Best of 2025

Phew. It’s been an age, hasn’t it? I’m not dead and some of my photography mojo is returning, but I’m still working through it and I’m not rushing or forcing for fear of it leaving for good.

I did continue to shoot off and on all of last year and so I thought that doing a best of would be a nice way to engage with the blog and you all again. If there’s any of you left, that is. Anyway, here are the shots in order of when I took them starting in February –

Winter delivered last year, but I didn’t get out that much to enjoy it (this year is another story). Still, when I did hit the trail, I did so with an eye to new compositions and an effort to find the unique things that winter gives us. Those are not my prints up there, but probably deer or coyote passing by a few days before. The prints softened and I like how they underscored the arrangement of trees behind. The geometry worked and the light is fantastic. On the same day I found this sweet baby –

An adult porcupine in its den peeking out to see if I’ve gone. I hadn’t, but I didn’t linger as it was quite nervous enough as it was. I love these big, gentle rodents and so was thrilled to see one so close.

And a third image from that walk and one with an unusual composition for me and that’s why it’s special. I was looking with a new eye and found things that at first I rejected, but then realized how cohesive and full of tension that arrangement is.

Like magic, it’s spring and the deck flowers and furniture came out and our tiny birds appeared. The males are far more skittish than the females generally, but this boy did come around to defend his territory and get some food.

The wing position isn’t ideal, but that flash! Woo hoo! It’s so hard to photograph because the angle to the sun has to be just right for the feathers to do their thing. Sometimes I’m not on the ball with the camera and scare him off moving, but eventually with persistence I got the shot. What a handsome boy.

Of course I spent time in the kayak, although not as much as I would have liked due to a lot of travel eating into the season, but the Spirit river was VERY high as was the Somo. Naturally, I pointed the bow into all the backwaters I could find, like this one –

I ended up spending quite a bit of time there and it was peaceful. It feels a bit like a hidden world in these little backwaters. There’s a child-like feeling of hiding on the adults about it, a thing I used to do from time to time. Once under a spray of Cinnamon fern in the backyard. I don’t know if they were humoring me, but some people came quite close and didn’t see me. What power that is for a little kid and maybe that’s why I keep returning to these little pockets of solitude.

On the same outing I came upon these beauties –

First I heard them, or at least one of them calling loudly – the alarm call. I’d never heard loons on this part of the river before, so I was really curious if I’d get a look. It was obvious what disturbed them – a juvenile Bald eagle flew over the water not far from where I was and not far from the nest that I often check on. Earlier, I’d seen and photographed the adults in a tree opposite their nest. This family unwisely decided to make a home right smack in the heart of their territory. No wonder they were alarmed. I hope their diligence and watchfulness kept that little one safe. It’s the only time I’ve ever shot a full family and only the second time seeing a chick this young. So sweet.

As I said, the Somo river was also pretty high all summer – the highest I’ve ever seen it and I was able to get into a little side channel I’ve never been able to get into before. It was a lot bigger than I expected and at the end of it I found this beauty –

I’ve tried to get shots of River Jewel wings before, but I couldn’t have wished for better conditions with this one. He was defending his territory, a thing most damselflies do, but the perch he chose was out in the middle of the water with nothing near it and the bank far enough away to go soft and really blurry. Heaven. He was barely beyond the tip of the bow and so I just sat and shot away each time he landed.

In the same backwater were a few turtles getting some sun and even though this one was the farthest from the edges, I had to drift as close as I dared without scaring it –

It’s a little hard to tell, but if you check out the plants you can see it’s tiny. It would fit in the palm of your hand, but oh look how it owns that little tuft. I fell in love.

And speaking of love, don’t let your head explode from the cuteness –

OMG. I think I actually squeaked when I saw this wonderful little Spring Peeper sitting in a dahlia flower in my front garden. It’s only 2 cm long and I held my breath and watched for a little while. It didn’t move or even seem to notice me so in I went for the camera. Not knowing how long it would put up with my shenanigans, I took a few single shots from different angles. Then I got the tripod and did a 90-image bracketing session which is how I got this photo. And yes, it was alive. I could see it breathing and it blinked once during the bracketing operation. Later, by total chance, I looked in on it again and it had hopped to the garden wall, off to lead its froggy life. It stayed in the flower all day, and wouldn’t you if you could fit?

More tiny things in the yard, this time out back on the dock –

Aren’t they great? They flit all around and land quite frequently, but these two were in such a great spot that I got flat on the planks and zoomed with the 100-400mm, carefully lining up the focus plane with the pair of them. Let’s hope that she laid her eggs safely.

And now for something completely different –

No, we don’t have Puffins in Wisconsin, but they have them in Maine. I went back to New England for a couple of weeks, one of which was spent on Vinalhaven, an island not far from Rockland. My best friend and I did a kayak tour of the islands, staying in a house with the other participants and sharing a very hot and stuffy room together. It was fabulous. Not just to be with her and do our favorite thing, but because the weather was darn perfect and the seas and winds were calm and welcoming. One day we went out on a fishing boat to see all kinds of seabirds including Atlantic Puffins. I haven’t processed many from the trip, but this was one of the only clear and crisp shots of these tiny birds I have. Between their skittishness, the fact that they’re wicked fast and the constant movement of the boat, it was REALLY hard to get anything. It was spray and pray, really. But at least there is one shot that works out of all of them. They are a lot smaller than I imagined, the size of a Wood Duck or a Hooded Merganser. But so darn cute. A bird that looks like it was designed by a committee of preschoolers.

Now we’re into September and the bees and wasps get fewer in numbers. This one had a home almost straight above on the peak of the garage roof, but wasn’t warm enough to get back up there.

I got right down on the ground (it’s on a Bloodroot leaf) with the flash and got this shot. Yes, I’m very close, but my experience with wasps is that they only freak out if you come near the nest and this one was chilled and sluggish so I felt safe getting really close. I like the light and the harmonious colors. The slightly tilted angle gives it a strange vibe.

No strange vibe here – all the soft colors and light just knocked me out when I saw this crab spider on the side of the trail in late September.

It is TINY with a reach of only 5 mm. It seems to have bound up the Aster petals with some silk, most likely to have a firmer purchase for when it strikes unwary bees or flies. They are such fierce little hunters. The shot is a blend of a few pics, maybe just two, to get the most detail out of the spider.

Well thanks for hanging in with me on this post and my absence on the blog. I’ve got some more things to share and feel some positivity coming back. Baby steps, right?