20 Years in 20 Photos

I’ve been trying to write an entry about my photography journey for a while now, but every time I started, it wasn’t quite right. The story is tightly connected to other aspects of my life, so it’s hard to put it together in a cohesive article. Recently I realized I’m in my 20th year of doing digital photography. That gave me a framework to write around. So I’ve looked through my photos, year by year, and chosen the best one from each year along with some thoughts.

(for clarification: although the journey starts in July 2004, I grouped years by January to December)

2004

I had an interest in photography before 2004, and had dabbled in film. In July of 2004, on my 17th birthday, my parents got me a digital camera. Digital cameras were still a new thing, and my little Canon Powershot had only 3.2 megapixels and no zoom. Looking back at the photos, they are very low quality…but I had figured out some settings and was making custom white balances before long. I remember thinking my photos were really good, and I’m pretty sure I got a lot of encouragement to keep at it. It’s a bit comical now, as most of the photos were pretty bad. However, I did manage to capture some truly good shots , and that kept me hunting for more masterpieces.

The cottage we went to that summer had a few wild acres across the road, including a river with a beaver dam. This was shot early one morning on the calm water behind the dam. I have always been a landscape photographer, and I remember from the start wanting to capture the wonders I’d seen to show my friends back home.

2005

There was a lot of experimentation in these early years, and in some ways I look back on these photos as more creative. I didn’t know anything, I was just trying and discovering what worked and what didn’t. My camera was really small back then, and it pretty much went everywhere I did. This was also sort of the year that my road tripping started, as I got a car, and right away went on a day trip to Bruce Peninsula. As with 2004 there were a lot of bad photos, but the number of good ones was growing.

This was taken at a conservation area near home. It was a camping trip with the cadet group from church, and I went off on my own to take some photos. Shots like this were mostly accidental. I didn’t have any intentional understanding of layout, but sometimes I would get something amazing and learn what worked vs what didn’t.

2006

In 2006 I was in university, and having a bit of a hard time with life in general. I continued taking photos, although there were a lot of really moody ones…including an intentional blurry period. There were less good photos, but I really enjoy the creativity of trying to capture a mood.
Near the end of the year I did start exploring Hamilton, and found a refuge in the many trails and waterfalls.

This was taken on a trail in Hamilton. I don’t remember many specifics, except that that the leaf was already in that exact position, I didn’t set it up.

2007

2007 was looking up, and was to be a big year for photos. I got a new camera, a Nikon D40, my first dSLR. It was still very much an entry level camera, and only had 6 megapixels, but it was a huge leap from my old camera and the quality difference was obvious.
When I got the D40, I decided to only shoot in manual mode, setting my own shutter speed, aperture and iso. So for all the photos I took this year, there were many many bad ones, but it was a great learning process.
I had a friend at university that was also into photography, and we went on many expeditions around the trails in Hamilton, as well as several trips to Toronto for night photography.
Looking back, I’m astounded by how many photos I took in 6 months with this camera. it was still small enough that it more or less went with me everywhere.

This was also the year I went on my first independent camping trip in Algonquin with some friends. This was a sunrise on Kearney Lake that I woke up early for.

2008

Looking through photos from this time, a style starts to emerge. The layouts of my 2007 photos often didn’t make any sense. In 2008, they took on a cohesive order and became more compelling.
Up to this point I had been shooting Jpeg images. This was the year I started shooting in RAW and began learning how to edit my photos. I firmly believe editing is a big part of good photography, so this was another big evolution.
The interesting thing is, while 2008 was a big leap, I found there were less highlights. The photos are generally better, but I had taken a few spectacular photos the year before that were hard to beat. This is something I’ve been acutely aware of throughout my photography journey: when my skills are generally improving, but I can’t seem to match older masterpieces.

My explorations also continued to grow, as I went on my second camping trip to Chutes Provincial Park, Ontario…which at the time was the farthest from home I had ever driven. This photo is from that trip. Also, the second and last time I took a canoe with me.

2009

2009 was a big shift. I graduated from university, and also started road tripping for real, with my first out of province road trip to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia…and day trips to Algonquin and a fall trip to Killarney. From this point on, the photography became more about capturing my trips. My photo output became a little less at this point, but the subject matter was more interesting. My style was becoming more consistent, but again, I feel like the highlights from this year weren’t super, even though the photos were generally improving.

This one is from the north of Cape Breton. A big part of my photography has always been about sharing the wonders I see with others.

2010

2010 was a rough year. I lost my software job and ended up landscaping for the rest of the year(hell on earth for me). Most of the photos I took that year were in the spring when things hadn’t yet gone downhill.

I did have some creative moments and this shot reflects that…otherwise it was a slow year for photos. This was taken on an early spring(April) trip to Killarney.

