Best of 2024

Oh boy is this late. My head has been out of the photography space for a while and so things just tend to hang out there drifting. Reading last year’s Best of Post, I see I started it the exact same way. Too weird. Smithing and jewelry making are still taking up a lot of my time, too, just like last year. We did just get some snow and maybe I can go out and play in it if this head cold lets up anytime soon. Oy vey is there anything worse than a cold? I much prefer this type of cold –

February

Like in other years, I’ll talk about why I chose these photos. Could be I just like them, but sometimes they are advances in my craft as well. So for that oft-shown view of the Prairie River up there it’s the light that kills me. Dappled sunlight is my catnip and in winter it’s even more difficult to manage considering the already wide dynamic range. I remember walking carefully out over the ice shelves between boulders and lining up this composition. In fall I’d done a series in just about the same spot and I was trying to mimic that photo with this one. Love the way the light leads your eye through the photo. The trees in the far back are lit up and give so much depth. And check out that shutter speed – it’s just right! The smoothness of the snow contrasts well since I left a lot of texture in the water instead of letting it go soft with a long shutter speed. And the reflection of the snow on the water. Oh my. It’s magic and I’m glad I got my lazy ass out of bed for it.

That little spider is so wonderful I can hardly stand it. Not only is it the size of a mosquito, but it’s ballooning!!! Tiny creatures living their lives right under our noses and they hardly get any notice. Yes, we can become more skilled at understanding behavior and looking for signs of the animals around us, and it’s been an important part of how I got a lot of the shots you’ll see here, but doing it with minuscule critters is so much harder. That’s why this photo means so much to me. Not only did I notice this spider on a tree next to the trail, but I got the shot and the light and background are fantastic. It was one of the first sessions I had with the Lumix G9 M2 and damn, was it fun. Got the macro lens right on top of the little one, braced against the tree it was on and that whole world revealed itself. It gives me joy and that would nearly be enough, but technically it’s good too, so here it is. Squee!!

March

If we still have a lot of snow in March, things are usually more interesting, but sometimes it just covers up cool stuff. After a while cooped up in the house, I went for a walk and found little scene in a semi-frozen vernal pool. I was drawn to all the different textures and tonalities in one little area. Used a polarizer to change how the ice appeared and this mix of milky dark and light is the most intriguing next to the surface leaves. Shots like this lend themselves to creative processing, and I did a little of that, but like this more literal version. The line of the leaves as well as the differences in opacity in the ice have an undulating quality despite the fact that they are frozen. Plus that light is lickable. It gives a stained glass quality to the leaves and the ice that I think elevates this above a snapshot.

April

Get used to seeing a lot of birds in this post. It was a great bird photography year for me and it started with this little Purple Finch. Not only is it my first photo of a Purple Finch as he cautiously came in to the feeder area, but it isn’t all cluttered and he’s making eye contact! He was so wary of my presence and it took him almost a half an hour to get brave enough to come close. Patiently I sat on the ground and waited. Closer and closer he came, always looking at me and at escape routes. This is right before he landed on the feeder. Clouds kept coming in and really changing the light so I was lucky with this little bit of sun highlighting him so nicely. Feather detail is so crisp and the colors really pop. Even managed a little catchlight in his eye. Love him.

These next two are from Norway and were taken on different days and under totally different circumstances, but the thing that ties them together is the light. OMG that light. And yes, they are pretty endemic to the locations, too. They rise abruptly and sharply to amazing heights and are unlike anything I’ve experience before –

While it might not be the most staggering photo, I love it for a few reasons. The scale of it first of all – the houses and barns give it that to you, but damn, the clouds are something. They hem in the composition and the light breaking through to the mountain behind reveals just enough so that you get even more information about the time of year and just how damn sudden these appear on the landscape. There’s a symmetry and balance to the composition and it was a bit tough to manage on the tour boat that wasn’t going exactly slow. For this next one I was safely on land, but having a hard time composing because the foreground wasn’t contributing much. The best thing was to eliminate it altogether –

That light though. OMG. Through most of the trip we had bluebird skies which pleased the locals, but didn’t help with producing great photos. On this last day though, some clouds came in and filtered the sunlight as well as adding something interesting to the skies. With the colorful village on this protected harbor, it was just a matter of deciding how much to leave in and leave out. Lucky for us the lighthouse gives a focal point for this scene and additional meaning to the title.

