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As time permits, I offer my thoughts on some of the events I am able to photograph. My Top Pictures of 2025
Since 2013, I have reflected on each year by reviewing all my photos and selecting my top 100 favorites. Unlike many years, my travel in 2025 was limited. This was a year to stay close to home. I had just one round-trip flight - a trip to Texas during the government shutdown. I visited only 9 states this year. I continued with my weekly photography challenges with the Ricky Tims Critique Group, finishing out my eleventh straight year – 520 weekly challenges without missing a single one. This blog post will give an overview of my year of photography with a focus on my top 100 photos. I reviewed about 262,700 photos from the year to identify the best ones to tell the story of my year. EquipmentI continued with the Sony mirrorless system. I picked up a few new lenses including the Sony 50-150 f/2 GM and Sony 28-70 f/2 GM along with a second "mark II" version of the Sony A1. I also bought a 17-28 Tamron lens for my full spectrum Sony cameras. I wanted a lens slightly wider than the 28-200 I usually use for infrared photography. The Tamron lenses are decent for normal photography but they excel with infrared. Top 100 by the numbersBy Camera - Most of the photos were taken with the Sony A1 II. One was taken with the Sony A6600, one with my cell phone used in a composite and 18 with the original A1. By Lens - 17 different lenses were used for the top 100. The Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 GMii accounted for the most photos with 32 (some with teleconverters) while the long glass (300 & 400 primes) combined for 25. The wider zooms - Sony 24-70 GMii and Sony 50-150 GM - accounted for 13 and 15 respectively. The other lenses were in the low single digits. By Location - 33 locations are represented in the top 100. The location with the most (14) was Bethlehem, but that was for two separate events - a WGI regional and MAIN Championships. The event with the most photos was TIA Championships in Wildwood with 11. Activity - Due to limited travel, the vast majority of the photos are from the marching arts. 41 Indoor Guard/Drumline/Jazz/Twirlers/Dance, 20 Drum Corps, 33 Marching Band, three wildlife/bird photos, two photos from Amanda's wedding and one photo at Longwood Gardens. The numbers reflect a year that stayed local and leaned heavily into the marching arts. Indoor Guard, Drumline, Dance and TwirlersFrom mid-January through the first weekend in May, the regular weekend shows provided many opportunities to experience incredible performances. I had the pleasure of photographing championship events for Mid-Atlantic Percussion Society (MAPS), Mid-Atlantic Indoor Network (MAIN) and Tournament Indoor Association (TIA). I also covered five regionals for Winter Guard International (WGI) including trips to Corning NY and Dartmouth MA. The indoor season is the longest part of my year and includes a lot of variety and opportunities for individuals to really show their talents. More than 60% of my photos for the year are from the indoor season. Winslow Township Guard quickly became one of my favorite indoor guard shows this year, with a program inspired by the musical Six - a modern pop concert retelling of the six wives of Henry VIII, giving each woman her own voice and perspective. With only six performers, it would’ve been easy for the show to feel small - but it never did. Every phrase had intention, and every member carried real weight in the storytelling. After one of their runs at Wildwood I told the director, “I could take pictures of your group all day,” and I meant it. I wasn’t familiar with the musical at the time, but the performance still landed, so much so that I went home and looked it up after the season. I'd love to see the musical live someday. One theme that shows up in my top 100 is people upside down. I particularly liked this one of Emerge Twirlers. This one was in the running for favorite photo status. The motion + fabric + body line. It’s dynamic, dramatic, and feels like a “you can’t fake that moment” frame. Often with photos like this, the background activity can be distracting but in this case I really liked how it filled out the frame.
Drum CorpsThe summer drum corps season usually provides opportunities to travel but this year I went only to shows within driving distance. I tried to focus on the Open Class corps as much as possible, along with the shows in the Philadelphia area. My schedule had me at just about every performance from the Raiders. In addition to photographing their competitions, I was around for some camps and for Friends and Family events. One memorable show was Sheffield, PA where I drove 7 hours only to have the show rained out. I spent the whole rain delay hanging out with the Raiders admin staff. One of the design choices the Raiders made was to march a lot of snares. I think there were 9 in the primary line plus another 5 in what they called snare prime. All of them had memorable photo opportunities during the show, providing visual excitement and energy to the production. Here are some of the snares at DCI Open Class championships. Drum Corps International (DCI) championships week was busier than usual with the addition of a Friday prelims event for the All Age class. To keep things sane and to spend time with my daughter Amanda, I shot from the stands on Thursday for Quarterfinals. On Friday, I left the camera at the hotel after the All Age event. So, my only time on the field was for the All Age competitions. DCI reserves seats in the stands for credentialed photographers and I've taken advantage of that opportunity since it was introduced in 2021. The location affords a different view and with my 200-600 lens, I can get photos I would not be able to capture from the field. This one is of a Blue Stars brass player with eyes wide open. I cropped square to lock attention on the eyes.
Anniversary TripFor our anniversary this year, Donna and I took a quick midweek trip to Havre de Grace, MD which is located at the mouth of the Susquehanna River, where it flows into the northern part of the Chesapeake Bay. While this wasn't a photo trip, I did bring my Sony A6600 full spectrum camera. Besides the waterfront and lighthouse, the town is famous for bird decoys. On these pillars there were some decoys, so it wasn't immediately obvious to me that this was, in fact, a Great Blue Heron standing motionless on the post.
