Best of 2023

Better late than never, right? Oy vey. My head has been out of the photography space during the last couple of months of 2023 and it’s continued into the beginning of 2024. Mainly because of the fact that we didn’t get any accumulated snow until January, and even that hasn’t been much. So inspiration has been hard to come by for me. Some photographers would turn that into some kind of “challenge” to themselves, but I have returned to my jewelry bench and have revived my shop and my status as a baby silversmith. Plenty to keep me busy.

Another thing that has stymied me is that I was trying to put together a video that includes some footage that either is complementary to the photos I chose for this year, or was shot at the same time. I got a bit overwhelmed with that, putting up mental roadblocks for myself that didn’t need to be there. Something I’m very good at, but is stupid and unhelpful at best.

So let’s get on with it. After each photo I’ll talk a bit about why I chose it – sometimes a situation taught me something or made me push myself creatively or technically. Other times I just like it.

February

It taught me to be precise with my composition even if I’m standing in front of something great. The first place I plopped down the tripod didn’t give me enough separation between all the elements and so I moved higher. There were a few other photographers around since I was on a workshop and so I couldn’t just move anywhere and that was a challenge, too. The long exposure saved this photo and it’s all down to one of the instructors for suggesting it at another location. Shorter shutter speeds kept the water too crisp and choppy, but 13 seconds smoothed it out while leaving some texture.

March

You might remember this photo because when I first blogged about it, I walked you through my process for making it. Small adjustments in tripod placement and then smaller ones adjusting the zoom resulted in a cleaner, more compelling photo. I went from a much wider scene to this narrower one and it works so much better in terms of balance and flow.

I just like it. Well, mostly. It’s got such great textures and shapes and I find it really soothing to look at. Plus it was sort of fun making it because I had to get myself and the camera into a weird position so that the angles worked well. And there were a few other little trees around that I had to make sure were out of the frame, so there was effort for sure. Not just a snapshot.

This one was all about the light – when the clouds are thick and the light is flat, an instance of a break in those clouds is very obvious, but oh so fleeting. I practically drove into a ditch I stopped so fast for this as it happened. The field is sort of bleak, but the snow is smooth and uncluttered and that stand of trees looks so lonely there. The sun coming through was so lovely to watch and I did my best to make it as joyful in processing and that’s really where the learning experience came from with this shot. You can read about that in my original post.

May

Oh boy this was a great result based on planning, observation and patience. In early spring before full leaf out, I spent some time in the yard with the usual collection of birds. Red-bellied woodpeckers are among my favorites because they are so animated and vocal. They also are creatures of habit and will return to the same branches, trees and stumps during the course of a day. When I noticed this boy in a stand of small trees, I decided to sit a little ways off and wait. If you try this, I advise bringing a butt pad because logs are uncomfortable! But it’s worth it. Just check out this pose and the little lick of side light! Sure, the background could have been better, but it’s the woods and so I just used a little blur.

Seize the moment! Ever since moving to this house on the river, cavity-nesting ducks have scoured the yard looking for what’s available. Wood ducks are just plain gorgeous whatever they’re doing, but catching this pair up in a tree as they discuss real estate options was just priceless. I shot straight out an open window in my dining area, bracing the lens against the window frame. Since it was May, I got a nice open section to frame them in and the light was reasonably cooperative. Not every frame has them both in focus, but this one does and the open beak adds so much life and vitality. I don’t know if they got the nest of choice, but I’m so glad they did some house hunting in my yard.

June

I just like it, but it also taught me to do photography on the fly better and more deliberately. Normally I have to be pretty isolated and on my own to do creative work so when I’m on a tour or part of a group it can be difficult for me to find scenes that work. This is a table in the drafting studio at Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin. Here the students of Frank Lloyd Wright would draw their dreams of beautiful buildings. Getting this shot took patience and a few pleas on my part for people to get up from the chairs and let me get it before the tour guide moved us on. While waiting on that, I adjusted a couple of lamps for better symmetry and separation.

This shot almost never happened. Mainly because if I hadn’t walked out onto the lawn at that time, the egg may have been taken away by another bird or crushed underfoot or mower. But I saw it and also saw that several ants were scouring its surface to get the last bits of the nutrients left behind by its former occupant. Setting up and framing in the grass would have taken too much time, so I decided to take a chance and move it to the steps where I could work faster and easier. Only one ant made the trip and it was busily exploring. I have a few frames that work, but this one is the best because of where the ant is and how clear and crisp it is focused. It’s only 3mm long or so, one of those really tiny ones, and I like the color contrast a lot. That tiny bit of myoglobin (or blood) also provides a bit of attention-gathering focus. I had to bring all my skills and camera handling knowledge to the fore to get this done at all, much less quickly. Woo hoo!

More trying to use flash for just a pop of fill and create a more balanced and inviting photo. That’s why I persisted in frightening this poor, young grasshopper in my front garden. Plus it’s so darn cute. Eventually I left it alone, but this shot illustrates its distress pretty well. It kept trying to hide behind the flowers and get out of my sight. Unfortunately for it, I just walked behind it and repositioned. I just love the hug here – or desperately clinging to anything in order to stay alive. Sorry little bug. I never saw you again so I assume you hopped your way to a more peaceful spot.

