 |
| Cherry Blossom lined street Hakodate, Japan Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved |
 |
| Twin Moms - Koishikawa Korakuen Garden Tokyo, Japan Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved |
WE NOW usually do 2 to 3 major trips per year together, and I find ways to fit in my photographic trips too, when I can. I try to do at least one per year, but 2024 didn't work for a myriad of reasons - none of which are important here. I already have a GSMNP springtime photo trip scheduled for 2025, with two of my good photographer buddies. I am anticipating that. In addition, we are booked now, for 2 cruises in 2025. Since retirement, it has not been unusual for us to do two trips out of the country; either cruises, land-based, or both.
I stood in front of some really good "stuff" in 2024
2024 WAS no exception. In January, we cruised in the Caribbean. In April, we cruised around the main island of Japan (4 days in Tokyo and 14 days on a cruise ship). In September and October, we visited Central Europe for 15 days. I just checked my 2024 image archive folder and it contains well over 5,000 archived raw photos. No wonder picking favorites has become increasingly difficult. Acclaimed National Geographic contributing photographer, Jim Richardson is credited (there is no direct source for this quote that I have been able to find - but who cares: its good stuff!) with having once said: "If you want to be a better photographer, stand in front of better stuff." Whether you wholly agree with the sentiment or not, I have to say, I stood in front of some really good stuff in 2024.
I WANT to qualify my use of the word: "favorite." My favorites may not be the ones that would "sell," or be chosen by viewers. It may not be the first up on my website. In one or two cases, this may be the first time they have appeared in "print" anywhere. What they mean to me is that as I reviewed my images for the year, something about these images stood out to me. I flagged them and then went back to see if I could cull them down somehow. The best I could do was 18.
 |
| Traditional Garb - Ikuta Shiinto Shrine Kobe, Japan Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved |
BEGINNING WITH the first image (and they are not necessarily in any order), I planned with great anticipation to try to find some compelling cherry blossom images as we were there during the season in Japan. I made many photos with blossoms in the image, but not showcased in the way I had hoped. The closest - the image here - was made on a dreary, dingy day. Thank you, Photoshop. My resulting image was how I imagined it would look on a perfect day. The "Twin Moms" image was made during a vist to one of Japan's plentiful and beautiful gardens - this one in Tokyo. It was one of those "f8 and be there," serendipitous compositions where things just came together in front of me. I am amazed that I had the forethought to make the image, as it was obviously fleeting. Talk about repeating patterns.
 |
| Siriu-ji Shrine Aomori, Japan Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved |
THE SHRINE shots were example of color and patterns that always grab me. When I was researching for my individual blog posts following the Japan trip, I wondered about that ubiquitous bright color that you will find everywhere in Japan. Not really red. Not really orange. But visually compelling to me. Vermillion. I even like the sound of the color.
picking favorites has become increasingly difficult
THERE WERE many great opportunities in Japan, but we made one stop in South wKorea (which I suspect had something to do with maritime laws and passenger taxes). I thought the harbor in Sokcho, South Korea was especially nice, and made a few images both daytime and night time, but the image from my archives that pulled at me was this canopy covered street in the downtown area.
 |
| Sokcho, South Korea Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved |
 |
| Pink Flamingos - Homosassa Wildlife Park Homossa, Florida Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved |
IN LATE September, we embarked on our much anticipated "Octoberfest" trip to Europe. We severeal days each in Zurich (with visits to Lucerne and the Alps), Munich (with a visit to the Bavarian Alps), Prague and Berlin. The theme of the trip was rain, unfortunately, but I still made a healthy batch of pictures during the 15 days we were abroad. The shot of the bridge with the castle in the background gives a feel of what it was like the day we were in Lucerne, and I am able to imagine what it might look like with nice light and a cotton-candy sky. Either way, it feels like a nice, moody, travel picture to me.
 |
| Lucerne, Switzerland Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved |
THE ICONIC shot in Lucerne is the 1th Century Kapell Brucke, a wooden footbridge Spanning the Ruess River. I made a few different images of the bridge. A couple were "nice." None really grabbed at me as a "favorite." The shot below was taken just next to the bridge.
 |
| Lucerne, Switzerland Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved |
I HAD some time to "kill" one morning while waiting for the group to get organized for our outing of the day. Our Central Plaza hotel could not have been more dead-smack in the middle of the city. It was not only very convenient, but was a major crossing hub for the very busy Zurich Tram system. One set of tracks went up a hill just behind our hotel, and the though had ocurred to me that I might be able to practice some panning.
 |
| Tram - Zurich, Switzerland Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved |
MOST PHOTOGRAPHERS are familiar with the saying: "F8 and be there." For those who aren't it kind of means that sometimes being in the right time and place and semi-ready for anything that comes your way can yield some pretty spectacular photos. I guess I will let you be the judge of how "spectacular" or not, it is, but this was my favorite of a series of 8 or 10 images I was fortunate enough to "be there" for during our lunch stop in Interlaken, the day we visited the Swiss Alps.