Marching BandUnlike 2023, weather did not pose any issues this season, though a few shows had moments of rain. I had a great time taking wide low angle photos this season. I really try to elevate the subject of my photos and getting low really does that. The wide-angle lens creates a perspective that makes the performer appear larger than life. This is especially fun at places like MetLife Stadium where I can use the background to create a sense of context. I ended up doing two events at MetLife this year. Every year I photograph the Collegiate Marching Band Festival. This unique non-competitive event brings together 20 collegiate bands. Some bands come every year. One of the perennial favorites is Towson University. You can always count on the Towson University cymbal line for an exciting conclusion to their marching band show. Unlike a normal band competition, the Festival offers me a little more flexibility to move onto the field at the end when many of the bands bring part of their ensemble to the track. So for Towson, I was able to hang around the area with the drummers and cymbals as the show came to an end. Eastern UniversityI was thrilled to learn that my alma mater, Eastern University, launched a marching band program this year. I introduced myself to the band director, shared what I do, and rearranged my schedule so I could be there to photograph their first home football game - their first time taking the field in uniform. They’re off to a strong start, and I can’t wait to watch the program grow in the years ahead. The band also marched in its first-ever parade in early December, and I was invited to walk the route as their photographer. A burst of snow hit as they lined up, and I’m glad it did - the flakes and wet pavement add a little extra atmosphere to the warm-up moments. Not long after, the snow stopped and the sun came out, but those first frames captured the day perfectly.
Year WordMy year word for 2025 was Action, chosen in part because I am an action photographer. When I pick my year word, I try to find something that hits multiple areas of my life. I think Action was such a word in 2025 with significant actions taken. While my photo for my year word didn't make the Top 100 cut, this one of the Madison Scouts captures the action spirit. The Top 100So, those are some of the photos I took this year and a bit about this year's photography journey. You can see all of them in the Top 100 gallery. Here is a quick thumbnail view of the bunch.
Favorite PhotoOur final photography challenge for the year was to pick our Favorite Photo. I narrowed the top 100 down to 18 candidates. Unlike many years, I really didn't know all along which photo I was going to pick but my final pick was always in the running. While the weather was mostly pleasant all fall, we had a day of interesting weather for the USBands Marine Corps Invitational in Annapolis. Lightridge HS had the opportunity to perform in the rain late enough in the day and with rain heavy enough to be impactful on the photo. The scene here really tells the story and has the emotional impact I hope for in my photography. 2026?I have not made any plans for trips yet but I'm considering heading to the Northwest this summer along with time in the Midwest. We'll see how that pans out. It is unlikely I'll make it to Hawaii which is the last state I have to visit. I will continue with my marching arts photography working with the same circuits I've covered for a while. I am continuing with the Ricky Tims Critique Group for year number 12. The weekly photo challenges are a way of life now and motivate me to explore other kinds of photography and new locations, though I still try to meet as many challenges as I can through the normal flow of my photographic life.
My Top Pictures of 2024
Since 2013, I have reflected on each year by reviewing all my photos and selecting my top 100 favorites. In 2024, I traveled extensively, particularly from July through September, and again in November, when I departed for Texas on Election Day. I visited 13 states this year, with the biggest stretch being five states in eleven days. The travels involved marching arts opportunities, work and general photography. I continued with my weekly photography challenges with the Ricky Tims critique group, finishing out my tenth straight year – 520 weekly challenges without missing a single one. This blog post will give an overview of my year of photography with a focus on my top 100 photos. I reviewed about 231,400 photos from the year to identify the best ones to tell the story of my year. EquipmentI continued with the Sony mirrorless system. I picked up a few new lenses including the Sony 300mm f/2.8 GM and Sony 85mm f/1.4 GMii. At the very end of the year I bought the new "mark ii" version of the Sony A1. I also bought a 15-30 lens for my full spectrum Canon R. I wanted a lens slightly wider than the kit lens that originally came with the camera. Top 100 by the numbersBy Camera - Most of the photos were taken with the Sony A1. A dozen photos (some infrared) were taken with my Sony AIV which was converted to full spectrum and seven photos were taken with the Sony A7RV. One infrared photo was taken with the Nikon Z5 and used in a composite with another photo. Two photos were taken with my cell phone and used in composites with other photos. By Lens - 20 lenses were used for the top 100. The Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 GMii lens accounted for the most photos (18), followed closely by the Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 GMii and the Sony 300mm f/2.8 GM, each with 15 photos. No other lenses were in double digits. A few of the photos used teleconverters with the 70-200, both the 1.4 and 2x converters bringing the total count for the 70-200 to 36. By Location - 36 locations are represented in the top 100. The location with the most (21) and only location in double digits was Indianapolis where I photographed the Drum Corps International championships. Activity - 24 Indoor Guard/Drumline, 37 Drum Corps, 22 Marching Band, 1 of the solar eclipse, 5 from my Midwest trip, and 5 at Longwood Gardens. The rest were general photography.
Indoor Guard, Drumline, Dance and TwirlersFrom mid-January through the first weekend in May, the regular weekend shows provided many opportunities to experience incredible performances. I had the pleasure of photographing championship events for Mid-Atlantic Percussion Society (MAPS), Mid-Atlantic Indoor Network (MAIN) and Tournament Indoor Association (TIA). I also covered three regionals for Winter Guard International (WGI) for the first time. The indoor season is the longest part of my year and includes a lot of variety and opportunities for individuals to really show their talents. More than 60% of my photos for the year are from the indoor season. Arlington Guard had one of my favorite shows this season. I had the pleasure of seeing them four times - in prelims and finals at two WGI Regionals. Their performance, titled 'Lizzie,' explored the complex story of Lizzie Borden, focusing on her tumultuous family relationships, her trial, and the scrutiny surrounding the infamous 1892 crime. The black costumes and show design worked really well in black and white as I shot the finals at the Bethlehem show. The group was undefeated in the 2024 season, winning Scholastic A Guard at WGI finals. The show ends with a large balance scale in the center of the floor. The scale serves as a visual representation of the courtroom trial and the broader theme of justice in Lizzie Borden's story. The scale may tip or remain balanced, leaving the audience to interpret the unresolved questions of Lizzie's guilt or innocence. The show ends with the Lizzie character holding an axe on one side of the scale with all the members on the other side. The scale tips toward her. My favorite drumline show this season was Spring-Ford. I was invited to their early season Friends and Family show where I was truly amazed at how much of the show they already had down. I didn't go to Dayton for WGI championships but I watched each of their performances online including the final run that won Scholastic A. I created this intricate composite as a way to honor their achievement, sharing the photo to my Facebook page. Someone took the photo and submitted it to WGI who showed it on the jumbotron later in the weekend.
