The popular year-end trend on Instagram for the last two years has been the “best nine” recap. #2016BestNine is a website tool that compiles your best nine Instagram images sorted by the number of likes.

So even though I hate year-end lists that pop up in December (the year isn’t over yet, damn it!), my best nine are unlikely to change. Let’s take a look at the trends and patterns from my Instagram account.

The most obvious point is that six of my best nine images all feature the same model — my favourite, Gamer Girl.

My most liked photo of the #2016BestNine (top left) was a reworked image of Christine that I originally shot 9 years ago. I’m still amazed how much new life I’m able to breathe into old shots with improved software and improved retouching techniques I’ve learned.

The next thing I noticed was that if we ignore the two black and white images, the remaining seven all feature non-traditional hair colours — six shots with green hair and one redhead. Clearly, coloured hair is very in this year with the Instagram populace.

Some other quick numbers:

• Five shots were taken in front, and four from behind
• Only one was a selfie
• There are visible tattoos in every photo except the first and last
• Three shots were full length, four were three-quarter length, and two were face closeups

If you want to see the full images, follow me on Instagram.

What does your #2016BestNine look like? Any interesting trends? Link me to yours in the comments below with your observations.