May

This Barred owlet was under careful watch by one of its parents while a few of us oohed, ahhed and took its picture. My first time ever seeing a young one and it was right next to the trail at basically head height. 15 feet from me. It probably flap-fell out of the nest and then walked up onto this fallen tree. So amazing. It isn’t the most spectacular picture, but I like the sleepy look and the side light picked out lots of nice floofy texture. I was on a group walk in the woods and was carrying the bare minimum for casual photography, but that meant I had my original Lumix 35-100mm f/2.8 with me. It fits in the palm of my hand, but is so sharp and fast that it’s a no-brainer for any nature walk, and perfect for this opportunity.

Another bird, although a much smaller one, I like the similar color palettes in the two photos –

I love that little guy for a few reasons. First – the light. It was darn perfect. Gentle, but very slightly spotlit and the background is open and fairly clean. In spring and early summer, there are several pairs of Least Flycatchers around the yard. Thanks to the Cornell Merlin app that helps identify bird calls, I know what they sound like and hear them all over. Unfortunately they are usually way up in the high canopy and I only see them as small specks flitting around going after bugs or defining their territories. This one though, came quite low and I heard it before I saw it so I could get the camera ready if it got within range. Even with the 100-400mm, tiny birds have to be pretty near in order to get a decent photo. This one probably was 20-25 feet from me and so I didn’t need to crop like mad. I love the perch, the head turn and the catchlight in the eye. Definitely upping my skills when it comes to my awareness of wildlife and I hope to break out my much-ignored photo blind this spring to do more.

June

Moving on to different flying critters, a couple of pairs of Dot-tailed Whiteface dragonflies. These guys were everywhere when I was on the Spirit river in June and so I sat in the kayak in my favorite backwater and watched them performing their mating rituals. Dragonflies are creatures of habit and not only have territories, but have favorite perches that they return to over and over. Mating does make them a bit crazy, but if you are patient, you can catch them managing their contortionist mating circle. The red bits on her abdomen are water mites which are basically harmless.

They remain joined like that while she gets her eggs fertilized, and even after when she goes about laying them. Other males will try to break them up and mate with her so the chosen mate defends her vigorously. This shot and the next one came about within minutes of each other and are elevated above my other dragonfly shots because of the reflections. Each insect is less than 2 inches long and I just love the symmetry and light in each photo. The female is harder to see in this second one, but she is there behind him in his claspers just as the female in the first shot is. Right place, right time.

July

Just like the photo of the Least Flycatcher, I heard this bird well before I saw her. I was on a small lake and it was pretty windy, something I try to avoid in the kayak, but the whole week was windy and if I didn’t go out I’d miss it. Even if I don’t get a lot of photos, just being on the water is reward enough. But as I paddled across the lake, I heard a Kingfisher calling persistently and loudly. Turned out to be this newly fledged female –

Isn’t she amazing? The wind literally pushed me right to her and I had to paddle backwards to keep from scaring her too much. After getting a few shots in the open water, and thinking that’s all I’d get, I moved to the side of her and got the boat stuck on a log and mostly out of the wind. Astonishingly, she didn’t move, except from one branch to another and I spent the next 20 minutes or so enjoying her company. She was very energetic and called to her parents all the time. They didn’t make an appearance, but I did hear them answer her so they were nearby. Eventually she flew off to join them, but only after my memory card was full of her images and my heart full of joy.