2011

I got another software job and 2011 was a return to some sort of normal. I wasn’t super creative with my road trips, as I simply returned to Cape Breton.
I got my next new camera, a Nikon D7000. While the D40 was very much entry level, this was a very capable camera. They say gear doesn’t matter, but in the early years of digital, every upgrade made a big difference in technical quality. Though, having lesser cameras in the beginning definitely helped me to learn settings better.
In these early years of road tripping, I feel like there was a slight dip in photo goodness. Technically speaking, they were an improvement, but I feel like they were lacking soul. Most of my photos were now taken on road trips…previously they often came from more creative sessions in nature near home. I was in a dip, learning how to document and also still be creative. I also didn’t yet have a consistent editing philosophy…the end results were all over the place, although I didn’t have the eye to see it at the time.

I did get a few great shots that year. This one worked out really well, as there was a mother moose and two young right by the trail in Cape Breton.

2012

My photos continued to be centered around my trips, and I started to find a creative side on the road. 2012 included my first trip to Lake Superior, which for some reason always gets more creative shots from me. This was a year that I really like the photos…but I’m hard pressed to choose one that’s good enough to be considered the masterpiece level.

So I won’t choose. Instead here’s one of my more creative shots.

2013

This was a big year for road trips. I managed to get a month off to go on a “once in a lifetime” trip across Canada. It was my first time west of Ontario, first mountains and first short time in Yukon. It was a pinnacle year for photos as well, as this trip produced quite a few of my classic masterpieces. I had bought a new ultra wide lens, which forced me to be more creative with my shots. Fancy equipment might not be necessary for great photos, but I always find new gear gives me a reason to strive for growth.

This is one of those shots with the wide angle lens, from Maligne Lake in the Canadian Rockies. I have a love-hate relationship with this photo. I enjoy everything about it, and have very few critiques. This is my most printed photo, including a large one in my parent’s living room. However, I dislike its staying power. It’s 10 years old. I feel like I should have so many better shots by now…but this is probably still one of my top 5 photos. At least this one wasn’t accidental. I specifically journeyed to this spot, and was quite intentional with how I lined it up.

2014

2014 was a rough year, I had moved to London after my 2013 trip, and was struggling spiritually and financially. There is a general lack of photos here, as in 2010. But I did get away on a couple of short trips into northern Ontario.

My wide angle lens was also a “fast” lens, making it decent at astrophotography. I had dabbled a little in 2013, but this was the first year I got some proper shots of the milky way, from Algonquin.

2015

It seems my move to London completed the transition…where I only take photos on road trips. Hamilton was a treasure trove of interesting things to photograph: from the escarpment and harbor to the waterfalls and nature trails. London just isn’t as interesting. So while things were starting to look up again in 2015, I really only have photos from my road trip to Newfoundland/Labrador. When I look back at the Newfie photos, they have so much soul…and make me want to go back. I’m not sure if that says more about my skills or about how great Newfoundland is. It does bring up the question: what do I mean by “soul”. I’ve been percolating some thoughts that I might eventually write down…in their simplest form: my photography is an attempt to capture a feeling. Of course that makes it hard to really nail down. It isn’t easily defined by academic rules, and it makes it quite subjective. From this point onward, choosing the best photo becomes a contest between the ones I subjectively enjoy and the ones that I know are academically the best, and what I consider a proper masterpiece is the intersection of both.

This one is from Battle Harbor, Labrador…a place with no roads or cars, where it actually feels like going back in time.

2016

2016 was a year of shorter camping trips. I really enjoy the photos from this era. They have so much feeling…but there aren’t many that would live up to masterpiece level. This exercise is interesting, because I’m noticing things I wouldn’t have been able to explain or understand at the time. Namely, that I went through a period where discovered my true photo style, but that hadn’t yet intersected with academic goodness. At the time it felt like I was taking great photos, but never quite living up to 2013…and not understanding why.

Another shot from my ultra wide lens, this time from Booth’s Rock, Algonquin…my favorite trail in the park.

2017

2017 was a big year but also not what I expected. Near the end of 2016 I had bought my first Jeep Wrangler, which was to change my travels in a big way. I also got a new camera(Nikon D500) and several new lenses. And then…I crashed my Jeep, and damaged most of my new camera gear. It was a rough moment, but was so full of God’s blessing: I ended up with another new Jeep and repaired camera gear.
Otherwise, the Jeep and camera did get me out exploring a bit more around home, taking more photos. My Jeeps have generally been in a lot of my photos of roads, and the red color was intentional…it’s the complementary color to green, so it easily matches my usual habitat.
The new camera changed my process in a few ways. First, it had a little joystick for setting the focus point, so I decided to play around with back button focus…which I still use today. It was a little more questionable this time around about how much of a quality increase there would be from a D7000 to a D500, but looking through the photos, I can see a clear increase in detail and sharpness, although that could be from the lenses too.
On a negative note, while my previous cameras had good automatic white balance, the D500’s was terrible. It leans heavily to the green side. It also put out flatter RAW images that took more effort to edit. This resulted in another dip in photo quality…especially when it comes to color grading, as previously I didn’t mess much with color. It was to be a great learning process, but it took time.

This was shot from an amazing spot in Labrador, the night before I wrecked the first Jeep.

