2024 was dark. Warfare. Hate. Storms and fires.
And that was just the election.
(Ba dum ching)
The moon literally blocked out the sun this year, y'all.
You'll notice Elmo hasn't checked back in on us again since January.
In that context, it’s not hard to read into the themes and symbolism from this year's images.
2024’s collection is full of sunrises and lighthouses. Bridges and flight. Geometric compositions, nature macros and primary colors.
It all adds up to a pretty heavy-handed grasp for optimism, hope and direction. Order, perspective, serentiy and simplicity in a world that's anything but.
Rays of light.
—
While trying to make sense of last year's collection, I had an epiphany that the reason why I love photography is that it’s an act of gratitude. It forces me to pay attention, notice and document the remarkable things on the other side of the lens.
It's a daily reminder that the world is full of good and beauty if you just pay attention.
Or in the words of Jay Maisel, "Take a look at what you're looking at."
If gratitude is why I take photos, it’s also why I share them.
Photography is light. Literally - if you take a photo of something beautiful in pitch darkness, it is nothing.
These photographs are proof of light in the world.
Sharing them spreads it.
—
My favorite podcast is, A bit of optimism by Simon Sinek. On a recent episode, he said something that stuck with me:
"I don't believe in bucket lists. Because a bucket list is a list of things I haven't done. And so I'm forced to look at the things that are missing in my life. So I live my life with a reverse bucket list. Where I will write down something I've done, or experience I had, or a place I visited that I never thought I'd ever have the opportunity to do and it was magical. And I'll look at the list and everyday I go 'Oh my God my life is incredible. And I keep adding to it?!?!'"
This year I had the opportunity to travel around the country. Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Charlotte, Washington DC, Boston, the Pennsylvania and Ohio countryside, the Eastern Shore of Maryland and the coast of Maine. I got to see New Orleans for the first time.
I saw a leaf cradling a drop of water like a crystal ball and the sun illuminating a single perfect snowflake on the windshield of my car.
I got to watch the first sunrise in the country with my wife from the top of Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park.
In October when I got home from Chicago, she pointed at the sky over our house. It was the Northern Lights.
This collection is gratitude. A Reverse Bucket List for 2024.
I hope it helps bring light for you too.
Elmo knows the world needs it now more than ever.
“Aurora Borealis” Rye, New York. October, 2024.
Not our house.
“First light.” Cadillac Mountain. Acadia National Park, Maine. August, 2024
Fujifilm X-T5, 23mm, f/11, 30s, ISO 125
Because Maine is the easternmost part of the country, you can see the first sunrise in the continental U.S. from the top of Cadillac Mountain. I love how the cloud cover reflected pink light across the landscape just before the sun came up over the horizon.
I also love that I didn’t fall off the mountain while setting up for this shot in the dark.
“Elsa’s Handiwork” Rye, New York. January, 2024
Fujifilm X-T5, Legacy Nikon Micro-Nikkor 55mm f3.5 lens
One morning in January, I noticed this perfect snowflake on my car window. The halo of light behind it is the rising sun poking through the trees.
Part of my Frost macro series.
“Misaligned” New York, NY. January 2024
iPhone 14 Pro
One of my favorite parts of putting this year in review together is deciding how to sequence the images. I love finding wildly different images that are connected through their compositions.
Part of my ongoing Literal Street Photography series
“Starlings**” Nubble Lighthouse. York, Maine. August 2024
Fujifilm X-T5, 14mm, f/16, 1/125, ISO 200
**I don’t actually know if these are starlings
“Tribute in Light” Bayonne, NJ. September 11, 2024
Fujifilm X-T5, 55-200mm, Panorama
I’ve been documenting the September 11th Tribute in Light for 12 years now (the full collection is here). Having shot the lights from nearly every angle, it’s getting more and more challenging to find new vantage points. This year I went deeper into New Jersey to capture this panorama from a pier in Bayonne. I love the way the Statue of Liberty aligns with the midtown skyscrapers. Definitely better viewed on desktop. Possibly better viewed on Flickr
“The Tip of the Island” Jersey City, Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn. February 2024
Fujifilm X-T5, 55-200, f/4.2, 1/4000, ISO 200
I’ll never for the life of me understand why someone would ever choose to sit in the aisle seat on the plane.
