Introduction
This year was a great year for my photography. I had the pleasure of visiting four different continents and seeing incredibly varied places all over the world. I began my year in Nicaragua in Central America and made it all the way to Colombia, South America. Later I visited Europe and bounced all over the place. I saw North Africa for the first time in my visit to Egypt and then later spent several months in Southern Africa with visits to Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa.
My lifestyle allows me to work and travel and I am thankful for the chance to do so. I take photos for me while also hoping that when I do share them, that they can bring joy, educate, or even make a small dent in the lives of others. Here are my favorite photos from 2022. Please enjoy.
Table of Contents
January
I started out the year in Central America slowly moving south. I loved my time in Costa Rica and especially the sunsets on the west coast. In Tamarindo it is a nightly ritual for everyone to go to the beach to see the sun drop into the ocean. In my three weeks there, I never missed a single sunset.
February
Continuing my love of Central American sunsets, here is my favorite photo of February. I met Spaniards Laura and her friend Delia in Tamarindo and we headed to nearby Langostino for a beach day. After finding out they were both dancers I knew we had to make some beautiful images. I absolutely love this one.
March
After spending a few weeks out of the country I was missing Costa Rica dearly. So I returned to my favorite city La Fortuna to meet Valeria and adventure together. I had heard about this so-called secret river down a mountainous path and we set off to explore. Completely alone in the forest seemed like a perfect place to make some beautiful images of her fully free. Just Valeria and the jungle. Pura vida.
April
In April I found myself on a whirlwind 3 week trip bouncing around seeing Colombia’s top destinations. I was traveling much faster than normal as a friend only had a limited amount of time to see the highlights. We were in Cartagena de Indias over Easter weekend and I quickly fell in love with its brightly colored streets, latin music emanating from every open doorway, and the smells of street food wafting on the air.
May
May 2022 was a slow month for me photography-wise. I had left Colombia to return home to help my stepmom pack up the house, go through my father’s things and help her move to a new smaller home for just her. A year and a half after losing my father to an awful disease, it was a time of closure for our family.
I did have one mini trip to south Florida with a diving friend and finally photographed the elusive hairy frogfish (with bonus seahorse) on my favorite dive site in the States. At only 20cm (8in) max and master camouflage artists, these guys are incredibly difficult to spot, so I was pleased to find several on this dive!
June
In the beginning of June, I headed back out on the road, starting first in the new-to-me country of Croatia. I found myself in Dubrovnik over the Catholic holiday of Corpus Cristi. The Catholics of the town slowly walked through town in full religious regalia. As the sun set and birds circled overhead, I noticed the colors reflecting in the polished stones of the main street. Positioning myself in line with the lead priest, I like how this photo captures the solemn and reverent scene.
July
In July, I traveled to the Red Sea coast to go scuba diving for a week. After, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to visit Luxor and Cairo to see the great wonders of the Egyptian civilization. On my visit to the Great Pyramid of Giza, I saw many horse carriages and camels crisscrossing the desert with tourists in tow. I was looking for a way to capture the scene without pandering too much to stereotypical tropes when I noticed this rider preparing to set off from a camp at the base of the pyramid. Positioned just right, I can imagine that this timeless scene could have taken place anytime from now all the way back to ancient times.
August
In the beginning of August, I traveled to northern Italy for a road trip to revisit some of my favorite spots in Tuscany. Most tourists rave about Florence, and there are good reasons why, but my favorite city in the area is Siena. It is small, compact, very welcoming, and has a stunning multicolored cathedral in the center. This image is a stitched vertical panorama of the altar taken handheld. I enjoy the way vertical panoramas feel so captivating while also playing tricks on your eye from the bending of straight lines.
September
For the first week of September, I visited my first proper Scandinavian country – Sweden (sorry Denmark, I’m not counting you). I had some time to kill, a free flight voucher, and hotel points expiring. All things that came together to make my visit to Stockholm just a bit more affordable which really is saying something. It is sooo expensive! Beyond the sticker shock, I really enjoyed the city.
