Northern lights and the old barn on our farm. This was an incredible year for aurora displays, especially for shades of pink and red.
2024 turned out to be a fun year for photography. We did trips to the Florida Keys, Spain, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, the Rocky Mountains, and several places closer to home such as the Cypress Hills, Grasslands National Park, among others – all of which yielded memorable images. If we had to pick the top highlight of the year it would be photographing puffins on New Brunswick’s Machias Seal Island where we were able to photograph right within the puffin colony. We wrote about that trip in our previous posting.
Flying puffin about to land. Machias Sea Island, New Brunswick.
As usual, we took lots of photos at our farm in the Thickwood Hills in northwest Saskatchewan. Many species of birds spend the summer there, and as a bonus, we’re close to a place where whooping cranes often stop on their fall migration. We’re far enough away from major urban areas that the skies are usually dark enough for night sky photography. It’s not always necessary to travel long distances from home for enticing photo possibilities.
It’s difficult to narrow down a year’s worth of photography to 10 images but here are some that we especially enjoyed.
Northern gannet returning to the nesting colony with seaweed to be used for nesting material. Cape St. Mary’s Ecological Reserve, Newfoundland. This is an outstanding place for bird photography where we can stand on a cliff overlooking a crowded breeding colony only a stone’s throw away. We will be following up with a more detailed blog posting about this wonderful place early in the New Year.The badlands of Grassland National Park, Saskatchewan. One of our favourite things to do in the park is to camp at the Rock Creek Campground which is near the badlands, and then venture out on the Badlands Parkway road during golden hour for views such as this.Whooping crane in flight, Saskatchewan. Whooping cranes are not easy to photograph. They are quite skittish and since they are an endangered species it is especially important not to disturb them. They stop in central Saskatchewan to feed during their fall migration where we have a great opportunity to see and photograph them. It’s usually not possible to get very close, but fortunately, this bird flew right overhead where we were parked on the side of the road. Read about photographing whooping cranes in Saskatchewan.While our photography leans more towards nature and the outdoors, we were quite happy with this indoor shot of a Flamenco dancer in Seville, Spain. A fairly slow shutter speed of 1/30 sec conveys a sense of motion, while still being fast enough to show detail in the dancer’s face.Star Trails and the old truck. This old and decrepit 1951 Fargo truck has never looked better. It hasn’t run in years, so we dragged it into our pasture and gave it a new lease on life as a photo prop. We talked a bit about how we took this photo on this blog posting on night photography.Bushland drummer boy. This male ruffed grouse is flapping its wings rapidly to make a drumming sound, intended both to attract a mate and to establish his territory. Taken from a blind set up in the Thickwood Hills, Saskatchewan.Cordoba, Spain. Spain abounds with magnificent historic sites, with the city of Cordoba being among our favourites. The building in the background is the Grand Mosque, started in the 8th century and later converted into a cathedral. The bridge is called the Roman Bridge, originally built during ancient Roman times.A calling puffin, Machias Seal Island, New Brunswick.
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4 thoughts on “10 Favourite New Photos From 2024”
Thankyou for the inspiring photographs.Bird photography is an interest of mine and your comments are informative!
Amazing photos, especially the puffins. I didn’t realize there were puffins in New Brunswick. We had gone to Eliason, Newfoundland and they were too far away to get anything worth developing. I love your photos!! Thanks for sharing.
Yes, we were very fortunate that everything worked out with this special tour. Nothing can compare to being right within the puffin colony. And of course an hour is never long enough! Thanks for writing, and we’re glad that you enjoyed the post.
Thankyou for the inspiring photographs.Bird photography is an interest of mine and your comments are informative!
We’re glad that you enjoyed the post.
Amazing photos, especially the puffins. I didn’t realize there were puffins in New Brunswick. We had gone to Eliason, Newfoundland and they were too far away to get anything worth developing. I love your photos!! Thanks for sharing.
Yes, we were very fortunate that everything worked out with this special tour. Nothing can compare to being right within the puffin colony. And of course an hour is never long enough! Thanks for writing, and we’re glad that you enjoyed the post.