Sigh, well I guess I'm skipping right over the November Best Of, and getting right to the year-end wrap up, so let's just dive in. 2025 has been interesting in a lot of ways (yes, including the political dumpster fire that has been our ongoing reality since the start of Trump's second term).
The biggest trend for my photography is that I have continued to develop as a bird photographer. I got a long lens and a teleconverter, and now I go out to Prospect Park and take pictures of birds whenever I get a chance. Aside from that, I also did several paid photo gigs this year, which I'm thankful for because it's always validating to know that people are willing to pay you for your work. I learned that no matter how many times I do a paid gig, I will always get those pre-shoot butterflies, but usually it works out just fine in the end.
Anyway, let's get on with the recap!
people
Photographing people is hard. Once you’ve learned what all the buttons on your camera do, and you have internalized the exposure triangle, and you understand the rules of composition and lighting, then I’d say you’re a good, competent photographer. But what pushes a good photographer over to being a great photographer is their ability to make a compelling portrait of a person. To allow their subjects to be comfortable, or to elicit an emotion on command, or to be able to direct a pose that looks effortless and natural - I have such respect for the photographers that are able to do those things; to really connect with their subjects. This is why I try to push myself to photograph people whenever I can - I want to continue to hone those skills as I develop as a photographer.
Congratulations, Joe and Belinda!
This year, I shot my first formal engagement session with Joe and Belinda, in Central Park. It was a super fun experience, and I had a great time getting to know them and capture some moments to help them celebrate their upcoming wedding.
birds
For a long time I’ve been, uh, bird-curious, if you will, but this year I finally got some photo gear with the explicit intention of photographing our avian friends. Specifically, I got an XF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR lens; as well as a 2x teleconverter. On my APS-C camera body, that gives me roughly a maximum of 800mm, or 1200mm equivalent on a 35mm sensor. That was a lot of words and letters just to say that I now have a really long lens, that will help me get closer to the birds.
I still consider myself a fledgling birder (haha, get it?), even though my wife got me a bird photography class from Cornell's Bird Academy. I have certainly learned a lot since this summer, and I’ve photographed a bunch of different species, including woodpeckers, herons, shorebirds, and raptors. A recent highlight was spotting a bald eagle in Prospect Park, right across the street from my house. I even developed an appreciation for the lowly pigeon after watching an excellent PBS documentary about them.
new york city
Apart from the birds, I still have a constant itch to photograph my everyday environment, and most often that is the city around me. I mean, it’s New York freakin’ City; I don’t have to come up with any reasons why I’m compelled to shoot here, do I?
Looking back over my photos this year, I realized that Lady Liberty features in many of them. I even made a plan (using the excellent Photopills app) to capture the sunrise aligning with her torch, which involved getting up at an ungodly hour and driving across two rivers to a park in New Jersey. It was well worth it.
travel
I took a couple of trips this year, including a birthday celebration for my homie Jesse in Ft. Lauderdale; a couple of visits to Sweden for work; and the biggest one was a trip to Portugal with my wife, Stephanie. There were also a couple of visits to Virginia and New Hampshire to spend time with family squeezed in there as well.
Nature
A side benefit of being out with the birds is that you get more opportunities to photograph nature. Here are a few of my favorite nature photos, including some macros I shot with my iPhone and trusty Moment Macro 75mm
There we have it; of course there were thousands of photos to pick from, so I had a hard time narrowing it down to these selected images. For 2026, I want to focus on continuing to grow as a photographer; to push myself outside of my comfort zone by actively soliciting more paid gigs, rather than just waiting for people to approach me (which, to be fair, has been working out pretty well so far). I also want to be more intentional with my photography, in that I want to start focusing on creating photographs, more than just happening upon interesting shots. More intentionality all around, I guess you could say.
Here’s to 2026! Be nice to yourself and other people. 🥳