WE WERE in Zurich just during the time when an annual international bicycle race was being held. If we had more time and it was better planned, I would have dedicated a day and gone of by myself to shoot this event. As is was, we only learned about it just as we arrived. I got the impression that many of the Zurich natives felt it was a nuisance, but everybody appreciates that these events bring cities revenue. We were on a walking tour our first afternoon in Zurich, and we crossed a couple of turns on the race course. I got just a couple fleeting chances at some photos. Lighting and Lensing; I really wasn't prepared for shooting this kind of event. I didn't really have the equipment and I hadn't done any study of the light and environment of the race. Ironically my favorite image of the handful I got was not of the cyclists, but of the motorcycle escort.
KNOWING WE would be visiting the Bavarian Alps and particularly that we would have the Neuenschwanstein Castle on the itinerary, the shot below was clearly a check the box item for me. I knew there would be a shot like this of the castle, based on what I had seen published on the internet. What I didn't know was where I would need to go to make that shot. I did know there was a bridge somewhere near the castle that would yield a good shot. When we landed at the base of the castle where all roads let up the mountain, I learned from a map that the straightest and fasted route to the bridge was via a shuttle. I also had learned that there would be lines both at the shuttle and at the Bridge. We had been given time for lunch before we had tickets for the castle tour (let me just say that if you are a photographer and the weather is even slightly cooperative, don't waste your at the castle grounds or in the castle (it is a very abbreviated tour and no photographs are allowed inside). The bridge had a long line and it was probably about a 15-minute wait. Worth every minute. The bridge is a mob scene, but because it is perpendicular to the castle view, once you get on the bridge, you will have not issues getting a nice shot or two (or a few) - don't even think about a tripod though. Rain, once again, had been the theme of the day, but for just a few minutes while I was on the bridge, a little sun popped, giving me some nice lighting. Even though a "bucket list" icon kind of photo, I would probably print it and hang it on my wall if I still had my office.
 |
| Paragliders Landing in Interlaken, Switzerland Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved |
 |
| Schloss Neuenshchwanstein - Bavaria, Germany Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved |
MUNICH YIELDED many photographs. Like so many European Cities, it is photogenic. Within the old city, probably my real favorite was an experiment from the "get go." I saw the busker in the picture below standing in front of a nondescript department store. There was really nothing about the setting that said "this would be a good representation of Munich." Indeed the shot could be any city anywhere in the world. In my mind I saw some potential. I knew as soon as I made the photo that I would have this on the screen in post-processing, doing something with it - probably some kind of vignette. And so I did. Certainly my favorite "city" image in Munich.
MUCH LIKE Munich, I found some really great photos in Berlin. The two that I clearly come away calling favorites don't necessarily demonstrate high quality photos (the night shot of the tram station was taken with my Samsung S21 smartphone). The do, however, evoke the emotion in me that they were at least among my favorite shots that I made in Berlin.
 |
| Munich, Germany Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved |
 |
| U-Bahn Station Berlin, Germany Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved |
 |
| Street Art - Berlin, Germany Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved |
THAT LEAVES Prague. We visited Prague before Berlin. I wanted to leave it for last because the images I take away from it as "favorites," are among the best of the best from the trip. As I have done a handful of times now in the past couple years, I engaged the services of a local pro to show me some of the cities "photographic secrets." Each time I have done this the pro has taken their own unique approach. Martin in this case was teaching and trying to get me to put something unique and different into the shots. He made recommendations which may have made the images turn out to be his vision, but they were my shots and I like to think I put my own spin on them. It was a provocative few hours that left me looking differently at my shooting and looking for a unique and personal perspective. Did it work? Time will tell. In the meantime I really enjoyed making these.
 |
| Under The Charles Bridge Prague, Czech Republic Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved |
THE FOLLOWING morning, I was up before daylight and walked the 5 minutes from our Vrbo to the Charles Bridge to catch the pre-dawn twilight with the bridge lights lit up. There is always something special about being one of the only humans up and moving at a scene in the morning. I have a number of images from that bridge. This is the one I like best.
 |
| A Yoshi Photobomb Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved |
[Just a couple follow-up comments: (1) To get the full visual impact of any of the images here, click on the image to render it full-screen; and (2) These are my best run at my "favorite" photos for 2024. They are by no means even close to the number of additional photos I processed and have displayed in various media. Nor are they necessarily "the" best. That will remain subjective. I invite you to visit my full galleries at LightCentric Photography by following the link.]
Andy, As usual, all are great images and I like the backstory associated with each. That being said, My two favorites are the Schloss N (nope not going to try and spell that) Castle which was super well done by you and the Charles Bridge shot. Some of the other standouts were the dreary day photos because I think you had to work harder and be more creative with your compositions, etc.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to what “better stuff” 2025 presents and you stand in front of.
Thanks, Rich. You know that you and I and "the other Rich" :-) will be standing in front of some of that stuff in the not too distant future. Yes, looking forward to what 2025 brings.
ReplyDelete