In no particular order, here are 10 of my favorite personal images from 2024.
“Jesus in the Big Smoke”
I took this photo on a trip to Toronto in late fall and it has a bunch of elements I like. Christian iconography. Urban architecture. Street signs. Silhouettes. Figures that get a bit lost in their environment. Graffiti. Sub-framing. Light and shadow. A little bit of sadness.
“Distillery billboards”
On the first day of my Toronto trip I acquired my dream camera (A Fuji GFX), so it’s a bit ironic that one of my favorite images from the following week is a snapshot from my iPhone. A reminder that good light is everything, and this photo benefited from dramatic skies. The rest is just every day urban architecture, but I like the lines and shapes and futuristic/doomsday feel to it. At least that’s what I get.
“Turn for clearer view”
In early spring of 2024 I made my first ever trip to the Great Northern Peninsula in Newfoundland for work. Along the way I passed through Gros Morne National park and saw Caribou for the first time in my life as well. I made this image, which I had to keep in color for my own sanity, and thus it wasn’t part of the daily project. The brown hues are, to me, nostalgic and emblematic of the feeling in the air that day.
“Queens County Fair Ox Pull”
Another first for me in early fall was a visit to the Queen’s County Fair here in New Brunswick, where I photographed the Ox Pull from outside the fence. This event reminded me of something I get pulled along to go watch as a kid, and while the people running and organizing the event were total strangers to me, they felt familiar. I spent one afternoon at the fair, but I have a dream of doing a larger project photographic at this fair or maybe this fair and other fairs around Atlantic Canada some day.
“Skiff Lake”
At first I was annoyed when this car pulled into the canteen I was setting up to photograph. But when the gentleman inside the car hung their arms out of the windows, I realized that was the missing detail the image needed all along. So often photographing is like that. A reminder that in 2025 I should find a scene and wait for things to happen more often.
“Sophia”
I made a number of trips to St. Andrews to wander and photograph this year. The town is incredibly photogenic and contains a certain element of eccentricity and wealth that I find personally interesting. This butts up against the very down-to-earth Charlotte County communities and residents that surround and sometimes also inhabit the community. It’s a unique place. This small brick home with it’s beautifully perfect gardens almost makes me uneasy, but in a good way – a familiar way. I love this image in black and white, especially.
“Looking through a motel window”
Thanks to work travel and my personal inability to sit still for very long, I spend a fair amount of time in hotels and motels. This particular image was taken on a trip to Edmundston, New Brunswick, and I like the compression of residential and industrial banging up against each other with the window subframe. It feels a little sad.
“Pizza Corner”
This image was also taken through a hotel window, though the window frame itself isn’t visible. This time I’m in Halifax, and the corner that is mostly obscured from view is Pizza Corner, the intersection of Blowers and Grafton where the city has gathered for a late night slice for decades. The place is legendary, and I like the way this angle makes it almost have the appearance of a model.
“The shoveler”
I’ve had an idea for years now to do a portrait project of men and their garages and sheds. This image of my brother-in-law was made spontaneously when I stopped by to drop something off just after Christmas. Michael was in the process of snowblowing the yard after 24 hours of heavy snow descended on the city, and his weary, snow-covered look made for a great portrait that sort of captured his personality and the day itself. The sub-framing with the garage door, piles of snow, and the shovel just add to the scene, and I’m glad I resisted the initial urge to move in closer or crop some of it out. I hope to take a lot more portraits in 2025.
“Fall at Trinity Bellwoods”
I like black and white images, but I also like color a lot. I’m not sad to put my black and white project behind me for awhile. This image of people enjoying the fall colors – my picture of a person taking a picture – means a lot to me. I was aimlessly wandering Toronto. This was my first time in this particular park. It was exceptionally warm for a fall day, and there were a couple of people playing Leonard Cohen songs in the park. I sat for awhile and just soaked the colors and people and scene in, and it’s the most at peace I’ve felt maybe all year.