Another year has gone by, and many photographers use the opportunity to look back at their work for the previous 12 months. It’s a chance to see what sort of photos you’ve created, and what you focused on during that period.
Rather than picking my top photos from 2024, I decided to follow Steve O’Nions‘s lead. He selects his favourite image for each month, and below you’ll see mine. It was interesting to see which months I did less photography, and which months had more options I had to narrow down. I hope you enjoy these – I sure enjoyed taking them!
January
One day, fog enveloped the nearby Skokie Lagoons, prompting me to pop out with the camera over a lunch break. It was an enjoyable time, and I came back with two photos I liked. Of the two, this is the one that continues to grow on me.
February
We had very little snow in February, so most of my photos from that month don’t really look like winter. I saw this image as soon as I arrived at a local beach for sunrise, and really like the boats laid up as the predawn light created a natural vignette.
March
One morning, I decided to explore Glencoe Beach, which isn’t too far away. The waves were a decent size that morning, crashing over the pier. They started being backlit by the sun’s light as it began to rise, and turned a beautiful golden colour.
April
From Vancouver Island, this photo conveys a lot of what I love about the Pacific Northwest. Tall evergreens softly touched by the morning sun, backed by mountains that are slightly shrouded in cloud and snow. I also like how a bit of the scene is reflected in the still water. You’d never know that this is actually from a relatively famous photography location: Fairy Lake where you’ll find the Fairy Tree.
May
Also from Vancouver Island, this photo is from a waterfall I never would have found on my own. That’s another advantage of being on a workshop! Starting from a beach and walking up an unassuming creek led to this lovely location. I have a few photos from this waterfall that I like, but this is easily my favourite.
June
This image is the odd one out, in a sense. It’s the only street photo in here, as well as the only one from an urban/city setting. Taken in Toronto’s Union Station, this is a favourite because it felt like I was starting to find how I want to approach street photography.
July
I have a number of photos from July waiting to be edited. I picked this one (and edited it) because I still remember the feeling I had this day. It was the first time I saw the Upper Mississippi River. I was amazed at how expansive it was, even if there was some flooding adding to its width at the time. This was taken from Dubuque, IA, looking back across the Mississippi to Illinois.
August
We took a family trip to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, just sneaking into it near Escanaba. Unfortunately, I was very sick most of the trip. On the plus side, we had an Airbnb with a private beach on Lake Michigan. Towards the end of the trip I was well enough to stagger down to the beach at sunset, and create this minimalist photograph in very much my style.
September
September was a full month, resulting in a smaller selection of photos. One weekend included a short camping trip at Illinois Beach State Park. After setting up camp and eating, fog started to roll in from nearby Lake Michigan. The full moon was shining down from a clear sky, giving the woods behind our campsite loads of atmosphere and the chance for a couple of special photos.
October
Initially, I thought we were going to have terrible autumn colours. While many leaves were still green, others quickly changed and fell. It turns out that we actually had amazing fall foliage, but before that all kicked off I ran out one weekend morning to make sure I didn’t miss it completely. This photo is from that morning. I took this scene with my phone at first, something quick to possibly put in an Instagram story. Once I saw the possibility of the composition, I spent some time working on it. The result is one of my favourite fall photos I’ve ever taken!
November
As the fall season continued showing off, I was out with my camera a lot. It was a little intense, but I loved every moment. During the fall I also joined the 617 Club, an online photography community. They had a challenge to photograph in a 6×17 aspect ratio. I don’t usually look for more panoramic scenes, so it was a fun one for me to try out. It also resulted in my favourite photo for November.
December
This was taken during a morning outing to a new local location. I was trying an exercise found in one of my many photography books, in which you list out all of your expectations before going. Once on location, you see how close or far off you were, and then you simply photograph what is actually there. I had a wonderful time! This photo quickly became a personal favourite, rounding out the year.
Bonus Photo
In April, the continental US was treated to a total solar eclipse. We decided to drive down towards Indianapolis to get into totality. It seems like we decided a little late, because we ended up in a huge amount of traffic. We watched the maps to see when we crossed into the path of totality. Shortly after that, and minutes before totality, we pulled off the interstate alongside many other cars. We laid out blankets on the embankment, and enjoyed the show. At the end of the day, it was a fantastic experience and completely worth it…even if we did just turn around afterwards and get in the traffic heading home! Plus I came away with this composite image.
