A photographic review of 2014: one month, one photo

Last year I decided to join the trend of doing a review of my favourite (best? most significant?) photographs. It seems the time has come again, so here are twelve of my favourite images from 2014. Ask me again in half an hour and I’ll probably give you a different twelve! Once again I have restricted myself to one from each month but, unlike last year, I’ve allowed myself to venture beyond the UK from time to time.

There wasn’t much in the way of snow or frost this winter but we did enjoy the odd misty day. This was one such - just a local scene, within walking distance of my home. It’s a composition that works because of the mist’s simplifying role, and it includes one of the more stately ash trees we have growing in the area. I fear what our landscape will look like when ash dieback disease strikes so I’ve made a conscious effort to document what I feel are rather undervalued trees.

I can’t in all honesty say I feel this is my best photograph from February but, without a clear favourite, I thought I’d include this one for the memories it evokes - namely seeing the Northern Lights for the first time. I certainly didn’t expect my first sighting to be here in our village! This was taken from the paddock at the back of our house. Thanks to the power of Twitter, I became aware the Northern Lights were showing in Yorkshire, so I quickly grabbed my camera and my fastest wide angle lens - the Zeiss 35/2 - which also has the advantage of having a very clear infinity setting (no fiddling in the dark). The Aurora display included green, purple and red - the latter being the most rarely seen I believe. The intense red glow was very clearly visible with my own eyes and it really was a very exciting moment to see this incredible phenomenon after waiting so many years. I do also really like the abstract nature of this composition.

I was tempted to include one of my snowy birch tree images for March but, in the end, opted for one of my photographs of the herd of wild reindeer we surprised on a long day’s ski in Rondane National Park, Norway. The memory of what was an incredible sighting made it hard to leave this one out. The scenery alone would merit its place amongst my favourites but, seeing these wonderful animals running wild, really was the icing on the cake! They also help to emphasise the vastness and unspoilt nature of this stunning landscape. It was a really tough day’s ski - I had terrible blisters on both heels - but a bit of suffering was more than worth it in this case!

Choosing April’s photo was a very tough choice. You might think otherwise, given this image was highly commended in Landscape Photographer of the Year. But I was also tempted to choose my squirrel and pheasant photograph (which also made it into the BWPA Awards) although those of you that know me will realise I’m fairly philosophical about competition success (or lack of!). In the end I had to go with good old ‘Reservoir Bogs’! It is an image of which I’m very proud because it really does encapsulate a little vignette of a scene that I found very captivating and I also feel it’s a bit different. I enjoy very graphic images and it certainly is that, although it has a fluidity to it and a sense of life that makes it more than simply a graphic photograph. It also features willow trees, a species I never seem to tire of photographing! Oh, and I guess I should mention the title too - I’m not necessarily a fan of ‘clever’ titles, but I do like to break my own rules every so often and I know many have really enjoyed this one.

May’s image is from one of my favourite places to photograph - a little tarn in the Washburn Valley, surrounded by a lovely and chaotic mass of different tree species. It’s always a challenging place compositionally - as much as anything due to the fact it’s hard to get a clean line of sight along the water’s edge. This was on a very rainy afternoon when there was a brief glow of lovely soft light between downpours. It’s very much my sort of image these days, but not one I’d necessarily expect too many others to like and so I remember being very surprised how well this went down on social media at the time - you never can tell!

Conversely, my choice of image for June is one that I thought would go down well but, if I recall, didn’t get much love! I changed my mind a few times choosing, admittedly - in the end I opted for this one because I think it’s quite a clever and striking composition, I love the soft evening light and I enjoy the lucky inclusion of the two crows, perfectly positioned. This was taken on a beautiful summer’s evening in London when most people were busy watching some rubbish football match involving England… I ended up enjoying a glorious sunset at Westminster Bridge and had a very enjoyable few hours, unlike most of the country!

