Jeff and I are feeling especially blessed as we look back over 2022, and ahead to 2023.
Reminiscent of the Titanic?
A person may have the gift of time or the gift of money, but rarely does someone have both at the same time. We are blessed to be in this position and be healthy enough to pursue our passions of travel and photography. We appreciate all of you who have followed along with us on our journeys. A special thank you to all who have taken a moment to comment along the way. It is a great encouragement for us.
Our Travels Were Many
We revisited favorite locations in our local area and expanded from there. Our travels included many old favorites in Arizona / Utah (including Monument Valley, Hunt’s Mesa (new) and White Pocket). We also crossed the country driving from Massachusetts back to Arizona.
Two weeks on the coast of Oregon fulfilled one bucket list item. Joining friends on a photography cruise in Alaska for bears and whales ticked off another of my bucket list items (bears feeding on salmon).
We returned to Africa in August with our camera club for two weeks on safari in Kenya, and then visited the Mountain Gorillas in Uganda (another bucket list item).
We concluded our fall with a birding trip to Costa Rica. Jeff captured his big colorful birds and I captured my frogs and hummingbirds.
My Favorites?
It is not easy to pick a favorite as I enjoyed something special about every place we visited. But if forced to choose, I would say that our trip to the Oregon Coast would be first, followed by our return safari to Masai Mara in Kenya.
My favorite stop in Oregon, Bandon Beach
Stormy Seas at Cape Arago
My trip to Costa Rica reconfirmed that I am NOT a birder. That being said, I loved watching and photographing the toucans, hummingbirds and the tanagers. Jeff and I agree that we ended up with the most “keeper” photos from our trip to Costa Rica.
Colorful Motmot of Costa Rica
Bay-headed Tanager feeding a bit of banana to its young. Costa Rica.
Costa Rica – Capturing bats with flash at night (backlit). Check out that tongue!
Costa Rica wasn’t all beautiful birds, but even the treacherous (Eyelash Pit Viper) can be colorful, and beautiful? Captured outdoors with flash.
Favorite moments
The stormy weather on the Oregon beach with the light filtering through the waves, the walk in the mist in the redwood forest, sunrise at Monument Valley, watching a mother Gorilla tenderly hold and caress her baby, watching the male lion walk through the golden grass at dawn, and watching the mother bear introduce her cub to salmon fishing.
Amazing trip to Monument Valley, Arizona, with our Camera Club. Sunrise at the Mittens.
Sunrise on Hunt’s Mesa, Monument Valley, AZ. Bucket list location for both of us. Check!
New Techniques
I explored a couple of new techniques:
Movement – Creating an abstract through a long exposure and controlled movement of the camera. (f6.3, 1.3 sec, ISO 64). Redwood forest near Branding Oregon.
Multiple Exposure – Remember those film days where if you didn’t advance the film you could shoot two images in one frame? This is the same concept with a digital camera. Two images captured in one photo (in camera) at sunrise in the Mara of Kenya.
Favorite Fall Photo
A visit back east in October enabled me to capture my favorite fall photo from my hometown.
The Wayside Inn Gristmill, Sudbury, Massachusetts
My Favorite Photo
Not an easy decision, but my day with the bears was my favorite experience on our Alaska trip.
One of my favorite photos of the year, “Breakfast is Served,” captured the award for “Best Nature Story” at the Arizona Camera Club Council Fall Roundup. Admiralty Island, Alaska.
2023
We hope to continue to take advantage of our opportunities to travel. On the schedule are several new adventures. We start with a two week trip in January to experience winter in Japan, a four week trip to Argentina and onto Antarctica in February and then Madagascar & the Seychelles in June. In the fall, we hope to capture golden aspens with a trip to Colorado and fall colors in the Texas Bayou in November.
We hope to share with you more amazing photos and a few good stories.
Wishing you a peaceful, healthy and joyful New Year.
Jeff and Kathryn
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Awesome pictures. Happy New Year to you both.
You are truly blessed! So happy for you.
All lovely photos and wishing you all the best for 2023! And that reminds me : looking at your opening photo in this blog post — where you are standing on the rock there — I hope you will publish a future picture series of your work boots out of the box, and at the end of their usefulness with something indicating how many miles they traveled with you ;^)
I am always looking for interesting topics. I’ll make a note. Thanks! The photo was taken at a place called “White Pocket” in a remote area of northern Arizona. it is a beautiful spot, but requires driving through deep sand in a 4WD with high clearance.