Photo of the Year

There are lots of great year-end lists - we'll have our own at some point later this week. National Geographic's list of the year's best photos is well worth your time, as is Reuters' (warning: some of the latter's photos of the year are graphic depictions of violence). Largehearted Boy offers an exhaustive compendium of lists of the best books of the year - a list of lists, if you will. I assume Dave has read all of them. Every radio station worth it's salt has offered its take on the year in music. My favorites include the SiriusXMU Top 41 and the KEXP.com Top 90.3 albums, but your results will vary.

With all that effort expended by others, who are we to try to pile on? No, we'll keep it short and amazing. The G:TB Photo of the Year was taken in 2013's first month by Portugese surf photographer To Mane at Nazare, Portugal. The shot captures Hawaiian surfer Garrett McNamara's ride of what is allegedly the largest wave ever surfed. I was captivated by it the first time I saw it, and I have the same reaction every time I come across it again. It's stunning, and not done justice in any way at this size:

Here's video of McNamara talking about the ride:



I imagine both McNamara and Mane will be both pleasantly surprised and more than a little confused when the commemorative chocolate statues of Gheorghe arrive at their homes.