2018

This was a year of multiple, mini road trips, including an epic trip into northern Quebec, continuing my love of getting off the beaten path. However, northern Quebec is not overly spectacular, and the photos reflect that. In general most of the photos from this year were a downgrade, but that might be because of the subject matter. I was still struggling with color balance. I was never sure, but my main lens likely lost some sharpness/contrast after being damaged in 2017…over time I learned to deal with it in editing

I did get a few spectacular fall color shots! This is from Chutes Provincial Park, and I was only there accidentally, as the park I was planning to go to closed early that year. God’s guiding hand gets a bigger credit than usual for this photo.

2019

3 month road trip to Yukon, NWT and northern BC(with a hint of Alaska)!
7,000 photos(doubling my entire collection).
This was a pivotal year in many ways. From a photo taking standpoint, I spent 3 months taking an average of 77 photos per day…lots of constant practice. I can see the quality improving as the trip went on.
The effects echoed for a few years, as it took 3 years to edit them all…in part because I spent so much time editing that my process changed completely and I ended up re-doing a lot of photos. Especially during covid lockdowns, I spent many hours editing…so much that at one point I lost sight of objective color, went outside and real life color felt wrong! This was actually a huge turning point as I realized my approach to color was all wrong. There were so many photos to go through that the hours and hours of repetition helped me to become more consistent. Now I have a more consistent color style, and can spot when photos are significantly different from that.

To say choosing the best photo was hard is an understatement! It was on this trip that I feel like I’ve finally outdone the 2013 highlights. This photo also hangs in my living room, and is from the North Canol Road in Yukon.

2020

I struggled to go back to normal life after 3 months of Yukon. Mix that with struggles at work and the beginning of covid…and I didn’t pick up my camera again for 10 months. It felt like nothing I could see or photograph would ever compare with what I had seen in Yukon.
I did get away on 2 short camping trips later in the year…the first of which I came back with no photos. But I returned to Lake Superior and found some joy in capturing the weather patterns.
Remember, at this point I was still hard at work editing photos from 2019

Light shining through the storm clouds on Lake Superior.

2021

2021 began a return to normal, with multiple shorter camping trips to parks/areas that I had never been to. 2019 had changed my relationship with photos, and I find I take significantly less than I used to…even when on a trip. I think it’s partially because my eye has improved for what constitutes a great photograph. The Jeep didn’t help, as often I was looking for good off-road trails, which don’t usually result in scenic views. Also this year I started a new category: taking pictures with my cell phone. For those moments that aren’t masterpiece material, but still worth documenting. Phone shots don’t get edited, which cuts down on the editing workload, which was becoming unsustainable. (I was still finishing 2019 Yukon edits all the way through to 2022)
I feel like this year was still a dip in quality, partially because I was often forcing myself to take photos, and partially because I was still figuring out my editing process…and putting more emphasis on the Yukon edits.

Wakami Lake, Ontario. One story that hasn’t been mentioned is that I started as a sunny weather photographer and have slowly come to love stormy weather photos. They are harder to take, often require some hardship(camping in the rain), and nothing is guaranteed…but the results are so beautiful, especially when the storm is breaking.

2022

2022 was supposed to be a return to big trips, with an out of province road trip, but my Jeep developed recurring issues…leading to putting in an order for a new one that didn’t come until the end of summer. I didn’t get out for much exploring as I was worried my Jeep would break down again. So it was a really slow year for trips, and also photos. That gave me some time to finally finish my 2019 edits.

This is on a random logging road north of Algonquin, from the one successful trip I went on in 2022.

2023

Finally a true return to form. I went on my first big trip through the USA, the 3rd longest trip I’ve been on. The strategy of taking less photos with the big camera remained, but I feel like the quality is just superb this year. So many great photos.
My edits are becoming much more consistent…although I’m still finishing up the edits from this trip.

It’s hard to choose a best photo when I’m not even done editing them, and this one probably doesn’t fit my usual requirements for “best”, but it’s the one I enjoy the most so far. Looking through the storm to the blue skies and silver linings beyond…at Grand Canyon.

Looking ahead

It seems I get a new camera every 5 years or so, and it just so happens I recently got a new Nikon Z8. The weather has been super dreary, so I don’t have many shots from it yet, but those will come. It will be interesting to see how my photos continue to evolve in years to come.

I mostly wrote this while browsing through photos year by year. It’s interesting as I read the finished product, often times I might complain about a general dip in quality when looking at all the photos, yet the best photo from that year is nearly always amazing.

It really is wild that I’ve been doing this for 20 years. That makes photography one of the more constant things in my life. It feels like I’ve been through several lifetimes in that span. 17 year old me was very different from 25 year old me, and 30 year old me and current day me. My life hasn’t had many constants, and I’m thankful for this one, especially as it leaves with me all kinds of memories of the numerous blessings God has given. Through thick and thin, I have captured thousands of pieces of evidence of God’s goodness in my life. It’s good to look back and remember.

Bonus Shot

I’m sure some people will comment that the Jeep wasn’t in any of the photos. So I thought I’d include one. This is a photo of the original 2016 Jeep, the one that was wrecked. And yes, it got wet doing this.