South DakotaMy eleven day trip across the Midwest centered around two days driving across South Dakota. I left Mankato MN on Wednesday morning and drove to Sioux Falls, where I stopped at Falls Park for lunch and some photos. My next stop was the Dignity statue in Chamberlain. Next stop was Badlands National Park for a quick drive through the main route with some stops for photos. I reached the famous Wall Drug in time for dinner. I continued the drive to the Black Hills and realized I'd have time to stop at Mount Rushmore before settling in for the night. I spent the next day driving the three scenic loops at Custer State Park and went to Rapid City to meet a friend for dinner. The following morning, I left for Wyoming. I wish I had more time to explore Badlands National Park but I had to squeeze the visit in between two drum corps shows that were two days and 780 miles apart.
Driving around the Black Hills of South Dakota, views of Mount Rushmore seem to pop up out of nowhere. This is an infrared 850nm image taken from a distance. If you zoom in you can see the parking structure and where the viewing pavilion is located. The Crazy Horse Memorial was created to honor Native American heritage and to counter the white faces of Mount Rushmore. In 1939, Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear invited Polish-American sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski to carve the memorial. The memorial is still under construction. If you look closely you can see construction vehicles, fencing and even a few workers on the outstretched hand. By 2037, the hand, arm, shoulder, hairline, and the top of the horse's head are expected to be completed. There is no timeline for full completion. After my time in South Dakota, I drove to Cheyenne WY for a drum corps show and continued on to Fort Collins CO. Before heading home, I spent a day in Rocky Mountain National Park. Drum CorpsThe summer drum corps season provides opportunities to travel. The big trip this year was an eleven day sprint that included five shows, five states, two national parks, one national memorial, a private memorial, one state park and two employee visits. The whirlwind trip started in Milwaukee and ended in Denver. The rest of the summer I tried to focus on the Open Class corps as much as possible, along with the shows in the Philadelphia area. Drum Corps International (DCI) championships week was busier than usual. Besides the normal events, the Crossmen 50th Anniversary corps practiced in Lucas Oil Stadium on Wednesday. I spent a few hours photographing them while they rehearsed. The new All Age class championships occurred on Saturday morning. Friday's semifinals provided an opportunity to shoot from the field (Thursday I was in the first row of the stands) and there were a few shots I was determined to get. One was the final battle scene from the Troopers show as the hero defeats the devil. This was a tough shot to get because the action was staged far back, the characters were moving and the corps was moving as well. My favorite musical moment from one of my favorite shows of the season remained elusive from a photography viewpoint. I found this challenging to capture due to other performers, sideline restrictions, my location on the sideline and all the other factors that go into getting an action shot. Finally, all of the pieces came together at my last opportunity at DCI Semifinals. This is a beautiful moment in the show Mynd by Phantom Regiment. The beauty and power of that sound was something to behold. The DCI Open Class championships happened earlier in the week in Marion IN. I often shoot the finals in black and white in order to get a different perspective on the shows. I set my camera to black and white so that I'm viewing the show as if it were a black and white movie. River City Rhythm, whose show was called Mine!, went on about 8:40pm so it was dark enough for the headlamps to make an impact. With their coal miner costumes, I thought they looked great in black and white. The addition of the DCI All Age Class meant that the drum corps season ended the second Saturday in August rather than continuing through Labor Day. Other than 2020 and 2021 when Drum Corps Associates canceled their championships or held them virtually by video, I haven't been home for Labor Day weekend in decades. Photography SummitFor the fourth year in a row, Ricky Tims hosted a photography summit in La Veta CO. Ricky runs the weekly challenge group I've participated in for the past ten years. The group includes people from all over the world. Unlike previous years, this year's summit included a virtual option. My wife Donna joined the challenge group ("first year") this year (I'm in the critique group for people who have completed the first year) so we decided to spend the week in New Hope PA for the summit and dial in remotely. I taught a Q&A session about Lightroom. The online format was probably not the best platform for that presentation since it required more interactivity. This was our first time staying in New Hope. I've driven past it plenty on my way to New Jersey but we thought this quirky little town along the Delaware River would be a great place to spend a few days taking pictures. Even though it was just the beginning of October, Fall colors were popping up along the river. The quaint town offered many photo opportunities and we were able to complete all of the challenges for the week. But one of the best things was having a hotel right by the river where it was easy to catch some early morning sunrise photos.
Marching BandUnlike last year, weather did not pose any issues this season. One or two shows in September had some light rain but largely the weekends were rain free in the Northeast. Great for marching band, not so much for water levels. I had a great time taking wide low angle photos this season. I really try to elevate the subject of my photos and getting low really does that. The wide-angle lens creates a perspective that makes the performer appear larger than life. This is especially fun at places like MetLife Stadium where I can use the background to create a sense of context. The marching band season ended for me in Texas. I flew to DFW on Election Day. The next evening I had a show at AT&T Stadium followed by an all day event at AT&T on Thursday. My final show was in Austin. The rest of my time in Texas was spent visiting clients and employees. Many of the Texas shows are a prelims/finals format, so I get to see a lot of the groups twice. Given the size of some of these bands, the multiple viewings provide an opportunity to catch action that was missed the first time. Usually I'll position myself on the opposite side of the field and make different lens choices. At the Austin show, John M. Harlan High School opened with a solo dancer. As there was another performer kneeling behind the action, I decided to get creative with the photo by separating the subject and removing the distractions from the background, then applying a repeating transformation technique.
