Well another year has come to an end and once again I have put together a collection of the top ten favourite photos I have made during that time. As always. it is not necessarily the technical ‘best’ photos of the year, but the ones that are special to me for one reason or another. Once you have had a chance to review them, I invite your comments or questions and would be interested in knowing which one(s) you liked best, and why. Please note, that these are not in order of preference. Without further ado, here they are:
There you have it. I’m sure you wonder why I didn’t provide an explanation of my photos this year. That’s because I’m making some changes and trying something different. If you check out my YouTube video, you can hear more about the images and my thoughts.
From the images above, you can see that 40% are black and white, 5 involve water, there’s an abstract one, one animal and one night shot. As for the cameras I used, they were the iPhone 13 Pro, FujiFilm GFX100S, the Canon R5 and the Canon 6D Mark II, with a variety of lenses.
As I was mentioning, there are more changes coming, and I expect 2023 to be a big year in photography for me. I’ll let you know more about those things soon. I hope everyone has a very happy, healthy 2023!
This is now the seventh consecutive year that I am writing a post about my top images of the past year. Last year at this time, I, like many other people probably were, thought life would be back to something resembling normal by now. As we all know, life had different ideas for us. I really hopped that I would be getting out with my camera more often as well as posting more frequently, but that didn’t happen. I did get out a bit and had some photos that I am happy with, so I am sharing them here, along with my thoughts.
Several times a year I go into the city specifically for photography, but often even when it’s not a photography specific trip, I still bring my camera with me. That is what happed with the photo below. I had taken my car to the dealership for some very minor work and had an hour or so to hang out while it was being done. Across the street is a large building that was reflecting the wispy, white clouds and blue sky and I thought the pattern was interesting, as was the contrast between the lighter (left side) and darker side. This photo actually received a live review on one of my favourite podcasts, Behind The Shot – Image Critique (on YouTube) and I did a little re-editing based upon their suggestions.
Shades of Blue
One of the few times I went on a photography specific trip was when I went up to San Josef Bay in Cape Scott Provincial Park. It is a long drive, but always worth it. The rainy weather made for a less than comfortable day hike at the beach, but it certainly added an element of atmosphere to the photography that day.
San Josef Bay Sea Stacks
This year I also found myself having a greater appreciation for abstract scenes and the beach can be a great place to find them, if you can look beyond the grand vistas. The patterns in the sand are disrupted here, by this piece of kelp that has formed a gentle loop along with evidence of foam bubbles that burst after the waters receded.
Natural Beach Art
Looking down, I saw this beach scene, below, and though it looked almost like a pencil sketch of a distorted Jaba the Hut face. I decided to capture it and process it as a black and white image. I’ve since tried my hand at a little pencil sketching, but nothing quite like this!
Face of the Beach
The biggest trip I took in 2021 was to the Kootenays, and I took advantage of the trip to do a lot of sightseeing along the way, as it had been many years since I had driven the southern route through the province. I definitely don’t want to wait too long before exploring the area more. I liked the way the river was flowing past these three old posts in the Slocan River. It gives me a calm, relaxed feeling.
Last Three Standing
Some of the areas I drove through on that trip showed signs of past fires. As unfortunate as it is for wildfires to destroy trees and anything else in their path, it is interesting how what was left behind afterwards can still catch the eye and be appreciated. While this lone tree stood on the angled ridge line, against a foreboding sky, renewed signs of life can be seen, like the small evergreen a little lower on the hill.
Scorched but Standing
With the morning sun low on the horizon, the hills around the Osoyoos area were accented by the shadows and the distant fog. I loved the way they seemed to go on and on and the warm feeling I get, looking back at this image.
A Study in Layers
I know earlier I talked about looking down for unique images, but it pays to look all around, including up, if you want to find something different than everyone else. I saw these cables and the way they intersected and knew they would make an interesting subject. I shifted my viewpoint around and waited until the clouds drifted to a point where they added more interest to the scene and quite like the result.
Got Your Wires Crossed?
There are many places close to home that I like returning to over and over, and this is one of them, but the specific scene is not one I’d previously paid much attention to. It’s a little cove, just off to the side from a lighthouse that is the normal subject of my attention. This time, I decided to do some long exposure photography, and happened to notice that, from the right angle, the rock formation on the beach looked like a couple of stacked pyramids.
Long Exposure in Front of Natural Pyramids
My final image selected for the year captures a traffic circle in the snow, the day after Christmas (Boxing Day here in Canada, among other places). The heavier traffic on three sides of the roundabout leave a clear dark path, which kind of remind me of an ancient Egyptian eye hieroglyph. In the last couple of months I have started using my drone more often for photography and am really enjoying the perspective.
Snow on the Eye-way
I hope you’ve enjoyed this look back on my favourite photos from 2021 and come on back to see what 2022 will bring.
