suppression system went off at gas station along Western Ave near UAlbany (there didn't seem to have been a fire). We wish we would have snapped a pic right as it happened -- it looked like someone had dropped a flour bomb. People were walking around dazed, covered in the white material. | post: 
This photo from after the Santa Speedo Sprint makes us laugh. Just your typical interview. (That's Jim Larson and the Gazette's Bethany Bump.) | post: 
After Occupy Albany spent two months in Academy Park, the city removed the tents. The protesters grabbed their last tent and paraded it through the streets around the Capitol, Center Square, and downtown. They'd later head back to park, where there was a struggle with police over the tent. | post: Memorable photos from 2011
Some were from scenes that seemed unreal.
While filing away 2011, we thought it'd be interesting to collect some of our favorite photos from the last year of AOA.
Some of the photos are good pictures, some evoked memories (good and bad), and some are just fun.
Thank you to everyone who sent along photos over the past year. We appreciate it.
The photos are in large format above. Scroll all the way to the top of the page.
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Comments
a few basements got flooded in the stockade! 30 miles to the west, entire communities were erased. no big deal, let's just focus on the fat santa.
... said aaronclermont on Jan 10, 2012 at 7:46 PM | link
aaron, AOA extensively covered Irene, the impacts, and relief efforts. It's a little disingenuous to suggest they're glossing over the biggest local event of the year.
That aside, the Santa Speedo Sprint raised over $20,000 to help the Damien center continue serving individuals and families living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. It's about more than a "fat santa" (who, by the way, has a name), but even if it wasn't, enduring a massive tragedy is no reason to ignore the more whimsical, positive things happening in the area.
... said B on Jan 11, 2012 at 10:12 AM | link
Great collection!
... said abby on Jan 11, 2012 at 6:56 PM | link