It is clean, much greener than I expected (I loved running along the myriad rivers near where I was staying), and the city was just a very comfortable place to be. I didn’t feel the need to do so many tourist things. It was nice to just walk and wander. For example, I loved the many wonderfully decorated metro stations such as this one!
October
I arrived in South Africa for the first time in 20 years in early October! I was coming to Cape Town for the first time to live in a big house with a group of digital nomads – a few of which I met in Bulgaria earlier this year. Nomad friends had been raving about Cape Town for the past couple of years and I finally decided to see what the fuss was about.
Suffice to say I have loved it here. The hiking (seen here), the weather, new friends, food, the wine! So many wonderful things to enjoy that I’ve actually ended up staying here more than any other spot I have visited this year. I highly recommend Cape Town!
November
In November I took a short vacation during Thanksgiving to the Victoria Falls area where Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana borders all meet. One of the area national parks has a small conservation program for the critically endangered white rhino and I heard that I could do a walking safari with a ranger to try and track them. I jumped at the opportunity and after more than an hour slowly making our way through the thick undergrowth, we popped out into a clearing and spotted a family of 7 rhinos. The baby, pictured here, stole the show and our hearts.
December
After Thanksgiving, I headed back to Cape Town to enjoy Southern Hemisphere summer in the Mother City. I really need to write down all my favorite restaurants, bars, hikes, and quirky Cape Tonian favorites and they are plentiful! I love this panoramic view of Table Mountain from the Lion’s Head summit trail where both Gardens neighborhood to the left and Camp’s Bay to right. Being surrounded by such beauty has been simultaneously moving and grounding and I will certainly miss this wonderful city when I leave next week!
Favorite Photos of the Year
With this amazing and oh-so-photogenic year, I find it difficult to narrow my images down to just a single favorite. So I have decided to showcase three images in each of the major categories my images have fallen into this year. A bit of a cop out but hey I write the articles – ha! Without further ado –
Landscape Photo of the Year
Landscape Photo of the Year: La Fortuna Waterfall, Costa Rica.
Choosing just a single landscape photo in a year that saw me visit 4 continents, 20 countries, and countless stunning sights was incredibly difficult, but I keep coming back to this image. I love the moodiness of the water spray hanging in the air, the streaking water from my long exposure, and the twin trees bent toward the center of the frame. Even with the roar of the falls, and the freezing water up to my knees, this place brought me such peace.
Portrait Photo of the Year
Portrait Photo of the Year: Karla in Split, Croatia.
In 2021, I found that I had a passion for portrait photography that I had never really explored in all my years of work. I was always too timid to ask to collaborate, or struggled to know how to pose a model. It is the one style of photography that I feel I have the most growth potential and that makes it super exciting. Now as I travel I love capturing the essence of other nomads I meet on the road and Karla is no exception. Her warm, loving, and eternally positive outlook on life shine through in this image. I love it.
Animal Photo of the Year
Animal Photo of the Year: Lioness in Chobe National Park, Botswana.
Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I had a mini vacation from Cape Town and flew to the Victoria Falls area where Zambia and Zimbabwe meet.
I spent 3 days on each side of the falls exploring the two countries. At the end of the week, I went on a 2 day 2 night camping safari to Chobe National Park in Botswana and had an incredible time with Kalahari Tours. The highlight was our encounter with a pride of lions. This lioness had a truly piercing gaze that just drew me in. It is no exaggeration that I have over a hundred images of her! But this frame is my favorite. It makes me wonder what she has seen and what she is thinking!
I’m incredibly fortunate to be able to continue to travel the world and I hope 2023 will continue to inspire more great photos from me and my camera. I’m already making plans to visit exciting locales like Oman, Jordan, Morocco, Bulgaria, Turkey, and more. See you next year.