Remember, if you enjoy my work, you can always buy me a coffee!
Well it’s been far too long since I last posted and that is about to change. The past couple years, during all the Covid-19 related issues, have been disruptive on any sort of normal routine for many, including me. I am looking forward to returning to a more regular routine of getting out on photography excursions and posting my thoughts and experiences on them here. You’ll find some photography tips and educational advice added in with my posts about different locations I have visited.
An overhead view of Ella Beach on Vancouver Island
You will also find images I have made with my drone, such as the one of Ella Beach (above), from the day after a major storm which washed out many roads and took out power across much of southern British Columbia.
Sooke Marine Bordwalk / Rotary Pier
Drone photography allows access to a whole new perspective that you just can’t normally get from a land based viewpoint. The Sooke Marine Boardwalk, as seen here, with Ed Macgregor Park in the background is a good example of this. Normally, the only way to get a view from the water-side, you would be at sea level (on a boat) or across the water in East Sooke, so you wouldn’t be able to tell what lay just behind the park. The previous image of the beach was taken directly overhead and allows you to see patterns formed on a large scale that you might otherwise only see if you were looking out the window of an airplane flying way overhead.
Don’t worry, this blog is not turning into a dedicated drone photography site. There will continue to be many more photos from a terrestrial based point of view.
No need for a drone to get a different view point when you’re a seagull
Thank you for continuing to follow me and I’d appreciate if you could recommend the blog to others who are interested in photography or Vancouver Island (where much of my photography is from).
A Bird’s Eye View of Sheringham Point Lighthouse
One last thing. I love coffee and it keeps me going, so you can now support me and my photography efforts by buying me a coffee. Just click on this link: Buy Me A Coffee
One of the many things I love about living on Vancouver Island is how I am surrounded by trees. When I hike or just wander in the woods I get a relaxing, calm feeling and other concerns seem to fade away. The Japanese have a term for it “shinrin-yoku” (forest bathing) and apparently studies have shown what many already suspected: it is relaxing and beneficial to your health.
Ferns growing from an overhead moss covered branch
To get to many of the places I’ve photographed and written about on my blog, I’ve had to spend time wandering through the woods before arriving at my destination. While those posts may feature a waterfall, the ocean, a lighthouse, sunset or some other spectacular sight, the wander through the forest is always an important part of it for me.
The arbutus tree branch tree
I always keep an eye out for a new location to photograph. Sometimes I check out areas on a map or by using various apps, but other times I see somewhere that looks interesting while driving by. The location of the images in today’s post is from an area I drive by daily and have often thought I should check out. As you can see, it is a beautiful area to explore; rich with a variety of trees.
Standing alone, surrounded by many
I’m glad I stopped to check this area out a couple times in the last week. I will keep going back and looking for different conditions, as a nice fog or even misty rain would really make some of these trees (like the ones just above and below) stand out from the others.
Moss and lichen give a distinct look to this tree
Thank you for taking the time to check out my blog post. Please comment and let me know what you thought and share it with anyone who you think may enjoy my photography.
“Ancient trees are precious. There is little else on Earth that plays host to such a rich community of life within a single living organism.” — Sir David Attenborough
In the past, I’ve written a year end recap and look at things I plan or hope on accomplishing, photographically in the coming year. After a one year absence of that post, I am getting back on track. Somehow missing a post looking forward at what 2020 might hold in store for me seems fitting. Not in my wildest dreams (nightmares???) would I have guessed that almost the entire year, and beyond, would be dramatically affected by a global pandemic. I had been looking forward to a major photography trip in October, which had been planned well over a year in advance. At first I thought things might be getting back on track by then, but as the months wore on, it became apparent that it wouldn’t happen and it would be difficult to say when things might be back to a point when I could even consider an international trip would be. I had big plans, in my mind, for the year, but felt sapped of energy and let many things, like this blog, my YouTube channel, local photography outings, etc, slide. As I write this, the first people have received vaccines and while it will take many months yet, better times are in sight.
Bull Kelp
Despite all the cancelled trips, outings and events, there was much that happened for me, related to my photographic endeavours. I started off the year with a photo trip to Tofino, where I explored the wreckage of an old warplane and even made a short video of it. Shortly after that, things first got hectic in my non-photography work and then Covid set in. Still, I became even more involved in the local arts scene. As a Director on the Sooke Arts Council, I was involved in starting our art gallery, and subsequently became Vice President of the Council. This took up a lot more time than my earlier involvement did, however, it has been very rewarding, and working with artists of various other forms has been a positive influence on my artistic development.