LGA > CLT. This is part of my Window Seat series.
“PRADA” Manhattan, New York. November, 2024
Fujifilm X-T5, 55-200mm, f/11, 1/150, ISO 125
This is Union Square, seen from the One World Trade Observation Deck. This has to be one of the only patches of the city that hasn’t been spoiled by soulless modern architecture. How many rooftop water towers can you count?
“City of light” Laguardia Airport. Queens, NY. March 2024
Fujifilm X-T5, 23mm, f/8, 1/2000, ISO 2000
When the sun is at just the right angle, it turns LaGuardia Airport into the Cathedral Sainte Chappelle. But with Hudson News.
“I am a sea slug” Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, July 2024
Fujifilm X-T5, f/2.8, 1/60, ISO 160
The best pictures invite you to fill in the rest of the story.
You may think this one tells the story of a shopkeeper who made questionable inventory decisions and ultimately got tired of answering the question.
I choose to believe that it tells the story of an insecure slug who put in the work in therapy and is newly self-assured.
“Light blobs” Grand Central Station, NY
Fujifilm X-T5, 55-200mm, f/3.9, 1/3200, ISO 125
This is one of my favorite natural phenomena in New York. At just the right times in the middle of the day, the sun reflects off the windows and creates these abstract pools of light on neighboring buildings. These patches of light are falling on the facade of Grand Central Station. They look juuuust a bit like sea slugs.
“Street Corner Still Life” Midtown Manhattan, NY. June 2024
Fujifilm X-T5, 55-200mm, 1/200, ISO 125
I love the colors and careful arrangement of this sidewalk smoothie vendor’s display. But what makes the shot is the action-movie-freeze frame of that one banana hanging on for dear life while the rest of the bunch desperately tries to save it from plummeting off the ledge.
“Zen” Times Square, New York. June 2024.
Fujifilm X-T5, 14mm, f/16, 1/125, ISO 400
Finding inner-peace in the single most chaotic, anxiety-inducing place in the entire world is like defeating the final boss in Yoga.
“Minnows**” Camden Maine. August, 2024
Fujifilm X-Pro1 590nm Infrared Conversion, 55-200mm, f/9, 1/30, ISO 200
**I don’t actually know if these are minnows.
“Sand reflection” Higgins Beach, Maine. August 2024
iPhone 14 Pro
“Portland Head Lighthouse” Portland, Maine. August 2024
Fujifilm X-Pro1 590nm Infrared Conversion, 14mm, f/16, 1/110, ISO 200
Whoever designed this lighthouse at the edge of this sweeping curve clearly had landscape photographers in mind. It was extra nice of them to add another lighthouse in the distance. (The tiny one at the far right of frame is the Ram Island Ledge Light Station).
“Curtis Island Lighthouse” Camden, Maine. August 2024
Fujifilm X-T5, 55-200mm, f/5, 1/1100, ISO 125
“Bass Harbor Head Light Station” Acadia National Park, Maine. August 2024
Fujifilm X-Pro1 590nm Infrared Conversion, 23mm, f/16, 1/280, ISO 200
“Pemaquid Point Lighthouse” New Harbor, Maine. August 2024
iPhone 14 Pro
While waiting to go to the top of this lighthouse, the volunteer working there said “Lighthouses are America’s castles.”
“Waves” Marshlands Conservancy, Rye New York. October 2024
Fujifilm X-T5, 55-200mm, f/16, 1/125, ISO 400
“Partly Cloudy” Lake Michigan. Chicago, Illinois. January 2024
Fujifilm X-T5, 55-200mm, f6.4, 1/8000, ISO 500
“Low tide” Bar Island. Bar Harbor, Maine
Fujifilm X-T5, 55-200mm, f11, 1/125, ISO 200
At low tide you can walk across a sand bar from Bar Harbor to Bar Island. If you don’t keep an eye on the rising tide, you’ll get stranded on the island. The town of Bar Harbor has an emergency rescue boat service to pluck tourists with especially poor time management skills off the island.
