Best 5 of ‘25
2025 was a year of transition for me. After 20 years of living in Portland, our family moved across the Columbia River to Washougal, Washington. Much of my energy this past year was spent on that, but I still managed to lead a dozen classes for Road Scholar and shoot a mess of images. In our new home, I’ve taken up mentoring the local high school yearbook and newspaper photographers which brought me to a lot of sporting events. In my last post I shared some of my experiences reconnecting with football. Thanks to the snappy pace of sports shooting, I racked up over 30,000 keepers in 2025. That’s over twice as many images as the past several years, so the tempo has ramped up considerably. As anyone who engages in creative efforts could tell you, the more you do - the more you do it better. I feel like my photography has become more thoughtful and satisfying. I’m headed into this new year with renewed energy and I’m excited to see what I can accomplish in 2026.
That said, here is my favorite five images from 2025. Enjoy!
One of the best things about our new home is the incredible view we have of the Columbia River and Mount Hood. We’ve enjoyed so many dazzling sunrises and sunsets from our perch atop Lookout Ridge. This shot was made from my drone hovering above our house during an especially colorful sunrise.
I had the absolute pleasure of photographing several shows by two local bands I adore. The wonderful members of Tigers on Opium and Hippie Death Cult have been so appreciative of my work and I enjoy great access to them on stage. Here is Eddie from HDC as he completely shreds during a show last summer. I love the challenge of capturing these awesome artists at work.
I had the chance to photograph a couple of Crossfit competitions this past year, and the sheer emotion of these athletes pushing themselves to the edge is a thrill to see. This is Alex, who aside from lifting way more than I could ever lift, is a wonderfully-sweet guy. It was his first big competition and he did very well.
Perhaps the best time I had all year was a weekend backpacking adventure with my daughter, Claire. After the madness of the move and months of feeling like I was caught up in whirlwind, a quiet couple of days walking in the woods with her was all I needed to get my head back on straight.
Covering the Camas High School football team was so much fun. Being around young men doing their absolute best is inspiring.
OK, so I snuck in an extra shot. Shooting the Camas High Homecoming dance along with some student photographers was a lot of fun. The energy of a bunch of kids living their best lives is compelling stuff, and I think this shot captures the chaos of the teenage years.
Blog Archive
I love soccer and recently I had the opportunity to shoot a couple of matches at the University of Portland, home to the Pilots, legendary powerhouses of collegiate soccer.
On our road trip through the Sierra Nevada, we spent a couple of days in Yosemite National Park. Here are some of my images from that all-too-brief visit to this incredible place.
On my recent road trip with Jeff Carlson, I spent an afternoon photographing Bodie, California, an abandoned gold mining town from the 1800’s. This post contains some of my images from that visit.
I’ve started a podcast with my good friend Jeff Carlson. This is a short story of how it came to be.
I just finished building my home office. It’s been a three-year slog filled with hard lessons and small victories. In this post, I talk about the process of turning a very old room into a modern creative space.
My camera has a mode where it will combine numerous images into one mega-resolution image with incredible detail. I tested this time-consuming way of shooting by photographing old boats in Coos Bay, Oregon. In this post I explain the process, my workflow and how the images turned out.
The Hawaiian island of Kauai is paradise. I spent a week there and came home with thousands if images. In this post I review the trip and share my photos. Grab an umbrella drink and enjoy!
If you can slow down and linger, your life will be better and maybe your photos will be too.
Iceland has ice, go figure. In this post I write about my glorious morning on “Diamond Beach” in southern Iceland, where amazing chunks of glacial ice tumble about on a rocks beach for photographer’s amusement.
I’m not sure my trip to Iceland was a good idea. What do you do when the trip of a lifetime leaves you wondering if it was worth it?
On my trip to Iceland, I bopped around the island in a bright green camper van. Here’s my trip recap and review of living my best #vanlife in the land of fire and ice.
I’ve been flying drones for a while now, and I love the freedom a flying camera affords. Why climb a mountain when you can fly up it?
When it comes to camera gear, a lot of photographers will tell you that it's not about the gear. They'll say that the person behind the camera is more important than the technology. I don't think the relationship is that lop-sided. Let me explain.
This year's workshop is in the books. Here is my take on a week in the San Juan Islands with some of my favorite people.
I didn't plan to shoot the Great American Eclipse, but I did it anyway. And I would do it again!
I've been distracted by my new flying cameras. It's a whole new world when you can place your camera anywhere!
I just wrapped up my annual photography workshop. This time we explored the Palouse, a land of incredible beauty and not-so-great hotels. Here is my recap.
There are a lot of babies out there, and I'm not talking about the tiny human kind. In this post I ponder the need to listen to the complainers of the world.
When making photographs, we often forget to not be boring. My friend Gino Barasa reminds us all not to suck.
It's been over a year since my last In my Bag video and a lot has changed with my kit. Here's a fresh look at what I use these days.