Gallery by Sooke Arts Council
I also became more involved in various social media endeavours. While I have not grown my Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter or Flickr followings significantly (in fact, I have not kept up on them nearly was much as I wanted), I have made more connections with other photographers and artists through them, which has led to positive artistic growth. As a direct result of my involvement in some of these sites, or reaching out to those on them, I have had the opportunity to appear, or have my photography be featured, on various mediums. Images of mine have been reviewed on episodes of Behind The Shot. I have been a returning guest on Latitude Photography Podcast, and represented the Sooke Arts Council on the All Sooke Days Podcast. I even had my picture in the local paper, hanging the sign for our new Gallery… and there’s still time for a little more exposure before the end of the year!
BC Legislature & Victoria’s Inner Harbour
I did manage a couple quick trips on Vancouver Island, where I scouted areas I hadn’t previously been to. Strathcona Park and the surrounding area have much to offer, and I know I will be doing a lot more exploring there in the future. My short trip to Campbell River included a whale watching trip with Aboriginal Journeys Wildlife & Adventure Tours, and had a fantastic day viewing Humpback whales, seals, sea lions, various birds and other sea life. This is another area that I want to spend much more time in with my camera!
Humpback Whale “waving goodbye”
This all brings me to the point where I look forward to 2021. A lot of things are still uncertain and trying to make any definitive plans will be difficult, but I have some general goals in mind. One of those is quite simple. Get out with my camera more often than in 2020. Along with that, I want to be more regular and consistent with my blog posts and YouTube videos. Hopefully, I will be able to grow followers on both, as well as other social media platforms. In addition, I want to continue to increase my exposure on through appearing on podcasts, blogs, local media and anywhere else I can arrange. With any luck, travel will be back in the cards in the not too distant future. I’ll definitely be exploring more areas on Vancouver Island and if all goes well I’ll be checking out more of British Columbia this year, as well as at least one more distant locale. I’m looking forward to a great year and hope you follow along on my adventures, here and on my other sites.
Janus, the ancient Roman god of, among other things, beginnings, transitions, time and endings, is, according to Wikipedia, “usually depicted as having two faces, since he looks to the future and to the past”. I look at this post as my 2018/2019 Janus edition, in that I will briefly review my past year’s goals and accomplishments, then look forward to plans for the coming year.
At the end of 2017, I wrote a post about what my hopes were for my photography in 2018. Some of these goals were met, while others were not. Here is a review of some of those goals:
My hopes to photograph significantly more wildlife didn’t happen and while it is not the top of my list of hopes for 2019, I’m still hopping to do better in this area.
I expected Nature photography to be the focus of my efforts, which it was, and it will continue to be. This is a broad area, so to narrow it down just a little, I expect to be doing a lot of seascape, landscape and woodland photography. I know, that doesn’t narrow it down too much!
Photographing in new locations was another priority for me in 2018 and I made progress in this area. I was able to travel to the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state and had a great time exploring the sea stacks on the coast as well as the rainforest. I also made a trip to the northern end of Vancouver Island, where I visited more sea stacks in San Josef Bay, in Cape Scott Provincial Park. Since the southern end of Vancouver Island sees very little snow, I made a trip late in the year to Mount Washington in the central island area, so I could make some winter images. There will definitely be more varied trips around the island and the province, as well as at least one to another destination further south.
I had hoped to do more ongoing projects, but only recently have started one, which would fit in with another goal, video. Right at the end of the year I started a YouTube channel, producing a minute long trailer, and about a ten minute vlog.
Another area I wanted to become more involved with was teaching photography in some way. So far this hasn’t panned out, but it will remain a longer term goal. I did manage to lead a photowalk and regularly contribute advice at my local photo club, however, I would like to move to more structured teaching opportunities in the future.
I have been able to have photos in several public exhibitions this year, and have sold prints as a result, so I am very happy with this area and want to get into even more events in the coming year.
In addition to the goals I mentioned above there a few more things I’d like to do this year:
I did a little astrophotography in 2018 and have decided that I would like to do more in the coming year. Generally I don’t like to use gear as an excuse, because it really isn’t, but I’ll probably invest in a proper wide angle, reasonably fast lens, so that I can do more in this area.
I was also slowed up a little in the first half of 2018 by an old injury that chose to flair up and limited the difficulty & frequency of my hikes, but things have improved. I am planning on being a little more adventurous on my photo-hikes this year, including at least one multi-day hike which will take me a little beyond the furthest point I’ve travelled to on Vancouver Island.
One last thing I will be doing in 2019 (and beyond) is getting additional education and acquiring new skills. While I’ve done a lot of online learning related to photography, I have to go back several decades to the last time I did any in person training, when I took a B&W darkroom course! This time, in addition to online learning and informal opportunities, I will be attending a multi-day photography workshop, where I will get the opportunity to try new methods and genres that I haven’t had much exposure to.
I hope everyone enjoys following my blog in the new year as well as checks out my adventures on my YouTube channel. Happy 2019 to everyone!