I’d like to believe that the crew is required by standard procedure to approach slowly and make fun of you ruthlessly before docking and letting you board the boat.
“Head in the clouds” Chicago, Illinois. March, 2024.
Fujifilm X-T5, 55-200mm, f4, 1/500, ISO 125
“Red, White, Silver” East Village, New York. September 2024
iPhone 14 Pro
“Crimson and Steel” Vinegar Hill, Brooklyn. October 2024
iPhone 14 Pro
“Some have said that if you take a great picture in color and take away the color, you’ll have a great black-and-white picture. But if you’re shooting something about color and you take away the color, you’ll have nothing.” – Jay Maisel
“Yellow, Shades of Gray” Islesboro Ferry. Islesboro, Maine. August 2024
Fujifilm X-T5, 23mm, f14, 1/125, ISO 160
“Yellow Brick Road” Harlem, New York. October 2024
iPhone 14 Pro
I took this shot from the window of the MetroNorth train. Again, I’ll never understand why anyone would choose the aisle seat.
“Verrazano Bridge” New York City. February 2024
Fujifilm X-T5, 55-200mm, f4.4, 1/4000, ISO 320
“Better Cheese” Midtown, New York. June 2024
Fujifilm X-T5, 14mm, f22, 1/125, ISO 2000
This photo is a part of my ongoing project, called Chaos - an attempt to capture the frenetic feeling of New York by, technically speaking, getting as much crap in the frame as I can. This is one of my favorites from the series so far—especially the top left corner which, at first glance, looks like a sliver of blue sky. But then you realize it’s just another billboard. Messy as it is, the composition is (unintentionally) successful - the shapes of the taxis, the crane and the pops of yellow all direct your eye around the frame in a way that’s well-balanced and orderly.
“Jazz” New Orleans, Louisiana. March 2024
Fujifilm X-T5, 55-200mm, f8, 1/125, ISO 5000
“Into the fray” New York City. September 2024
Fujifilm X-T5, 23mm, f5.6, 1/125, ISO 800
“Five’s a crowd” New York City. June 2024
Fujifilm X-T5, 23mm, f8, 1/125, ISO 160
These two images are part of my Post No Bills series. The series features unintentional artist collaborations between Advertisers and New Yorkers. The construction wall is their canvas and the layers of peeled-off posters create serendipitous art through reduction. A collage in reverse.
“Cash Bar” New Orleans, Louisiana. March 2024
Fujifilm X-T5, 23mm, f/2, 1/125, ISO 2500
Get it?!?!?! Cash Bar?!?!?!?
“Strange, based on Google Analytics everyone dropped at the exact same photo…”
“Evening colors” Water Street, Lower Manhattan. November 2024
Fujifilm X-T5, 55-200mm, f11, 1/125, ISO 4000
I was helping my 4-year-old into her car seat after a day in the city, looked up and saw a shaft of evening sunlight hitting the face of this building on Water Street. The rest of the street was all in shadow. Always carry a camera in New York. You never know when you might see magic.
“Urban canyon” Lower Manhattan. May 2024
Fujifilm X-T5, 55-200mm, f8, 1/125, ISO 320
“Light and shadow” Lower Manhattan. November, 2024
Fujifilm X-T5, 55-200mm, f11, 1/125, ISO 125
This image is fascinating because it’s impossible. The sunlight hitting the buildings is coming from two different directions.
“Queens in Miniature” Queens, NY. March 2024
Fujifilm X-T5, 55-200mm, f5, 1/2000, ISO 500
I’m lucky my camera has image stabilization - this flight was crazy turbulent. I like the blurry tilt-shift lens effect in the foreground which makes it look like the scene is a miniature diorama. (The blur is actually just the exhaust from the engine.)
“Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge” Rockaway Beach. Queens, NY. July 2024.
Fujifilm X-Pro1 590nm Infrared Conversion, 35mm, f/5.6, 1/500, ISO 200
“Somewhere Over the Midwest.” July 2024.
Fujifilm X-Pro1 590nm Infrared Conversion, 35mm, f/8, 1/1000, ISO 200
“Cul du sac” Long Island, NY. March 2024
Fujifilm X-T5, 55-200mm, f5, 1/2000, ISO 500
“Broad Winged Hawk” New York Botanical Gardens. Bronx, NY.
Fujifilm X-T5, 55-200mm, f4.8, 1/125, ISO 125
This hawk was perched on the visitor’s center at the New York Botanical Gardens. I overexposed the sky to make it look like a studio portrait. This is not typical of my usual bird shots, which are (arguably crappy) out-of-focus images of birds that try to capture how birds feel.
“Impressionist Marsh” New Orleans, Louisiana
Fujifilm X-T5, 55-200mm, f20, 1/125, ISO 400
Shot from the airplane window just before landing in New Orleans. I’d like to think Monet would have taken the same picture.
“Future Orchid” New York Botanical Gardens. Bronx, NY. April 2024.
Fujifilm X-T5, Laowa 65mm manual lens
“New Leaf” Brookside Gardens. Wheaton, Maryland. July 2024.
iPhone 14 Pro
“Birds of Paradise” Brookside Gardens. Wheaton, Maryland. July 2024.
iPhone 14 Pro
“Bashful” New York Botanical Gardens. Bronx, NY. April 2024.
Fujifilm X-T5, Laowa 65mm manual lens
“The Bluest” New York Botanical Gardens. Bronx, NY. April 2024.
Fujifilm X-T5, Laowa 65mm manual lens
“Dewdrop” New York Botanical Gardens. Bronx, NY. April 2024.
Fujifilm X-T5, Laowa 65mm manual lens
“Abstract Earth” Somewhere near Colorado. July 2024
Fujifilm X-Pro1 590nm Infrared Conversion, 55-200mm, f/5.6, 1/1200, ISO 200
“Melting” Somewhere near Colorado. July 2024
Fujifilm X-Pro1 590nm Infrared Conversion, 55-200mm, f/5.6, 1/1000, ISO 200
“Tread between the lines” Chicago, Illinois. January 2024.
Fujifilm X-T5, 55-200mm, f3.7, 1/125, ISO 1000
Another shot from the Literal Street Photography series. I took this from my hotel window in Chicago. I like how it’s all orderly except for the tread marks crossing the unplowed snow in the median strip.
“Rescue Mission” Chicago, Illinois. January 2024.
Fujifilm X-T5, 55-200mm, f5, 1/140, ISO 125
During winter, the Chicago River freezes and this boat comes through to break up the ice. On this morning someone had dropped a tote bag on the ice and the crew was trying to hook it with a pole and a net. A moment after I took this image the guy lost his grip and dropped the pole.
“Colorful intersection” Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. April, 2024
Fujifilm X-T5, 55-200mm, f6.4, 1/180, ISO 125
Shot from my hotel window in Ft. Lauderdale. I was drawn to the colors and geometric shapes. If you look closely, you’ll notice the sidewalk is smiling.
“Abbey Road?” New Orleans, Louisiana. March 2024
Fujifilm X-T5, 23mm, f11, 1/75, ISO 125
“The pink thing” New Orleans, Louisiana. March 2024.
Fujifilm X-T5, 35mm, f7.1, 1/125, ISO 320
“The Everything Shoppe” New Orleans, Louisiana. March 2024.
Fujifilm X-T5, 35mm, f8, 1/125, ISO 1000
“Frenchman Street” New Orleans, Louisiana. March 2024.
Fujifilm X-T5, 23mm, f6.4, 1/125, ISO 800
New Orleans is famous for it’s quaint French-Inspired-Architecture. It is less famous for it’s Hallucination-Nightmare-Inspired-Murals.
