Another year has fallen into the past and a new one greets us all with hopes of better things to come. For me it is finally moving into retirement after 33 years at a great company that provided many opportunities to learn and see the world. While I will miss the travel and working with my great friends at Huntron, I now find myself available to chase down photographic opportunities and projects missed because of being tied to a schedule. The possibility of me being even busier than ever is real.
From highlights on the curves of a race car to the reflections in a gorilla’s eyes, this year’s collection focuses on the interaction of light and shape.
Here for your enjoyment are my favorite twelve images from 2024 in chronological order.
As always, if you see an image you like, let me know. I love to print!
Pink Sunset from the MV Spokane
The grey winter skies of the Pacific Northwest cleared and this incredible pink sunset greeted my commute home on the Washington State ferry MV Spokane. I have many images of Tahoma (Mt. Rainier) from ferries so I was looking for a new perspective when I captured this photo. The pink highlights on the foreground bench lead the eye to the distant mountain framed in the ferry’s structure. This image is a quintessential Puget Sound experience.
Details: photographed January 15, 2024 on Puget Sound near Edmonds, Washington. Two image vertical panorama, 1/50 second, f/8, ISO400 at 50mm
Porsche vs. Porsche
The Porsche Penske Motorsports team fielded two Porsche 963 prototypes in the 2024 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. As the sun moves towards sunset, the backlighting on the cars as they navigate the West Horseshoe turn makes for great photographic moments. Perched on a plastic bucket to see over the wire fence, I took many, many shots including this one with the two Porsches running together. The highlights on the curves of the cars show through nicely as well as the tail lights and cool Porsche logo. I purposely underexposed the shot not caring if the background or shadows fell into blackness.
Details: photographed January 27, 2024 at Daytona International Speedway, Florida. 1/800 second, f/13, ISO400 at 450mm
Olympic Mountain Moonset
Early Spring weather in my area rarely offers up an opportunity like this one so rising early to capture a full moonset is worth the effort. There is a good viewing spot just a mile from my home so getting setup for this 5:46am shot was easy. The conditions were perfect because the coming dawn provided just enough light to clearly see the mountains and get the image with a single exposure. The mountain peaks are Mt. Constance to the left of the moon and Warrior Peak to the right.
Details: photographed March 24, 2024 in Kingston, Washington. 1/6 second, f/8, ISO100 at 450mm
Skagit Valley Tulips
My first visit to the tulip fields of the Skagit River valley was really a great experience. There are so many great compositions and I alternated between my 24-70mm and 150-450mm zoom lenses to focus on smaller details. There were many really nice shots and it was difficult to choose a favorite but I kept coming back to this one. The overcast skies provided a nice softness while still adding enough to highlight one side on the flowers. The raindrops from the morning storms still lingered on the petals and leaves. My eye always seems to fall on that one tulip just left of center while most of the others are softly out of focus.
Details: photographed April 12, 2024 in Skagit Valley, Washington. 1/200 second, f/2.8, ISO100 at 70mm
The Aurora Borealis Over Skunk Island
The light show of the decade occurred on May 10, 2024 much to the pleasure of photographers around the world. Knowing the forecast for a strong aurora was at hand I chose the harbor at Port Hadlock as my location. I had previously used this location to photograph the comet NEOWISE in 2020 and knew that the skies were dark enough and the small island in the bay made a great foreground. Little did anyone know that the aurora would prove so strong that you could see it as far south as central California! When the skies blew up I was in heaven! In the end I selected this image from many as the one to include in this years collection.
Details: photographed May 10, 2024 in Port Hadlock, Washington. 1/13 second, f/4, ISO400 at 24mm
Kingston Summer Sunrise
I have a favorite photography spot in Kingston that I seem to gravitate to for sunrises. Saltair Beach is just north of the Kingston ferry terminal and offers great views of Puget Sound, Mt. Rainier, the ferries and of course, sunrise. The morning this image was captured seemed pretty ordinary until the mixed clouds started taking on the sunrise colors. A cool light pillar appeared and I had my shot! The waves lapping at the beach created a perfect leading line to the sunrise light. What a beautiful morning to be up early and out for the view!