StorytellingI had the opportunity to create several fun composites and attach fabricated stories to them. Early in the year, we had a challenge using the lyrics of Sound of Silence. I wanted to turn my hallway into a tenement hall. Instead of painting graffiti on the walls, I pulled a photo into Photoshop and "painted" my scene. The story: It took a lot of work but I turned my bedroom hallway into a tenement hall. Let's just say, my wife wasn't too pleased. I might have to spend the weekend painting instead of photographing a color guard show. About the composite: Speaking of color guard, I wanted to make use of the Steel Spirit of Coatesville color guard show which used the Disturbed cover of the song for their show in 2017 which had a strong message on not being silent about racial injustice. The "I will" "not" and "be silent" words were taken from the flags used for the end of their show. One challenge was "Story Time" where we had to attach a story to an image. The story could be true or made up. I went for a made up story, which I think some people in my group thought was true, even though it seemed pretty far fetched. The story was that a group wanted to celebrate the marching arts in Texas and paid me $10,000 for photos from AT&T Stadium which they installed all around DFW Airport. To get the base photo, I used my cell phone taking pictures around the airport. I then merged in some of my photos from the AT&T shows. I made six of these and two are in my top 100 gallery. They were so much fun.
Self PortraitEvery year we are given a self portrait challenge, usually toward the end of the year. We're supposed to highlight something about ourselves, not just a head shot or something abstract like the back of our hand. Over the years I've incorporated my photography and my musical instruments into my self portraits. This year I decided to pick up on my DFW story and imagine Sony wanted to do an ad for their 300mm GM lens with me as the spokesperson. Year WordMy year word for 2024 was Moments. I thought that would fit well with my photography, which is all about capturing moments. But honestly, I didn't think much about the word and, at times, I couldn't remember what word I had chosen. Usually we have a challenge mid-way through the year to revisit our year word but that didn't happen. Hopefully whatever I choose as my year word for 2025 will have more impact.
The Top 100So, those are some of the photos I took this year and a bit about this year's photography journey. You can see all of them in the Top 100 gallery. Here is a quick thumbnail view of the bunch. Favorite PhotoOur final photography challenge for the year was to pick our Favorite Photo. I narrowed the top 100 down to 14 candidates. Unlike past years, I really didn't know all along which photo I was going to pick. I went through the candidates with Donna until I had just one. This is the bass guitar player for Brick Township Marching Band. A photo of him was in my 2023 top 100 as well. He is an exceptionally expressive musician. The photo was taken at the TOB Championships in Hershey with the Sony 400mm f/2.8 GM lens, requiring a very tight crop. 2025?As of now, I have no plans for any big trips, so it is unlikely I'll make it to Hawaii which is the last state I have to visit. I will continue with my marching arts photography. This year I will be the official photographer for five Winter Guard International (WGI) regionals. I will be at the Corning NY, Holland PA and Bethlehem PA guard regionals. I'll also be at the percussion regionals in Dartmouth MA and Toms River NJ. There is a chance that I'll mix things up a bit with the drum corps season and catch a few shows in California or maybe other places I haven't been to in a while. I am continuing with the Ricky Tims Critique Group for year number 11. This year Donna will be in the same group with me, so hopefully we'll have some photo outings together. The weekly photo challenges are a way of life now and motivate me to explore other kinds of photography and new locations.
My Top Pictures of 2023
Each year since 2013, I reflect on my year by going through all my photos to pick out my favorite 100. 2023 involved some extensive travel, especially for June through September. I visited 21 states and Canada. The travels involved marching arts opportunities, work and general photography. I continued with my weekly photography challenges with the Ricky Tims critique group, finishing out my ninth straight year – 468 weekly challenges without missing a single one. This blog post will give an overview of my year of photography with a focus on my top 100 photos. I reviewed about 245,500 photos from the year to identify the best ones to tell the story of my year. EquipmentI continued with the Sony mirrorless system. I picked up a few new lenses including a second 70-200 f/2.8 GMii to have as a backup. I also added the new Sony 20-70 f/4 and the updated Sony 16-35 f/2.8 GMii. I really wanted to get a good walk around zoom for my Alaska trip, so I bought the Tamron 28-200 which has the advantage of being a great performer for infrared photography. I also bought two non-Sony cameras and had them converted to full spectrum so I could get to know Nikon (Z5) and Canon (R) mirrorless systems a little better. Top 100 by the numbersBy Camera - Most of the photos were taken with the Sony A1. Five infrared shots were taken with my Sony AIV which was converted to full spectrum and six photos were taken with the Sony A7RV. One infrared photo was taken with the Canon R. By Lens - 13 lenses were used for the top 100. The lens with the most photos (24) was the Sony 400mm f/2.8 GM followed closely by the Sony 70-200 f/2.8 GMii (21). The only other lenses in double digits were the Sony 100-400 GM (19) and the Sony 200-600 (12). By Location - 32 locations are represented in the top 100. The location with the most (12) and only location in double digits was Hershey where I photographed the Tournament of Bands championships. Six photos in the top 100 were taken on my Alaska trip. Activity - 24 Indoor Guard/Drumline, 31 Drum Corps, 28 Marching Band, 3 at the Conowingo Dam and 3 from a photography workshop. The rest were general photography.
Indoor Guard, Drumline, Dance and TwirlersFrom mid-January through the first weekend in May, the regular weekend shows provided many opportunities to experience incredible performances. I had the pleasure of photographing championship events for Mid-Atlantic Percussion Society (MAPS), Mid-Atlantic Indoor Network (MAIN) and Tournament Indoor Association (TIA). The indoor season is the longest part of my year and includes a lot of variety and opportunities for individuals to really show their talents. One of my favorite photos was this shot of Natalie Tarman playing the role of Alice in AMP's amazing Wonderland themed presentation. The backdrops provided great photo opportunities all season long.
Both MAPS and TIA have individual and ensemble events that allow even more ways for these talented musicians and dancers to be showcased. This is Reed Nocera from Old Bridge HS competing in individual snare drum at MAPS. Snare drum I&E provides an opportunity to really slow the shutter to highlight the stick movement.