This will be the fourth consecutive year I have compiled a list of the top ten favourite images of the past year. I was first inspired to do so after seeing Jim Goldstein’s blog project on his JGM Galleries site, where he encourages photographers to participate by linking a post with their top photos of the year. There are always a lot of great images there and I’d encourage everyone to go check them out.
This year I could have picked more than ten images, but I was able to narrow it down. I list them as my “favourite” images rather than “best”, because while they may not be technically perfect, each one is special to me, in some way.
As quick as it came in, the water recedes
The first image is from Botany Bay, in Port Renfrew. This is a fascinating area, as the adjoining Botanical Beach features some amazing tide pools and geological features. I liked the effect from the receding water taken with a longer shutter speed here which produced interesting patterns. I have only recently started trying to sell/market my images, and this was the first large print that I sold.
Catching a wave
For this image, I was sitting on a small island (at least it is at high tide) in Cox Bay, Tofino, BC, watching surfers in the distance. It took a fair bit of patience to get this image, where the wave was large enough that it provided a nice curl behind, and looming over the surfer, but eventually I got what I was hoping for and was able to retreat to the beach before the rising tide was able to trap me on the little rocky island.
Rainbow over the beach resorts
The day after I captured the image of the surfer at Cox Bay, I was out on the beach with the intent of getting some sunset images. There was a light rain falling and when I turned back towards the resorts, there was a beautiful double rainbow above them. While the second rainbow was not as bright, it was also above the brighter one and I couldn’t easily fit it in the image. While the sunset images were okay, they were not nearly as special as this lovely rainbow scene was/is to me.
Sea Stacks Rising
The west coast of the Olympic Peninsula, in Washington state, is only a short trip south from Vancouver Island, but this year was the first time I made the trip “down south” to visit it, and I’m glad I did! what a beautiful place. It was a foggy/misty day and these sea stacks in the distance almost seemed to be floating in the pastel shades of sunset.
Sea Stack Sunset at Ruby Beach
Ruby Beach, on the Olympic Peninsula, is a popular location for photographers, as I found out, but it is still easy to get some interesting images without other people in them. Photographing in a location like this left me wanting to search out more sea stacks!
San Josef Bay sea stacks on a cloudy day
My quest for sea stacks to photograph led me to the farthest northern tip of Vancouver Island. While it was a long drive, including some brutal gravel roads at the end, it was well worth it. The hike in to San Josef Bay was pretty easy, but the rainstorm that started just after we arrived on the beach was brutal and kept us in the tent most of the time until the next day. In the morning, the tide was out and the sea stacks looked magnificent, with interesting patterns in the sand around them.
Simple lines of a pier reflecting in calm water
At various times throughout the year we can get a lot of fog around the water. While this limits some types of photography, it opens up others to explore. I like the simplicity and symmetry of this image.
I have not done a lot of astrophotography, primarily because I keep finding excuses not to, even though I enjoy it. I wish I had a wider & faster lens, or that there was more interesting scenes in the foreground, or that it wasn’t so cold, or cloudy (okay, that last one might be a little more legitimate)… One of the few times I did get out this year was during a meteor shower and once again, I was glad I went out. After no success capturing much in the way of meteors, I thought I’d try getting a couple images of a portion of the Milky Way over some of the trees that were getting a bit of light from the partial moon (I don’t remember the phase, but know it was not a full moon). As luck would have it, not only did I get the shot I wanted, it included two meteors streaking side by side, just over the trees.
Historic Aircraft Flypast of BC Legislature
After a quarter century, last year was the first year I wasn’t in the military during Remembrance Day (Veteran’s Day in the US), however, I wasn’t able to attend a ceremony. This year I had the opportunity to attend the ceremony at the BC Legislature grounds, where there were huge crowds and it was hard to be in a good position to capture interesting photographs. When I saw the historic aircraft were doing a flypast of the Provincial Legislature building I quickly adjusted my position so that I would be able to capture this image of a plane on either side of the dome, with Captain Vancouver (the gold statue) standing above & between them.
Standing On Guard
This WW I soldier, stands on guard above the memorial with memorial plaques tributing the fallen Canadians of past conflicts. The Canadian flag above flaps rapidly in the wind and is well lit on a dark night. Beyond any artistic merit there may be in this image, it means more to me than all the rest.
I hope you enjoyed this years top ten and that you go to check out the other photographers lists on the JGM Galleries Blog when they are posted in January, 2019. Hope to see you all back here next year!
I arranged for a small group from my local photo club to go on a day trip to Botanical Beach. The beach is best seen at low tide, when the many unique features can be more easily observed, and the water doesn’t keep you off the beach. This took a bit of coordination to get the timings right and as the day approached, it looked like we might be more in danger of getting wet from the rain than the ocean.
Wild Drake Photography 