It has been quite a while since I last blogged! There’s been a lot going on between family visits, the holidays, ski season, increased “real job” responsibilities, preparing for my wedding, and various trips with friends. With all of that I regrettably haven’t made the time to write blogs or share photos, even on social media. That said, I have still been shooting LOADS and it’s time for me to share my favorite blog of the year: My Year in Photos!

This year’s format is going to be a little different. I’m breaking down my photos into four categories; Landscapes - Can’t leave home without ‘em, Wildlife Everywhere, People Doing Wild Things in Wild Places, and Macro & Abstract. I hope you enjoy the selections and here’s to another year spinning around the sun (or having the universe revolve around Earth if you’re a geocentric kind of person).

**As always, please click to see the larger version of all the photos in this blog - some of them are cropped in odd ways by the website just because they were shot in different orientations. And if you’re really cool, view these on something bigger than your phone…

Landscapes - Can’t leave home without ‘em

This year my landscape photography goals stayed largely the same as years past: Get out to some cool places and compose fine art style photographs. This being my primary focus took me to some wild places in 2025. From the peaks high above Arapahoe Basin ski area to the swamps of Trap Pond in Delaware, my landscape photography for 2025 literally spanned 13,433 feet in altitude - how’s that for a year wrapped statistic?!?! Next year there will be more of the same; this is my favorite genre for a reason. Trips in 2026 will include Iceland, Mexico, and other locations yet to be determined, but also likely to be very high up in the US.

Wildlife Everywhere

I’d call this my “pet project”, but since all the animals I’m featuring in this year’s wildlife gallery are, well, wild - that seems inappropriate…

5 Major ecosystems for Wildlife: Desert Southwest, Pacific Tropical, Alpine Wilderness, Great Plains, Mid-Atlantic Swamp

Surprise Discovery: Feral Chickens make excellent portrait subjects

People Doing Wild Things in Wild Places

This year I explored photographing people much more than I have historically. While I have experience in the genre, it’s not one I naturally gravitate towards. What surprised me was how cool it is to get candid shots of people being rock stars. There will FOR SURE be more of this genre in my future - especially for action sports like skiing, snowboarding, and rock climbing. A lesson learned for me with this genre in particular is I need to focus on shooting more portrait orientation. Nearly all of my shots here are landscape, but I think vertical composition is something that can help this style drastically since the person is the subject, not the environment (although the blending of the two really adds a sense of scale so that’s something else to be mindful of).

Macro & Abstract

This was just plain fun for me to play with this year. The up-close textures of things I found striking, but also creatively playing with techniques like motion blur were educational as well. Can you guess what the fifth photo is below? Hint: It’s cold and it was windy.