Nightmare fuel. It’s the clown with the extra clown growing out of its ear for me.
“Drivers wanted” Chicago, Illinois. January, 2024.
Fujifilm X-T5, 55-200mm, f8, 1/8000, ISO 640
I took this shot moments before landing at Chicago O’Hare airport. The thin layer of snow on the cars made the contrast and shapes more pronounced.
“Pre-game” Under the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. Alexandria, Virginia. November 2024
Fujifilm X-T5, 14mm, f3.2, 1/180, ISO 125
“Verrazano Sunrise” New York, NY. January, 2024.
Fujifilm X-T5, 55-200mm, f6.4, 1/8000, ISO 320
I took this shot of the Verrazano Bridge from the airplane window just after sunrise. The morning sunlight reflected off the water, turning New York Harbor golden and everything else into silhouette. The land mass just above the Verrazzano Bridge is the Jersey Shore. If you look closely you can see Snooki.
“Jordan Pond Sunrise” Acadia National Park, Maine. August, 2024.
Fujifilm X-T5, 23mm, f11, 2.3s, ISO 125
“X marks the spot” Beacon, New York. February, 2024
Fujifilm X-T5, 35mm, f16, 1/125, ISO 1000
While putting this collection together, I kept coming back to this image. Trying to figure out why I’m drawn to it, I realized how many leading lines converge to bring your eye through the picture to the hero building in the distance that’s being hit by the afternoon light. The yellow lines on the street, the sweep of the curb, the bridge, the power lines, the ridges of the mountains in the distance and that one random car that appears to be driving into the front door. I love that everything in the image points you toward the building EXCEPT for the arrow, which points the exact opposite direction.
“Irony” Hudson, Ohio. March, 2024.
Fujifilm X-T5, 23mm, f8, 1/340, ISO 125
Guess they should’ve seen that coming.
“Rides” Ocean City, Maryland. June, 2024.
Fujifilm X-T5, 55-200mm, f11, 1/125, ISO 2000
“Cubist Snailshell” Boston, Massachusetts. December 2024
Fujifilm X-T5, 14mm, f2.8, 1/125, ISO 320
“Tappan Zee Bridge” Sleepy Hollow, New York. February, 2024
Fujifilm X-T5, 35mm, f16, 30s, ISO 125
“Mt. Battie Panorama” Camden, Maine. August, 2024
Fujifilm X-Pro1 590nm Infrared Conversion, 35mm, f/11, 1/500, ISO 200
“The hiker” Cadillac Mountain. Acadia, National Park, Maine. August, 2024.
Fujifilm X-T5, 23mm, f11, 1/125, ISO 125
“Top of the world” Acadia National Park, Maine. August, 2024
Fujifilm X-T5, 23mm, f11, 1/125, ISO 125
“Nubble Lighthouse” York, Maine. August, 2024.
Fujifilm X-T5, 14mm, f16, 1/180, ISO 125
I know I already shared an image of this lighthouse above, but I was too indecisive to choose a favorite, so I split them up hoping you wouldn’t notice.
“The man on the stone” Portland Head Lighthouse. Portland, Maine. August, 2024.
Fujifilm X-T5, 14mm, f16, 1/120, ISO 125
“Sun raising” Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. August, 2024.
Fujifilm X-T5, 55-200mm, f9, 1/125, ISO 125
On this morning in Ft. Lauderdale just before the sun came up, I was struggling to figure out how to get a good picture. The composition over the water was too ordinary. Then I realized if I moved a bit farther own the beach, I could try to line up the spot where the sun was about to come up with this cargo ship. I didn’t notice until I got the image downloaded that it looks like the crane is lifting the sun.
—
I hope you enjoyed this year’s Year in Review. Thanks for reading!
And if you want to see more, you can check out the other years in review:
2023’s Year in Review
2022’s Year in Review
2020’s Year in Review
2019’s Year in Review
2018’s Year in Review
2017’s Year in Review
2016's Year in Review
2105's Year in Review
2014's Year in Review.