More joy and total serendipity is this next shot with three Common Green Darners –

There were tons of them on this lake and since they don’t live long as adults and their only job is to breed the next generation, that’s what they were all doing. I’d been sitting and watching this pair buzzing around me for a while, hoping they’d get closer. She was ovipositing and still in his claspers so he can do exactly what’s happening in this shot – fight off an intruder male. This was such an unexpected development – I was focusing on the pair hoping for an egg-laying shot and as soon as I locked focus – bam! It was crazy and I could never have predicted it. What a catch. My normal wildlife settings were enough to do it and I was lucky with the focus zone and that most of them are in it and recognizable even if they aren’t all necessarily tack-sharp. And in a split second, it was over. The joined pair went on their way.

Another unexpected encounter was with this Common Loon –

You can read about it here, so I’ll cut to why I love this photo. The light of course – it’s direct, but at a good angle to show off that iridescent collar and red eye. Plus water dripping off the beak is pretty great. I wish it was turned toward me more than this, but at least it let me close for a while as it went about looking for lunch.

Are you sick of birds yet?? Hope not because there are two more. First this fledgling Bald Eagle yelling its head off –

OMG what a big baby! Once you learn to recognize a Bald Eagle’s rusty gate call, you can’t ignore it. Youngsters are especially vocal in and out of the nest. That’s how I knew this one was close to me as I paddled another Wisconsin flowage. I also could tell it wasn’t high off the ground which is why these shots are so engaging – it’s barely over my head and right on the shoreline. It started on the ground, but flapped up to this branch wondering what the heck this big floating thing was. This day was another windy one and I was pushed along and away from the bird constantly and so constantly had to paddle backward and turn the boat to face the right direction. So very frustrating, but getting this close to a young eagle was too much to pass up and I did my best. There’s another shot with better light, but this one is just so energetic and full of fledgling anxiety that it wins a place here.

October

And this does too –

Squee!! Another Barred owl! And so close! Seriously – this shot with the whole bird in frame is about 1/2 way down my 100-400mm. The light was from the side again which really helps with modeling and texture. You can read about the encounter here and see a few more images, but this one wins for the framing, the direct stare and that light. It’s pure magic when animals allow us to interact with them. We are definitely to be feared and at least wary of, so when one lets us near and lets us look, my heart brims over with happiness. I hope it is the reverse, too.

Hey look – a landscape!

Does that just flow or what? Too bad I couldn’t spend more time there, but that’s another story. I like the balance, the bendy tree, the angle and the colors. Oh the colors. It’s fantastic to go south after the northern peak color season is done. Another fall! Yay. The geology in Tennessee is so different from New England and Wisconsin, that it was fun to explore this new terrain. Lots of limestone and it gets shaped so differently by wind and water that it brings new elements to my landscape work. Plus I love brooks and rivers, so it was so engaging and fun. While it lasted.

Which brings me to my last image for this Best of post –

It just says so much about the push/pull relationships in nature. Precarious position, but out in the middle of this cascade, it doesn’t get eaten by deer or other browsers. Pollinators still can reach it and it can still reproduce, but oh the price. Constant deluge and thin topsoil that is always in danger of washing away. Still, this gorgeous little bush clings to its perch and lights us up with is glorious color in fall. Everyone and their sister is talking about “intimate landscape” and I hate to be on that irritating bandwagon, but I have been taking landscape slices, as I call them, for decades. So this little slice is on the list. I like the framing and the isolation I managed to put together using good composition and some post-processing magic. It tells a good story I think and works well on its own or as part of a bigger set of photos you can find here.

So that’s it for my Best of 2024 post and I’m sorry I haven’t been active here as I used to be. There is some lovely snow and I just need to get motivated to get out in it. I’m thinking of ways to get me more excited for photography than I am just now and one is to get into my long-ignored photography blind to see if I can work with wildlife more. Up until now it’s been more up to chance than deliberate planning. I have an idea of when and where to place the blind, and hope that mosquitos and other biting menaces will be manageable. Yeah, right.