In the hustle and bustle of year-end business activities there is always one that I look forward to:  the year-end image review.  Neither good nor bad, the year-end review gives me the opportunity to be reflective on an entire year’s efforts in the field.  I recently listened to a webcast where the speaker was highlighting the challenging nature of being a freelancer, remarking that instead of steady and consistent work too often freelancing is a constant exhausting sprint with no guarantees of tomorrow.  It is definitely exhausting.  Thus, taking a minute at the end of each year to look backwards and celebrate the moments is, for me, a really pleasurable way to slow down and appreciate the ride.

Below are fifteen images that define my 2015.  They are not necessarily portfolio images, but instead just fifteen images that represent my efforts this past year.  In that vein, I tried my best to space the selections over the entirety of the calendar year.  However, some of my best stuff from 2015 came in short spurts of productivity and that will likely be a pattern.  My bests to everyone over the holiday season and a huge thanks for everyone’s comments, likes, shares, and various means of engagement with my photography in 2015.  I appreciate you!  Here’s to another great year in 2016!

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My year began with a concerted effort to find new compositions on the Potomac River as it courses over the fall line and through Mather Gorge at Great Falls National Park in Northern Virginia.  Close to my home base, this location allowed me to stay active during the winter months while being budget conscious.  I grew up within this rugged landscape gem and wanted to document its raw power, beauty and draw.  I owe a lot of my desire to photograph outdoor landscapes to this park and my experiences within.

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For years I’ve wanted a spring photograph of the Eastern Redbud in blossom.  The trees are absolutely gorgeous but the very nature of Redbud’s make them difficult to work into a composition.  Redbuds grow in the under story of forests and they bloom before the surrounding trees have transformed from their sticky, bare winter appearance.  I figured the only way to get a photograph of them that was not utterly chaotic was going to be along a roadway–perhaps the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Though I had photographed Redbuds multiple times in the district of Columbia it never really registered to return to our Nation’s Capital to find the photograph I was looking for.  Washington D.C.  and landscape photography just don’t fit in my mind!  However, while milling around the Netherlands Carillon Garden in Arlington, Virginia I happened upon this gnarly looking Redbud and finally found that illusive photo I was looking for!  It was also the first photograph I took on my newly upgraded camera, the Nikon D810.

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My annual trek up to the Roan Highlands along the North Carolina / Tennessee state borders yielded a surprise in 2015.  I never have an expectation to even shoot atop Jane Bald at sunset; it has become too much of a destination scenic (for good reason) and far too crowded for my tastes.  I always hold my own hopes and desires for Grassy Ridge, a far less visited and perhaps even more beautiful slice of Roan heaven.  However, after a rather heavy rain / thunderstorm combo cleared out the crowds this past June, I found myself bounding down the flooded trail from my campsite atop Grassy Ridge towards Jane Bald.  It was a spectacular and uncrowded evening atop the ancient rocks during peak bloom season–can’t really ask for more!

Camping atop the balds for a week allowed me the full experience:  cold, damp mornings followed by relentless sunny afternoons and stormy, wind-swept evenings.  Being responsive to the conditions was my reward for staying put.  Clouds rolled in one afternoon and I had a couple of minutes to capture the collision of blue skies and puffy clouds before the mountains disappeared beneath fog and cloud.

2015 was an especially good year for the endangered Gray’s Lily.  While I’m no expert within the macro realm, I really liked this take.  No, it’s not blended focal points nor was it shot with ring lights and all that jazz.  It is just a straight-up, shallow depth of field macro image of a single beautiful Gray’s Lily.  Finding and shooting these guys within the tall grasses of the highlands was a highlight of my year for sure!

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Nothing ground breaking with this one:  a simple macro isolation of a sunflower.  It just catches my eye.  Strong colors, strong interest?  I don’t know.  This one was part of my conscious attempt to be more productive in the heart of summer without extensive travel (budget friendly).  The photo is also an attempt to expand my style away from only grand wide landscapes.

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Tired of sitting on my hands in August I decided to take an extended trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  I had never visited the barrier islands during this month and I wanted to see if I could, once again, extend my shooting schedule into the heart of summer and come up with some production.  The trip turned out to be the most productive of my entire shooting year!

I arrived to extremely still, calm, hot conditions.  Camping was a bit like torture between the bugs and the sweating nights.  But, the mornings had some magic as a result.  One of my first mornings along the Manteo Waterfront yielded a very appealing photograph of the Fisherman’s Nethouse, a historic replica structure intended to represent the rich maritime history of this area.

Construction for the new Bonner Bridge across the Oregon Inlet is scheduled to begin spring 2016.  Thus, I wanted to get a shot of the old bridge without construction equipment.  Driving over the crest of this bridge viewing Pea Island Wildlife Refuge, the Atlantic Ocean and the Pamlico Sound from the car is the moment that I feel that I’ve arrived in the Outer Banks.  It will always be a special memory.

One of the neatest surprises of my 2015 season was finding thick blankets of pink Seashore Mallow near Bodie Island Lighthouse.  Several afternoons I walked the boardwalk uneventfully.  Then, one morning at sunrise, there they were.  Apparently, they open in the mornings and close up before the hot sun can harm them in the afternoons.  I learn something new almost every time I go out and pay attention!

The single greatest morning of my 2015 was at Bodie Island Lighthouse.  Intense storms broke somewhat inexplicably right at sunrise.  Biting bugs gnawed at me while I crouched in a rain puddle and watched the show unfold.  It was truly one of those magical mornings that you have to acknowledge luck or some other force outside of yourself for being in that particular place at that particular time.

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The start of an ambitious (but ultimately fruitless) autumn travel schedule had me heading north–way north–for a first time to Cape Cod National Seashore.  I learned tons, shot a bit, and came away with perhaps one or two decent photographs.  It’s always refreshing and challenging to work new areas for the first time.

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Autumn in Western North Carolina was challenging for me in 2015.  Lots and lots of clear blue skies, winds, and otherwise uninteresting and/or challenging conditions.  I still should’ve done better.  This was a neat composition shot mid-afternoon with high winds and hard sun.  Perhaps I’ll return and do this one right next year!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Finally, last but not least, I spent a couple of very tired days hiking around Shenandoah National Park.  While the last light of evening was fading alongside the Rose River I couldn’t help but have a little fun by tossing in a handful of fallen leaves to swirl in the plunge pool beneath a small cascade.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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There you have it–my 2015 in fifteen images!  Thank you again for another great year!  Which one did you like the best?  Let me know in the comments!

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