A visit back to NH coincided with the Mountain Laurel bloom, albeit the beginning of the end, and so I spent a couple of rainy, but absolutely enthralling days in the woods. Wisconsin doesn’t have a lot of laurel species and I miss these big beauties. Most of my photos are necessarily trail shots, but I also looked off trail into the woods proper and saw this little section and just had to try for it. Traveling light meant I had no tripod, so balanced my ability to handhold with the needs of the subject. The main group of shrubs and the intersecting V of those trees anchors the scene and I left enough room so the whole of the laurel could be in frame. By lifting shadows and blacks I kept it from being too contrasty and harsh, but the natural saturation caused by the rain brings back some immediacy. I just love this little slice of the NH woods.

The last one for June, taken on the last day of June is a pretty cool example of what you can find on the edge of the ocean. I was with my two oldest friends (C and I met when we were 10 and we met R when we were 13) doing what we love best – puttering on the beach, chatting, reminiscing and laughing like crazy. Of course I was looking down a lot, but I noticed some little birds a ways from us and saw they were Plovers. I followed some tracks to a place where they were free of other debris and human tracks and I just loved the tension that one strand of seaweed creates with the three footprints. Originally I had four in my shot, but cropped one away because the three by three aspect is a stronger composition. I just love the story this tells. Little birds doing their thing and making their livings. I went with B&W to reinforce the graphic nature of the arrangement.

July

This one taught me that I can make decent images of wildlife even in windy conditions and to just persist it the animals will put up with me. Sometimes they are as curious about me as I am about them and I think this shot of two tiny turtles shows that pretty well. It was warm out if not exactly sunny and they weren’t in a hurry to go anywhere. So I got the kayak wedged between some stumps and tried to get as still as I could.

August

I need to plant more Black-eyed Susans in the yard. They attract so many different kind of insects that I was always stopping out there to see who dropped by. This shot of a Buffalo treehopper was a terrific discovery because, yeah, it’s so cute, but also because I’d never seen one before. It was patient and I used a flash to fill in some of the shadows that concealed its wee face and wings. I love their transparency that lets us see more of it.

Mostly I just like it, but it came about sort of accidentally and the teaching moment came after my initial target flew away. Yeah, another bird not caught on the sensor. Silly little Green heron thought that 100 yards or whatever was far too close for me to be and so after sitting there bumming out for a bit, I noticed a few of these lovely Green Darners all around me on the logs and stumps. They are some late-emerging dragonflies and some of the largest ones. None were in great positions for photos except this one. It was quite near and so wonderfully backlit that I spent quite a long time sitting and watching it. The effort to get out of the larvae exoskeleton is a long and arduous process and the insect is terribly vulnerable the whole time. They can’t fly and their bodies are super soft. If this one had lots its grip it would have fallen into the water and would drown or be devoured. Luckily neither thing happened and as luck would have it, I parked in this same spot a couple hours later, I was just in time to see it take its first flight!

September

Didn’t teach me a darn thing, but I love it. The green algae or pollen contrasts so well with the rich orange in the leaves. Plus those shadows! It pays to sit on the dock with the long lens.

Nothing really technical here, but I really like the balance in the composition. It’s a repeat from the same photo taken a few weeks earlier, but this one has that lick of autumn that makes everything better.

Phew! This was a tough one in both the taking and the processing. Positioning the tripod was difficult due to branches and a stump just to the left. The background was bright and distracting and a leaf I placed to obscure that fell over twice during the focus bracketing process. Finally the stack itself needed some finicky retouching, but otherwise went together well since I had the right number of images with good focus overlap. I love it because the focus starts and ends right where I wanted it and the fallen over leaf didn’t present a problem in the end.

October

This and the next shot have been rolling around in my head for a couple years, ever since I failed to stop to take them the first time I saw them. I had the time really, but told myself I didn’t and I’ve kicked myself ever since. So when it was foggy and it was fall, I got my ass out of the house and got what I wanted. The fall color isn’t as pronounced as it was when I failed to stop, but I like how they turned out anyway.

So that’s where the year ends. In October. November and December were pretty much a bust for nature photography, so I hardly shot at all and what I did wasn’t any better or more instructive than what’s here. One session with lots of frost was really enjoyable (well mostly…I’ll tell you in the post with the images, ugh.) and reinforced that you really do have to take advantage of a moment because conditions change quickly and opportunities get lost. So that was good.

Here’s a companion video that has some more context for the photos, but also presents them without commentary. Hope you enjoy it since it’s what held up this whole thing. Not for any other reasons than me – I tried to make it too fancy and when that didn’t work out very well, I got stymied and it took me a while to realize that if I just made it simple, it would go a lot faster. Oy vey.

Anyway…better late than never. Hope you enjoyed the work and the look back at 2023. I have two photography-oriented trips on the calendar so far – a trip to Norway in April and to Tennessee in late October to shoot waterfalls. And I think I’ll finally get to the Prairie River headwaters this year, too!