AlaskaThis summer afforded me the opportunity to visit my 49th state as I spent two weeks in Alaska. I flew to Anchorage and rented a car. My stops included Denali National Park, Fairbanks, Seward and Homer. The weather was chilly and damp, mostly overcast or light rain, throughout the trip except for a day in Denali. I booked several tours, all of which were excellent.
I hoped to do a lot of infrared photography on the Alaska trip which was made more challenging by the generally cloudy skies. This is an 850nm panorama taken on my Denali Photo Guides excursion, about the only time I had really abundant sunshine. This photo worked well for our It was a Dark and Stormy Night challenge. I only had two days in Homer and didn't schedule any tours. I stayed at Lands End Resort, which is on the very tip of Homer Spit. The spit is a 4.5-mile long piece of land jutting out into Kachemak Bay. This is a 590nm infrared shot of the Spit taken from Skyline Drive.
On the trip back, I spent two days in Seattle to avoid a red-eye flight through Chicago or a really early morning flight through Dallas. It also gave me a chance to work on my Alaska photos and to explore Tacoma where I did some street photography and caught a great view of Mount Rainier. Drum CorpsThe focus of my summer drum corps was the All Age circuit Drum Corps Associates (DCA) and the Open Class division of Drum Corps International (DCI). While most of the DCA shows are in the Northeast, I traveled to the Midwest and South to see the DCA corps there who were competing in DCI shows. My season started in Connecticut, then to Ohio. From there, I went to Batavia NY for a Friends and Family event with White Sabers. On the way from Ohio to New York I cut through Canada to see a work colleague and make a stop at the Falls. The day after returning home from NY, I left for Minnesota for an employee dinner and a show the next night. I flew to Memphis and then drove through Mississippi, Alabama and reached Atlanta. I had three shows, two employee visits and a client visit along the way. The second week in August I drove to Indianapolis with my daughter Amanda for the DCI Championships. Amanda has been my regular DCI finals companion for most years since 2009. The last two years we decided that driving gave us more flexibility and is made easier because we can share the driving. The weekend after driving home on I-70 and the PA Turnpike, I made a return trip to Ohio with my wife Donna for a DCA show in Columbus. The season concluded in Rochester, NY, for the DCA Championships. My Year Word was Value, chosen in part to encourage me to take more black and white photos. The marching arts doesn't provide many opportunities to go monochrome because I'm either selling photos or providing them to publications and people expect color but I decided to go black and white for the DCI Open Class finals, since I saw all of those corps the day before in prelims. Because I shoot JPEG and not RAW, having my camera in monochrome mode means I see the show in black and white and there's no recovering the color. Five of these images made the top 100.
The Open Class shows were so much fun this year. In addition to the five photos from finals, there are six other Open Class color images in the Top 100. The corps with the most photos in the top 100 is the Raiders with four including this photo from the end of their performance in Fairfield CT in July. Photography SummitFor the third year in a row, Ricky Tims hosted a photography summit in La Veta CO. Ricky runs the weekly challenge group I've participated in for the past nine years. The group includes people from all over the world. The summit gives us a chance for some to meet in person. For this year's summit, I offered to teach a class on infrared photography. I shipped out ten infrared cameras and a bunch of lenses and filters ahead of the trip. The equipment gave everyone the opportunity to try out infrared photography. The summit includes a scavenger hunt where we had different themes to find. I tried to do nearly all of mine in infrared. Being more comfortable in the city than the country, I'm often a little hesitant to drive to some of the recommended photo locations, so I never made the trip to Uptop CO in my previous two visits to La Veta. This year, I caught a ride with my friend Warren Lee. Uptop is considered a ghost town. Among the few structures there are this chapel. (Infrared 850nm)
One of the highlights of the summit was a session on star trails by Warren Lee. Warren is an amazing astro photographer and very committed to his art. He held a few night sessions where we could give the trails a try, though we had a lot of clouds so it was challenging. I was pleased with my success. For this photo I took 62 thirty second exposures and stacked them in Photoshop, so that was a half hour of photos.
Marching BandThe dominant theme of the marching band season was rain and four rain photos made the Top 100. It seemed to rain nearly every Saturday. After the Photo Summit, I drove through Kansas to Oklahoma to visit a client. Then I drove to Texas to visit clients and caught a USBands show in the Houston area. That weekend every show back home was canceled due to the weather, so it was a good week to be in Texas although we had temperatures in the upper 90s. After a stop in Austin to see another client, I returned home where I had two weekends with rainy shows. Despite the weather, the shows at MetLife Stadium and the Navy Marine Corps Stadium were held, even as other shows were canceled. The second half of October had dryer weather as the regional and state championships for USBands and Tournament of Bands took place. The last weekend in October I was in Connecticut for the USBands New England States Championships. The season closed out with a two day event in Hershey for the Tournament of Bands Atlantic Coast Championship. One week in October we had a challenge topic of Wet which was perfect as I had a very rainy show in Annapolis. I had my full rain suit on all day and my cameras were all covered in my ThinkTank Hydrophobia 3 covers. This is the photo I submitted for the challenge. The very next day I had a show in Deptford NJ and the weather was perfect.
ValueAs mentioned above, I chose the word Value for my year word. My weekly photography group always starts the year with a challenge to pick a “year word” which will define our year and to illustrate that with a photo. I chose Value for its applicability to many areas of my life. The word helped me focus on the people and things I value in my family, church, work and marching arts photography. The term Value in art refers to the darkness or lightness of the tones in an image. There's an expression that value does all the work but color gets the credit. I hoped that my year would include more black and white photography, including infrared 850nm which includes no visible light and, therefore, no color. Opportunities to focus on black and white photography were somewhat limited but for my birthday Donna and I went to the Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton NJ and I shot in black and white.
