My Best Photos of 2024

In this article I’m going to do something. I’ve never done before – in the categories of photography I typically shoot in the most, I’m going to try to pick out my best photos of the year.  Picking just one photo would be next to impossible, so I’ll choose three photos for each category.  2024 has been a great year for me in photography so this gives me an opportunity to celebrate and “count my blessings.”  I also think it will be interesting to see which camera and lenses produced the best photographs for me this year.

STREET

Street photography is a category of photography that I probably do the least of and have only really started exploring in the last couple of years.    But here are three examples of street photography I’m really pleased with from 2024.

This photo I took earlier this year in downtown Dayton shows a utility junction box on the street corner that has been beautifully painted by a local artist.

I took this photo taken in downtown Miamisburg, Ohio while testing a vintage camera lens. By stopping down the lens I was able to get star points on the lights.

This is a photo I took at a local strip mall while testing the FujiFilm X100 VI.  I was “sneaky” and snapped the photo while the camera was hanging from my neck.

LANDSCAPE

I tend to take landscape type photos when I travel – they make for great memories of great trips.

I took this photo of the Gianni Versace Mansion in South Beach earlier this year.  It was a fantastic trip and it was difficult picking out just one landscape photo from that trip.

I really like this sunset photo that I got of downtown Dayton, although I did “cheat“ a bit and did a sky replacement in Photoshop.  I’ll have to get this printed on canvas and hang it in my office at work.

We go from a sunset in Dayton to sunrise in Indianapolis:

PORTRAIT

I can’t say that I’ve ever been much of a portrait photographer and have somewhat shied away from taking photos of people as I have had no formal training in how to pose people.  But as I’ve gotten older, I’m looking for more opportunities to grow in this area of my photography.

I snapped this portrait of our bartender who is making our virgin piña coladas on my trip to Miami earlier this year.  I really liked the color and the light at the bar.

This young lady and her Great Dane were walking around a Cars & Coffee gathering in West Chester which I attended.  I asked if I could take a photo of her and her dog and she gleefully accepted.  I wonder if she had modeled before?

This is a Christmas themed portrait I took at a model shoot organized by a local photography group – stepped way outside my comfort zone:

PET

I’ve been taking photos of my own pets for years and briefly did it professionally.  So I’d like to I think I’m somewhat confident in this particular corner of photography.
This first photo of my Rottweiler puppies Thor and Athena is perhaps one of my top two or three photos of the year.  Would you be surprised to learn that the background is entirely generative AI?

This is more of a standard backyard photo of Athena, but I’m really fond of the lighting and her stance in this photo.  It captures her well.

This photo of Thor was taken during the same session as the above photo of Athena and I like it for much the same reasons – lighting and stance.

It’s interesting to me that all three of these pet photos were taken with the Canon 85mm f1.2.  I typically shoot the lens between f1.2 and f2 but with pets you have to stop down a bit more or import body features will be out of focus.

AUTOMOTIVE

This is perhaps the most difficult category from which to pick three favorite photos because I went to a lot of car shows in car community gatherings in 2024 and took many fantastic photos.

this first photo taken at the West Chester Cars & Coffee gathering is a favorite because it combines a lot of my favorite subjects to shoot – cars and pets.  And the car is a BMW, which only adds to the Personal preference.

This photo of a vintage 911 taken that one of the Porsche events I attended this year will probably go down as one of my favorite car photos I’ve ever taken.  The composition combined with the car on the red brick Road and the morning sun coming through the trees with light rays is just such a fantastic photo

This photo taken at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is from the first racing event that I have shot in many years.  I did this type of photography frequently when I was younger and did more freelance writing and photography in the luxury watch industry.  It was rather nostalgic to have the opportunity to do so again.  It’s also a photo of the winning car – a BMW – which only adds to my appreciation.

PRODUCT/WATCH

Watch photography (a sub-category of Product Photography) is the category of photography in which I have the most professional experience.  I have done considerable freelance writing and photography work in the luxury watch industry.  I consider myself retired from that work now, but it is still a passion for me.  I love the fact that I can combine two of my favorite Passions – watches and photography.  In fact, you will see in these photos that I frequently use vintage cameras as props in my compositions.

this first shot is perhaps my favorite of the three.  It is a near perfect capture of my neo-vintage Rolex Submariner 16613.  The two-tone bracelet and gorgeous blue sunburst dial look great with my sweater.

This photo featuring my revers panda dial Tudor Black Bay Chronograph.  But also features my vintage Canon QL range finder as a prop.  Love the composition.

Finally, we have the most recent photo that made it into the best of group.  I threw in a cool pair of Allen Edmunds in the composition along with my vintage Canon AE-1.  I like it.

BLACK & WHITE

I really want to do more black-and-white photography.  Every year I find myself gravitating toward it a bit more.  This first photo was taken of my flowering magnolia tree in the spring.

This photo Athena was one of the first test photos I took When I was testing my new FujiFilm X100VI, and I used the Acros film simulation.

This is a photo I took of a fellow photographer at the Dayton Cars & Coffee gathering.

iPHONE

I take a lot of photos with my iPhone (the best camera is often the one you have with you) so I wanted to have a separate category just for those photos.

this is a lovely sunset photo of my car that I snapped when I left the office late one evening.

This adorable photo of Athena was taken on a lazy Sunday morning.

I frequently use my iPhone to take wrist shots to share with other watch enthusiasts on social media.  The lighting of this particular shot taken with the steering wheel and dashboard of my car in the background came out really well, and I like the composition.

FINAL THOUGHTS

My early career as a freelance writer and photographer shaped my photographic style as being purely journalistic in nature.  I try to tell straightforward stories with my photography.  So it’s only a recent years that I’ve tried to inject some modest amounts of creativity into my photography.  A classically trained, fine arts photographer I am not.  But I could not be more pleased with the evolution of my photography, and I’ve seen real growth in my photo taking this year.  That’s exciting.

In a separate article I will put my thoughts together about goals for 2025 and more importantly, the action plan to achieve those goals.  I also plan on doing a video talking about my favorite gear from 2024.