My Favorite Images

I’m often asked which is my favorite image. And to be honest, it is an almost impossible question to answer! “Favorite” is a very subjective term and to some extent my idea of a perfect image changes over time. So, I now look back at images that I printed as large metal prints for display in my home and I now think to myself – what on earth was I thinking – it isn’t really that good at all. That particular image is now stacked against the wall in my basement, and I don’t like the idea of even showing it here!

I think we all grow as artists over time as well. With photography (and I would think in many other art styles), our technical abilities improve with experience and so we can make the image appear as we really want it to. In addition, by looking at and thinking about art, we improve our sense of composition and how best to tell the story that we are trying to tell.

Finally, I am sometimes overwhelmed with images. I have over 17,000 images currently available via stock photography agencies for licensing to magazines, advertising and websites. It’s hard to believe that I have licensed them for use over 350,000 times over the past 12 years or so. I don’t think, by any means, that the majority of these are “art” – they are workmanlike images to illustrate a particular concept or theme, but they are all there in my mind when I think about my favorite images!

Wow – are we going to see a photo soon? I’m sure you must be wondering! So, let’s get on to my current favorite images!

This first one is probably one of the oldest. I took this in 2010 and was lined up with a series of photographers all trying for the same scene! The classical composition with the monuments and the Capitol nicely aligned obviously comes from the position of the camera, but the lighting seems so calming to me, even after all the intervening years.

Staying in Washington DC, I used to live relatively close to the city and so at Cherry Blossom time I would travel down before dawn to try to capture the best image I could of the flowers and the location. One dawn was just perfect – no wind, a clear sky as the sun started to rise and I found a location where the blossoms nicely framed the Jefferson Memorial.

I’ll jump now to Kauai. It is hard not to be impressed with the Garden Island of Kauai, but there is still room for creative attempts to show it in less obvious ways. There is a tricky path down to the rocky shore on the north coast and a small stream falls into a rock gully and into the ocean. The open cave does face west but only at certain times of the year does the setting sun illuminate this small waterfall and I happened to be there at the right time. I watched, each evening, for the signs of a good sunset. The sun in Hawaii often just goes down with little fanfare and clouds are needed to add more drama to the scene. So, I hiked down the muddy path, climbed down into this open cave with my tripod and set about trying to photograph the scene. The incoming waves kept adding spray to my lens and so wiping the front of the camera was a key step as well as balancing on the rocks on the ground. As I was taking my images (and I took quite a lot), I noticed a man fishing off the end of the rocks and he added the perfect finishing touch to the image. A bit of human interest in a spectacular nature scene.

It is hard to leave Kauai (mentally as well as in real life!) so I needed to add another one to my favorite images. I have written an article here specifically about the 10 best instagrammable locations on Kauai, but only two of them make an appearance here. This second one is taken with a drone off the famous Tunnels Beach on Kauai, and I took about 10 separate images to stitch together to produce this overall panorama. I particularly like the way you can really feel that this is an island – you can almost look all the way around it with this one view:

My next image is back in West Virginia with a scene that has been photographed many times, but I particularly like the position I took to just get the sun peeking out besides Babcock Grist Mill and forming the star shape. This latter feature comes from a choice of a camera setting and so it was part of my composition idea, but it all came together very nicely:

Staying in West Virginia, I’m also very partial to this drone image of Valley Falls near Fairmont. Again, the weather conditions were perfect – light clouds over the sun, mist in the hills, and the fall colors all added to the scene. I’ve written about how this image was created in a previous article here.

As soon as I finish this post and publish it, I’m going to think – hang on, I forgot to include that one! And this section is an update on the original post. I forgot one of my favorite images from a recent Alaska cruise – a sunset over the snow capped mountains taken from the back of the cruise ship. How could I forget!

That is the trouble with trying to come up with a top list! To illustrate that, I’ve just come back from Vermont where we drove for 2500 miles doing some leaf peeping and I’m just processing the resultant images (all 2000 of them!). I just worked on one this afternoon and immediately thought “that’s really calming – perfect for a piece of wall art!” And so here is one from last week, and it doesn’t include autumn leaves and it isn’t in my store yet. Hot off the press!

I’ll finish with a different measure – which of my images have collectors chosen most frequently from my portfolio. That must be counted as one measure of a favorite image. And the one that sells most often is one taken close to my home – the historic Woodburn Hall in Morgantown at the heart of West Virginia University. Again, you can read more about the history of this building here on my site.

I’ve enjoyed thinking back through my portfolio to come up with these images. I wonder which one would be your favorite? Please let me know in the comments below.

My images are available as prints with a 30-day money back guarantee and free shipping in the USA and Canada. For other countries please contact me and I’ll help you with the best available options for that country.