The Top 100So, those are some of the photos I took this year and a bit about this year's photography journey. You can see all of the Top 100 in the gallery. Favorite PhotoOur final photography challenge for the year was to pick our Favorite Photo. I narrowed the top 100 down to 20 candidates, but really I knew all along which photo I would select. One of my black and white marching arts photo opportunities happened at the WGI Regional in Bethlehem. I was not the official photographer and our weekly challenge topic was "Free For All" so we could submit any photo taken that week. I decided to shoot the show with one camera (in single shot mode - no bursting), one prime lens (135mm) and all black and white. I was really happy connecting with this moment. I cleaned up the background to remove distractions and convey the energy of the moment. 2024?As of now, I have no plans for any big trips, so it is unlikely I'll make it to Hawaii which is the last state I have to visit. I will continue with my marching arts photography. This year I will be the official photographer for three Winter Guard International (WGI) regionals. I will be at the Holland PA and Bethlehem PA guard regionals. I'll also be at the two day percussion regional in Toms River NJ. There is a chance that I'll mix things up a bit with the drum corps season and catch a few shows in California or maybe other places I haven't been to in a while. I am continuing with the Ricky Tims Critique Group for year number 10. The weekly photo challenges are a way of life now and motivate me to explore other kinds of photography and new locations. Donna will be starting with the first year challenge course and I hope we'll have a chance for some photo outings even though we'll have different challenge topics. I hope to do more infrared and black & white photography.
My Top Pictures of 2022
Each year since 2013, I reflect on my year by going through all my photos to pick out my favorite 100. 2022 turned out to involve very little photography travel but lots of marching arts opportunities. I continued with my weekly photography challenges with the Ricky Tims critique group, finishing out my eighth straight year – 416 weekly challenges without missing a single one. This blog post will give an overview of my year of photography with a focus on my top 100 photos. I reviewed about 296,900 photos from the year to identify the best ones to tell the story of my year. EquipmentI continued with my Sony mirrorless camera system, though gear acquisition involved just one new lens and one new camera. The camera is the newest offering from Sony - A7RV - which features an advanced AI focus system. As I picked up the camera at the end of November, I've not had the opportunity to really put it though its paces. The lens was the updated Sony 24-70 f/2.8 GM which I've come to really enjoy.
Top 100 By the NumbersBy Camera - nearly all the top 100 were taken with a Sony A1. Three were taken with the full spectrum A6600 and the rest with the two A1 cameras. Lenses - 14 lenses are represented in the top 100. The most popular lens was the 70-200 f/2.8 GM II having 25 photos with the 400 f/2.8 prime closely behind at 21. The only other lens in double digits was the 200-600. Locations - 37 different locations were represented in the top 100. 14 photos in Wildwood (for TIA Championships) and 10 photos in Indianapolis (DCI Finals) were the only locations in double digits. Activity - nearly all of the top 100 photos were from the marching arts activities as I did very little other photography this year. 29 were from the indoor guard/drumline/dance season, 40 were from drum corps and 23 were from marching band. I hardly even visited Longwood Gardens. I'm not sure where the year went but it certainly was filled with pageantry.
Indoor Guard, Drumline, Dance and TwirlersThe indoor season included regular in-person competitions for the first time since the abrupt end to the 2020 season. From mid-January through the first weekend in May, the regular weekend shows provided many opportunities to experience incredible performances. I had the pleasure of photographing championship events for Mid-Atlantic Percussion Society (MAPS), Mid-Atlantic Indoor Network (MAIN) and Tournament Indoor Association (TIA).
Drum CorpsThe two US drums corps circuits both resumed normal competitions. Unlike many years past, my summer season generally kept me close to home as I covered shows for Drum Corps Associates in PA, NJ and CT. I had some travel for DCI shows along with shows in PA, OH, MD, NJ and DE. I made one trip to MN and WI for a couple of DCI events along with DCI Championships in Indianapolis. One of the more thrilling moments was a real live marriage proposal at DCA championships. Cincinnati Tradition ended their final show with two members far back on a platform. I felt drawn to the scene and found this moment. I wasn't sure if it was real but when I asked a staff member, I was told it certainly was real. After posting the photo on Facebook, I was able to connect with the groom-to-be and give them a full set of engagement photos.
Another special drum corps moment was capturing my friends Amanda and Enoch (who got married last year) dancing to Jazzmerelda with Caballeros Alumni. The corps director gave me a heads up about a "dancing bass drummer" so I was looking in the right area but didn't realize until I looked at the photos on the computer who was in the shot. It was great to catch them on the field together.
Summer TravelsThis year my primary trip involved very little photography. Donna and I went on a 10 day road trip through the South to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary. Our focus was visiting civil rights museums and cultural institutions in Atlanta and Montgomery. One of the highlights for me was seeing the newly opened Legacy Museum in Montgomery. I visited the old location a few years ago and did not realize they had built a new museum just across the street. Donna enjoyed spending time at the Emory University library in Atlanta where they had a special exhibit about Howard Thurman, someone she has been studying this year. The main photography on the trip was at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens which featured this Earth Goddess.
Photography SummitAt the end of September, I traveled to La Veta, CO to meet a group of my photographer friends for a four day summit with Ricky Tims. Many of these people have been part of the journey with me since 2015 and even more had joined along the way. This was our second summit and included a mix of people who attended in 2021 and others participating for the first time. We also had a number of educational presentations by members of the group as well as Ricky. We also enjoyed a wonderful presentation from professional photographer Andy Schwartz who I enjoyed getting to know over the course of the week. I presented a session on my Lightroom workflow which allows me to quickly navigate through thousands of photos after an event. Among the many highlights of the trip was a session on astrophotography by Warren Lee followed by an evening trip to photograph the Milky Way. The conditions were not as perfect as last year as we had significant cloud cover but I managed to get a night photography shot. I still have a lot to learn when it comes to astrophotography.
