I want to start by thanking every one of my supporters, followers and clients for a wonderful year. I love and enjoy photography as I imagine each of you does. Your continued support of my work allows me to create and share these images. I hope you enjoy viewing them as much as I have enjoyed creating them. I am looking forward to another great year… so many tours on the horizon. I’ll try to post the new ones as they get sorted. So, with that… a very Happy & Healthy New Year to you all!!!

Each year, I try choosing my favorite photos from the year as a sort of celebration of my past year’s work. This year it was more difficult, as I had so many that I truly loved. But just because I love them and have formed a bond with them, does not mean that they are “my best images” but that they are my favorite—there is a difference <wink>.

My year (2023) started in January at the Falkland Islands, as I conducted my second back-to-back trip. The image below and also, the cover of one of my latest e-Books “Connecting with Nature” is one of my all-time favorites. It represents many, many early morning shoots that never quite come to fruition.

Another of my favorite shots from that same trip was my sunrise Elephant Seals photo shown below. Probably because I had tried for an image like this for so long. I wish I could have gotten a bit lower and that there was a bit more separation, but I’ll still take it.

The line up of King penguins is another of my favorites from that trip in January.

Then moving on to the two back-to-back “Japan in Winter” photo tours that I do with Paul McKenzie every year (sold out until 2027). One of my favorites was the image below of two cranes with their heads together and their necks forming a circle. Very hard to get a shot like this but I did get lucky. Another of my favorites from that trip is the cranes calling, shot against a dark background. Followed by my Long-tailed tit licking a maple icicle.

After Japan, I was in Norway, for some aurora photography as well as landscapes in winter. I absolutely love this trip and can’t wait to get back again. My two favorites are below.

After Norway, I went to Longwood gardens with private clients. I truly enjoyed my time with the tulips especially since my Forever Stamps with the US postal service were just announced around that time. That was definitely a highlight in my career, having my images chosen as US Postal stamps. I am also pleased to announce that the US postal service has licensed 10 more of my dahlia images, slated for a dahlia Forever stamp collection in 2024. All of this led to my very latest e-Book titled “Photoshop Enhancements for Flowers.”

My two favorites from my time at Longwood….

After Longwood gardens, I went to the Olympic Peninsula where I met up with clients and friends. It was a fun trip and we had loads of photo opportunities. My favorite from that trip below.

I left the OP and went straight to the Palouse region. I was happy to get back there as it was a couple of years since my last visit and things had changed a bit. It is still a wonderful photo location that I will revisit in 2025 as I have some inside information about a planted field…

After the Palouse I went to Svalbard with a group of friends. We never did see more than one Polar bear and it was far away, but I do have fond memories of that trip because we chose to make the most of it.

Donna Bourdon and I took a trip to Alaska. We had some great photo opportunities with this sow and four cubs at Hallo Bay. We put together an exciting adventure trip featuring float plane day trips and bears that we may visit in 2025-2026.

In September, I led two trips to Kenya, one with Paul McKenzie and one with Donna Bourdon. I visited the Mara, Amboseli and Samburu during my time there. Below is my all-time favorite cheetah shot. I may consider lighting their faces in the near future but this shot represents the pre-dawn light, the cubs were just starting to wake up and open their eyes. A morning I will never forget. And below that, are a few other favorites from my time there.

After the Mara, I went to the Italian Dolomites for a private tour. I loved my time in the mountains, exploring new areas. Two of my favorites form that trip are below. BTW, I have written trip reports for most of these images, so if you want to hear any back stories, you can just search for the related post.

My year ended where it began—in the Falklands for a three-week photo tour with clients that had waited a few years for the trip (postponed by Covid) to happen. Below are my two favorites from that trip.