My Favorite 2022 Pics

2022 was the year I got back into photography in a big way. I had gotten a Fujifilm X-S10 in the previous year but didn’t really use it too much until a few months into this year. Then I got really into it. I got a few more lenses for it (a Viltrox 13mm, a Fuji 33mm, a Fuji 55-230mm, and recently a TTArtisans 40mm macro in addition to the Fuji 18-55mm it came with) and started taking it everywhere. It has been really fun to get back in the habit of thinking like a photographer, and even the days when I don’t get a shot I like are good because I tried.

I decided to share some of my favorite pictures here with a little detail on why I like them and maybe what was going on when I took them. There’s probably a shot or two that won’t make it here because they are of friends’ kids or animals and I only share those with those friends, just know I’m pretty ok at that kind of thing. Ok, here goes.

Number 10: Deer in Tall Weeds

This picture came from a trip to the Honda Wetland Education Area in Plain City, OH. I think it was my second trip there, the first where I went up into the observation deck they have overlooking the titular wetlands. I was hoping for sunset pics, which I did get in the wide open sky, but I was also lucky enough to catch a mother and child pair of deer walking through the field, then the wetland, then up into the shrubs where I snapped this pic of the child deer.

I gave this photo a square crop, which I thought emphasized the tallness of the weeds and gave the deer our fullest attention. I’ve stopped doing straight square crops but have gotten really into 6x7 crops, and I think this pic was a large part of my penchant for that in the back half of the year.

Number 9: Late Fall Roots

I can’t quite put my finger on it but there’s something special about the lighting here. Like the title says, it was late fall at Highbanks Metro Park in Lewis Center, OH, and I think the exposed tree roots caught the near-sunset haze really nicely. The reflections on the water in the background add to that hazy feeling. If I had to change something about this pic it’d probably be the slightly out of focus plants springing up behind the roots in the middle of the photo but whatever, they don’t hurt it too much. Love the little green sprouts in the foreground, kinda wish there were more of those too.

Number 8: Barbaric Yawp

I wrote above about getting into 6x7 crops, but I have also gotten really into “cinematic” aspect ratios, either 1.85:1 (like this one) or even wider 2.35:1. I like to use them for either things that feel “epic” in the Larry of Arabia way or, conversely, everyday things. This one fits somewhere in between, I think.

On our last day of a brief vacation to Rochester NY, my mom, aunt, and I went to Onterio Beach Park and I went down a long pier to see the small lighthouse at the end of it. On my way I saw this seagull squawking over and over again. I knew I had to get a pick of it mid-yell, and I followed my instincts to get my camera lower than the waist-high pillar it was standing on. Smart move, I think. I like the faint gradient of the sky in the background and the small depth of field you get at the extreme right and left sides of the frame. But the best part is the red of the inside of its mouth.

Number 7: Campus in the Fall

Shot on OSU’s main campus in Columbus Ohio right outside of the 18th Avenue Library. I was sitting at a table waiting to teach and noticed that this tree still had a bunch of leaves on it while there was also a hefty coating on the ground (other than the walkways, which I think give the ground some structure). It was also windy as hell that day, which you might be able to see in the leaves still on the tree. I took a few pics here but was mostly waiting for somebody to walk right where this guy ended up being, in the middle of an intersection. I think he balances out the shot nicely enough, and even though the scene is a bit more chaotic than I have been into of late, it has just enough structure to work pretty darn well.

Number 6: A Burst of Orange

Also from that Rochester trip, this one was captured in Lamberton Conservatory within Highland Park. I really loved spotting this cluster of orange plants (ferns of some sort?) within what felt like a jungle of green. Luckily they were right next to the window and were lit perfectly. I love the curve of the window too, it adds a nice frame within a frame.

I’ve started to crush (meaning make more of the image pure black) and lift (meaning brighten the parts that are pure black) the blacks in a lot of my pictures recently, and you can really see that here. I tend to do very little editing of my photography because that is not what I care about anymore, but I do usually do this minor change in Lightroom. It gives my digital pics a film vibe, I think. Everything becomes a bit moodier and less perfect, which I like a lot.

Number 5: Windmilling It

If you follow my Instagram you might be tired of seeing this freaking windmill, found at Glacier Ridge Metro Park in Grove City, OH. For that I apologize, but I won’t stop photographing it. It’s a fun subject! My early pics of it were kinda rote, but by the time fall rolled around I started getting more fun with it, putting stuff in the foreground way out of focus and picking more fun angles. This has both, I think. But more importantly it has that killer late-fall sunlight and a really great gradient in the sky behind the windmill.

Number 4: Under Construction

As you might have noticed, I’m not super interested in doing people photography, and when I do take pictures of people, their backs are often to the camera. But you never really know when something cool will drop in your lap and that definitely happened here. There’s always construction of some sort or another on OSU’s campus, and this pic came from some guys laying a new sidewalk down somewhere. I love the layers of caution tape in the foreground and background, and the tree on the left framing the bright middle ground. But the best part is the dude’s stance. You can see the strain of the work in his stance and face, and I think it’s a pretty relatable look. Hope he got a nice cold glass of water soon after this.

Number 3: Curlicue

Once again, this photo is from the Rochester trip, specifically the Eastman Museum. Though not shot on Kodak film, I think I was using a Kodak Royal Gold recipe in my Fujifilm camera for this one so it almost counts. Anyways, this trellis in the garden really caught my eye with its wonderful mix of painted and varnished wood, and the excellent plant growing above it really added some nice natural chaos to the square structure. The perfectly clouded sky in the background is just icing on the cake.

Number 2: Accidental Wedding

Sometimes you plan stuff out and sometimes you get lucky. This was definitely the latter. Taken at Inniswood Metro Gardens in Westerville, OH, I happened upon a woman doing what seemed like a wedding shoot in this lovely soft pink gown. Inniswood is a popular spot for photo shoots, for reasons that should be obvious in this pic, and usually I’m dodging them so I don’t happen to end up in the background of something somebody paid a lot of money for. But I kept crossing paths with this woman on this day, and I got a few good shots of her candidly. This is the best one, and one of the best I’ve ever taken. The tree, the blue structure, these greens! And her pose (I think looking down at one of her young daughters hidden behind her dress here) seems like I did it on purpose. I definitely didn’t, but I’ll take credit for it anyways.

Number 1: Everything Is Triangles

Bookending this list with pics from the Honda Wetlands Education Area because it’s my favorite photo spot just makes sense, I think. This one from deep summer captures the everpresent Ohio humidity nicely. While it could probably work quite well in monochrome, the blue of the sky gives it some depth and warmth. And these power lines/structures! I was trying to get some pics of a few small birds that were flying around until I happened to sweep my camera across this scene, at which point I had to get a shot of it. I like that they go off into the distance but not entirely out of frame, it feels like the photo is almost infinitely deep. And the clarity of that first structure is really something. I love how they start to look less and less complex as you go deeper into the picture, too.