Marching BandThe marching band season was normal. I had shows every weekend, often two and sometimes three, along with some Friday night football games with Penncrest band. USBands sent me to Connecticut for the New England States Championships and to Texas for shows in Houston and at AT&T Stadium. I was able to do one show at MetLife Stadium, one of my favorite venues. I also covered the Tournament of Bands championships in Hershey along with local shows for both circuits throughout the fall. One of the unique shows on my schedule each year is a collegiate band festival in Allentown. There is nothing else like this in the country as far as I know. Up to 20 collegiate bands perform in exhibition each year. This year's festival started with some dreary weather and then the rain hit after just a few bands. Bands dealt with the elements in different ways. Some wore raincoats. Some did not use their plumes. Others had the woodwinds sing their parts so the instruments wouldn't be damaged. The rain adds a certain excitement to the photos, particularly when it bounces off timpani.
Grand Canyon of PennsylvaniaFor years I've wanted to visit Pine Creek Gorge, otherwise known as the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania. This year I had a Friday night drum corps show in Sheffield PA and a show the next day in Williamsport. Since Pine Creek Gorge is in the same general area of the state, I came up with a plan to spend a few days. I had a lot of overcast skies and lots of fog. I hoped to do more infrared photography but that is best with abundant sunlight. I did the best I could given the conditions. Unfortunately, it was about the only attempt at infrared photography this year. This photo of the gorge uses an IR Chrome filter.
CompositesLast year I did very few composites but for 2022 I spent a lot more time creating composites, with 13 making the top 100. Several of my composites became covers for Drum Corps World. The indoor guard season provides the most raw material and inspiration for composite work. The performers are so dynamic but with the typical gym background, the original photos often feel lacking. This composite from Ridgewood Indoor Guard uses components from the show including the oranges and the basket.
I have special galleries for my composites if you want to see them all, approximately 135 in all. Marching Band, Indoor and Drum Corps
ExploreMy weekly photography group always starts the year with a challenge to pick a “year word” which will define our year and to illustrate that with a photo. My word for 2022 was Explore. As you heard above, my year had very little new photography exploration but my hope for the year was broader than just visiting new parks. I hoped to explore new camera techniques, Photoshop techniques, the new Lightroom mask changes, and other post processing software I tend to buy and not use. After a year that included very little composite work, I wanted to get back to exploring those options and techniques. I wanted to bring a spirit of exploration to my company and church as well. Seeking out new ways to do things, looking in depth at what we're doing to see what a change could bring. Overall the word served me well. My main travel exploration was the 10 day anniversary trip with Donna. I enjoyed exploring with her, both places I'd been before and some that were new. As we were driving from Birmingham to Chattanooga, I ended up taking the wrong road and had gone quite a distance before I realized, so we had some unexpected exploration of northern Alabama. As we drove, we saw signs for the Ave Maria Grotto. Donna knew of the place from a Kate Campbell song. The road took us right to the grotto so we decided to stop. The grotto is home to the creative handiwork of Brother Joseph called A World in Miniature. These beautiful and detailed structures were built from stone, concrete and unwanted materials like broken plates, costume jewelry, tiles, beads, marbles and seashells. I left my camera in the car so I used my cell phone to capture some of the images. None of those photos made the top 100 nor did my three challenge photos which involved the year word theme. Here is one of the many parts of the grotto exhibit.
Favorite PhotoOur final photography challenge for the year was to pick our Favorite Photo. I narrowed the top 100 down to 14 candidates, but really I knew all along which photo I would select. The TOB Region 7 Championships started with rain and ended with a lot of rain. For some reason, Southern Regional Golden Ram Marching Band and I have a thing with rain. They really rise to the challenge of a rain performance and put so much emotion into the performance. They were the second to last group to perform and had some of the heaviest rain of the day. They put out an incredible performance and won their class. But more than the title, you can almost feel the emotion from this photo of the end of the show. I posted this photo to Facebook as soon as I got home and downloaded the photos. In that post I said "What a weekend. Senior night for Penncrest and two marching band shows. 12,500 photos, 52 bands, four sets of awards and the only photo I can remember taking is this one of Southern Regional. Southern Regional, rain and I seem to meet like this quite a bit." A Southern parent shared the photo and commented "Christopher Maher and Southern Regional High School Golden Ram marching band have a love affair with amazing runs and photos in the rain!!" One of my favorite photos was taken in 2017 of three snare drummers with Southern Regional in pouring rain at championships. They won their class that year as well. This was a photo that I knew as soon as I took it that it was going to be special. Because the second half of the show had been pushed later with the hope of avoiding some of the earlier rain, Southern Regional not only had some of the heaviest rain, they also had the good fortune to be performing after dark, making the visual impact of the rain even greater.
The photo at the top of the blog post was a composite from images taken at this same show. The shadows were created from members of Southern Regional. The composite was created for a "Dark Shadows" challenge theme. The rain is the actual rain from the start of the final band's performance and the field under the stadium lights was taken just before awards, by which time the rain had slowed considerably. One other thing to note about this rainy performance is that, despite using a good rain cover, my camera sustained moisture damage. I dried everything out after I got home but by then it was too late. I didn't realize the problem until the following Saturday when my camera wasn't focusing. It turned out that it was just the back focus button as half pressing the shutter could activate focus, so I was able to get through the rest of the season. But as a "back button focus" photographer, it was a challenge. Fortunately, I bought a "no fault" service contract from the camera store, so the $800 repair cost me nothing. I'll be looking into even better camera covers before the start of the drum corps season.
The Top 100So, those are some of the photos I took this year and a bit about this year's photography journey. You can see all of the Top 100 in the gallery.
2023?After a year of limited photography travel, I am planning a trip to Alaska. This will mark my 49th state. All that is left is Hawaii. I will continue with my marching arts photography. I am continuing with the Ricky Tims Critique Group for year number 9. The weekly photo challenges are a way of life now and help get me to explore other kinds of photography and new locations. I hope to do more infrared and black & white photography. Even though I'll have a new year word, I hope that 2023 will include a lot of exploration.