July’s photograph just had to be from our incredible first evening in the Faroe Islands. Our flight was delayed by a good six hours due to thick fog but, thankfully, it cleared enough to allow us to get there in time for some spectacular conditions in the last few hours of daylight. There was still thick fog in many areas but we found a spot overlooking the island of Mykines, where there was just the right combination of sea fog, sunlight and scenery. Finding yourself at a completely new location in amazing conditions is always challenging - headless chicken mode is hard to avoid - but I was happy to end up with a selection of photographs that I was really pleased with. I’m not sure this is the best one necessarily, but it definitely captures the moment.

Another difficult choice but I think this triptych, from a lovely and cold summer’s morning at Saltburn by the Sea, probably deserves its place. These three very minimalistic style images rely on the lovely soft light and colours to work, and I think they do also need to be seen as a threesome. I have to confess they were composed very quickly - as much as anything to demonstrate to some workshop participants (with Alex Hare) how to make the most of these kind of conditions. It was actually quite a while after dawn but, not for the first time this year, Saltburn provided me with a little bit of post sunrise, metallic magic! One of the advantages of knowing a place well, and of being used to working very quickly when you have to, is that you can take advantage of these moments when they arise.

I didn’t have to think twice about September - I knew I wanted to include this rather unremarkable scene from the lovely Ribblesdale in the Yorkshire Dales. It encapsulates that quiet, gentle side of the Dales that I have come to love so much and was taken on a balmy late Summer’s afternoon when I was doing a recce for forthcoming workshops with Oliver Wright. I love the interplay of dry stone walls, tracks and gently curved hillsides here and the soft, almost overcast light was just perfect for this kind of image. It’s definitely one of my favourites from the year - which I appreciate may seem an odd choice to many. Interestingly, I was back at the same spot a few weeks later in some beautiful late afternoon sunlight - definitely more dramatic conditions and some lovely side lighting but, for me, the resulting photograph was not a patch on this one.

I was half tempted to include one of my more chaotic Autumn images for October but, in the end, I just had to go with this magnificent beech tree on the edge of Strid Woods. The rain was gently falling, the light was starting to fade and this super tree was just glowing! The Nikon D800e has a 5x4 crop mode which I find myself using quite often - this is exactly as composed therefore. The beech tree is in prime Autumn garb for me - still plenty of colour but enough leaves have fallen to reveal its impressive structure - powerful, yet delicate. Again I was with Oliver Wright for this one, and a few people stopped to ask us what kind of exotic bird we were photographing… Oh dear!

November was also an easy choice for me - I knew I wanted to include what I feel is one of my best chaotic images to date. I can take no credit for the title - left to my own devices this would have been called something like ‘Westonbirt Tangle’ - thanks to Colin Bell for coming up with this one! For all its chaotic madness, I do believe there is enough structure to this photograph for it to make sense visually - I find myself drawn in and wanting to explore that dark void. You may feel otherwise! Again, this was taken in light rain - perfect conditions…

December’s photograph had to be something from Bilbao. What an amazingly photogenic place - none more so than the fabulous Guggenheim building (see my last blog). However, I’ve gone with something less conventionally photogenic but an image I’m really pleased both to have conceived and successfully captured. Everything in Bilbao seems to have been built with design in mind and the metro is no exception. This is the entrance/exit to one of the stations - in itself a good subject for a photograph, but the trick was to get it with this chap positioned just in view, coming down the escalator. Luck played its part - though I did bide my time to get this moment. It’s rather a sinister image - not generally what I do - but I enjoy it for its ability to make the imagination run riot. It makes me think of the film ‘Witness’. So, a motley selection as ever! I’d love to know what people think and, as always, I’m as happy to hear what you don’t like as I am what you do like! Subjectivity is such a bit part of photography - we should all embrace it! I’m excited about the year ahead and looking forward to finding ways of continuing to evolve my photography. Finally, thank you for taking the time to read this and I wish everyone a very happy and successful 2015.