Details: photographed June 9, 2024 in Kingston, Washington. 0.8 second, f/16, ISO100 at 36mm
Pascagoula River Sunset panorama
Business travel took me to the Gulf coast and I took a long weekend to drive from New Orleans, Louisiana to Fort Walton Beach, Florida. A stop in Pascagoula, Mississippi had me searching for a location to photograph what looked to be a promising sunset. Using Google Maps and the Photo Pills app I found this small park and fishing pier along the Pascagoula River. The dock worked great as a foreground for what turned out to be a great sunset with incredible cloud formations. I fired off a monster seven image panorama to capture all of this Mississippi goodness. To add a bit interest, the woman on the dock was fishing for crawdads (amazing that she held that still for four seconds!).
Details: photographed July 28, 2024 in Pascagoula, Mississippi. 4 seconds, f/16, ISO100 at 58mm
Noir Heron
It is no secret that the great blue heron is one of my favorite avian subjects plus they are relatively accessible in my home town. This image was a bit of an afterthought while photographing the sunset at the Kingston marina. The heron was perched unmoving on the end of a boat slip as I quietly positioned myself to get a silhouette. The image was edited in a mild noir style embracing high contrast and relying on shape rather than detail. The blurred ripples in the water made lines that all lead downward to the subject. However, this bird could use a brush. 😉
Pentax USA included this image in their 2024 Recap Instagram reel. Thanks, Pentax USA!
Details: photographed September 30, 2024 in Kingston, Washington. 1/80 second, f/5.6, ISO400 at 450mm
St. Paul’s Church and the Aurora
I have always wanted to photograph the little church in Port Gamble, Washington at night. Opportunity called when a solar storm impacted the Earth’s atmosphere and created an aurora on October 10. The best angle for photographing St. Paul’s Church is looking to the southwest, not necessarily the best direction to face for viewing northern lights. However, the storm was strong enough to add purple hues to the sky above the church. Mix in some stars and you have a complete composition.
Details: photographed October 10, 2024 in Port Gamble, Washington. 10 second, f/2.8, ISO800 at 24mm
Black and White Great Blue Heron
My first visit to the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge was rainy and somewhat bleak. However, a cooperative great blue heron allowed me to capture a favorite image. There was not much in the way of color during this late morning visit so I opted for black and white when editing the photo as well as a high key look. I did post a similar image from the Refuge on social media but prefer this one primarily because of the heron’s pose.
Details: photographed October 26, 2024 at the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge (near Olympia), Washington. 1/320 second, f/8, ISO400 at 450mm
Moon Over Hansville
There was some indecisiveness about including another moonset image but I really like this one so here you go. I was channeling my inner Ansel Adams with this morning image taken from Point No Point of the small village of Hansville, Washington. It just seemed suited to black and white and the bright moon contrasts really well with the hodge-podge of buildings in the pre-sunrise town.
Details: photographed November 15, 2024 at Point No Point, Washington. Two image panorama, 0.5 second, f/16, ISO100 at 450mm
The Mountain Gorilla Looks at Me
This beautiful male gorilla looked straight at me as I captured his portrait. My emotions are always mixed when visiting a zoo and to see these incredible creatures that are so much like us behind glass… well, it pulls at my heart strings. Opinions can vary and I truly understand that zoos help us experience wildlife that most people would never see in-person. It is good to see these gorillas thriving as family units but their world is small and I often wonder how that affects them.
I did post similar images on Instagram but this single image really encompasses what I saw through my lens.
Details: photographed November 24, 2024 at Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle, Washington. 1/100 second, f/5, ISO400 at 200mm
If you are reading this then Thank You for taking the time to look at these images. I truly appreciate your support! If you ever see me out photographing, please say Hello. I am the guy with the Mickey MOuse camera strap and Bugwalks stickers on my lens hoods.
Cheers!
Awesome pics!!
Thank you, Mary Ann!
I love the herons! Here’s to a wonderful new year.
Thanks! I love herons too!