My Top Pictures of 2021Each year since 2013, I go through all my photos and pick out my favorite 100. 2021 turned out to be a great year for photography, though with some significant adjustments to my normal schedule. I continued with my weekly photography challenges with the Ricky Tims critique group, finishing out my seventh straight year – 364 weekly challenges without missing a single one. This blog post will give an overview of my year of photography with a focus on my top 100 photos. I reviewed about 140,000 photos from the year to identify the best ones to tell the story of my year. EquipmentI spent the year fully in the Sony ecosystem, having sold or put away my Nikon gear. I switched out some Sony gear and added new cameras and lenses. The A9 and A7Riii were sold. In their place I have two of the new flagship model A1. I still have the A7iii as a backup along with a full spectrum converted A6600. Lenses added in 2021 include Sony 35mm f/1.4 GM, Sony 400 f/2.8 GM, Sony 50mm f/1.2 GM, Sony 70-200 f/2.8ii GM, Sony 14mm f/1.8 GM, Tamron 70-180 f/2.8, Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 and Tamron 35-150 f/2-2.8. Top 100 By the NumbersBy Camera - nearly all the top 100 were taken with a Sony A1. Three were taken with the full spectrum A6600, two with the A7Riii (which I no longer have), one with the A7iii and one with a cheap action camera. Lenses - More than 20 lenses are represented in the top 100. The most popular lens was the 400 f/2.8 prime having 21 photos. The versatile 24-105 f/4 came close with 20. The 70-200 f/2.8 and 200-600 were the only other lenses in double digits at 12. Locations - 40 different locations were represented in the top 100. One quarter of the top 100 were taken in June while I was on a two week long photo trip. Nearly half (48) of the top 100 came from the fall marching band season.
Indoor Guard and DrumlineThe indoor guard and drumline season, much like the 2020 marching band season, involved video recordings for competitions. That allowed me time with different groups where I would spend a day photographing rehearsal and the video performance. It was nice getting to know some groups on a more intimate basis and to keep my head in the marching arts world.
Drum CorpsThe two US drums corps circuits took different approaches to 2021 but both had something resembling a season. DCI had a three week non-competitive tour ending with a three day celebration in Indianapolis. In order to keep the performers safe, outside photographers such as myself were restricted to the stands. I attended just two DCI shows - one in La Crosse WI and one day in Indianapolis. DCA had a competitive season but fully by video. My objective was to visit each of the competing corps during a video recording session. With 14 corps and 8 weeks, everything had to go perfectly which was a pretty high bar. I only missed two corps. One corps folded during the season before I got to visit. Another corps had to cancel due to a hurricane. There was one corps whose video recording time was rained out though I did spend hours with them during rehearsal. Certainly the best part of the 2021 drum corps season was getting to know each of the DCA organizations up close and personal. Not only was I there to photograph the corps, but I also conducted interviews and wrote articles for Drum Corps World about my visits.
Summer TravelsWith the summer drum corps season starting in July and vaccines opening up the world for seemingly safe travel, I took the opportunity to visit some national parks in June. My trip started and ended in Las Vegas. In between, I visited seven national parks and two state parks. You can read my trip blog Part 1 and Part 2 for more information about the trip which was all about photography. The photo at the top of the blog was taken at the Grand Canyon. Of all the national parks I visited, my favorite was Bryce Canyon. The scenery was unique and I was fortunate to be able to stay inside the park, plus the weather was great especially after the heat wave at the start of my trip.
Photography SummitAt the end of September, I traveled to La Veta, CO to meet a group of my photographer friends for a four day summit with Ricky Tims. Many of these people have been part of the journey with me since 2015 and even more had joined along the way. A few I had met in person before, but for most it was the first time meeting. The Summit including a dozen challenges that we had to accomplish around town or the surrounding area. We also had a number of educational presentations by members of the group as well as Ricky. Among the many highlights of the trip was a session on astrophotography by Warren Lee followed by an evening trip to photograph the Milky Way. Living in an urban/suburban area, I've never given much thought to astrophotography so it was really amazing to see this spectacular sight and to realize how much more the camera could see and capture.
Marching BandThe marching band season was almost normal. I had shows every weekend, often two and sometimes three. USBands moved their New England States Championships to two weekdays due to weather, so I added an extra trip to Connecticut. That made for a really crazy final 10 days of the season with 7 shows in 10 days and about 1,000 miles of driving. The most striking thing about the 2021 marching band season was the rain. With several rain events, it was difficult deciding which rain photos to include in the top 100. The rainiest event had to be the Penncrest Senior Night. Not only was the rain relentless but it was cold and windy. It was miserable and memorable. The band sat through the first half singing the stands tunes. For the field show, everyone sang their part except one snare drummer to help hold it all together. As is the tradition, the band stopped part way through the show so the seniors could come to the track, greet their family and be recognized. My primary job that night was to take the family photos. The rain and lens flares made for some dramatic shots. I did almost no composite work this year and only one composite made it into the top 100. This is Penncrest's drum major Jacob Bartowski with the main image captured during the senior night performance.
For the BirdsBeyond the summer travels and marching arts, I found opportunities to try some bird photography. I am fortunate to live close to the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum. I visited this urban refuge several times and tried my hand at bird photography. I found it quite challenging. A few weeks later, I visited the Conowingo Dam in Darlington MD where bald eagles can often be found, particularly in March/April and November. I went for the first time on March 30, the day of my second COVID vaccine. I arrived before 7am and found a lot of cars in the lot with a bunch of photographers with big lenses lined up along a fence overlooking the river. This juvenile eagle had just grabbed a fish out of the river. One exciting bird photography opportunity came at the beginning of my national park trip as I spent a morning photographing hummingbirds with my friend Warren Lee. I don't think I'd ever seen a hummingbird before, let alone tried to photograph one. All of these opportunities were fun, rewarding and frustrating.
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