My Best Images in 2021

Thanks for stopping by. This blog post contains what I consider to be my best images in 2021. I always find choosing the best 10 images from a year a challenging task. In reality there is no right or wrong answer so you would think it would be fairly easy for me to decide! The following 10 images are in no set order, trying to rank them into any kind of order would just be a major headache and lots of unnecessary stress on my part.

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My photography statistics in 2021

Everyone has their own ways to measure success be it in numbers or just how things look or feel compared to previous years. It’s important for me to not to get too hung up on social media numbers. They only tell one side of a story and are influenced by algorithms and such like which are heavily loaded in favour of companies making money out of photographers. Remember, social media may be free to use but the true cost of using a platform is the viewers time. Now that’s off my chest lets have a look at some statistics.

A few statistics and highlights from 2021.

• 34 Landscape shoots recorded throughout the year plus 10 Days spent photographing the highlands of Scotland.
• I added just over 2500 Images to my Lightroom catalogue in 2021.
• 30 Images selected and shortlisted into my2021 candidates collection. This is down on 2020 however I have been a lot more self critical this year and culled images from the collection as the year progressed.
• I have not released a lot content to my blog so yet again a huge disappointment for the year. This year I really need to push myself and focus on self promotion. Blogging is a great way to promote my work. It also helps to drive traffic to my website. My New Years resolution in 2022 Is to reduce my social media screen time, shoot more photos, and educate newer photographers through my blog and other avenues. Lets see how this goes…
• I made a fantastic photobook with the help of Saal Digital. I titled the book “Chasing Light” and documented 12 months in images. You can read all about the project in this post.
• My 2021 Calendar was very popular. I received some really positive feedback which has encouraged me to make another for 2022. As of writing this blog post I only a couple of copies left. You may be able to get yours here if you are interested.

Social Media

• I posted 106 Images to my Instagram account which is 2 more than in 2020.
• In regard to Instagram followers, I ended the year with 660 which shows a steady growth of 293 over the course of 12 months. I do however believe there is too much hype in follower counts and the real measure should be in the form of engagement.
• There is no proof that my engagement has grown in 2021 however my gut feeling is that it has grown considerably. I think this is mainly driven by Instagrams stories which I have regularly posted. I do receive quite a few comments on my images both privately and publicly which are always a pleasure to read. Thank You for your support!
• In 2020 I managed to double my Facebook followers ending the year with 146 followers. My 2021 follower growth has been huge, ending the year with 533 followers. My engagement however is at an all time low. Facebooks algorithm is not pushing my content without wanting me to spend money boosting posts. Although this is annoying at times I try to stay positive as its free platform!.

Golden Light

My first image is from the end of February where I visited a local woodland during a sunrise shoot. I had spent most of the morning photographing misty conditions over the adjacent fields before heading into the main woodland. My walk followed the main perimeter path where I was greeted with this amazing patch of golden light.

Enville In The Mist

This is a very opportunistic image. I had actually been heading towards another near by location where I had planned to shoot the mist between trees. Upon finding this scene that plan was soon placed on hold. I knew immediately that I just had to park the car and wait for the sun to rise above the low hanging mist.

If you like the image check out my store where “Enville In The Mist” is available as part of my open print collection.

Light Rays

Light Rays is one of my all time favourite woodland images. The conditions on this morning were absolutely spectacular with light rays being showered across the woodland in every direction. I’ve never been so excited to make photographs in the woods and hope to find similar conditions again in the future.

Bracklinn Falls

During August I spent a few days in Callander. The weather was awful with rain forecast every day! On my final morning there was a break in the Scottish weather and I decided to bite the bullet and head over to the falls. I made it to the Keltie water just as the rain began to fall. The sound of fast flowing water cascading down the various levels is something I will not forget in a hurry.

On returning home from Scotland one of the first things I did was to make a large acrylic print of the Bracklinn Falls which now hangs with price on our living room wall. The image definitely provides a WOW factor and brings the room to life.

Skye Bridge

Skye bridge spans loch Alsh and connects the stunningly beautiful Isle of Skye to Kyle of Lochalsh with a small island known as the island of Eilean Bàn acting as a mid way stepping stone. This is the view of the Skye bridge from Reraig on the west coast of the magnificent Scottish highlands 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿.

We used Reraig as a base camp for our Skye adventures. Reraig is a perfect location to access the surrounding intimate villages and also provides very easy access to the Isle of Skye via Skye Bridge. 

Sunstar In The Woods

As you may have noticed, I spent a lot of time photographing my local woodlands during 2021. Most of my woodland visits were at sunrise however I made this image during a sunset in July. I love the way the sunlight is illuminating the foreground. I also like how I managed to position the sunstar between the trunk and branch of the tree.

Summer months are usually a difficult time of year for my photography so I was pleased to see an image from July make my best 10 images of 2021.

The Smiths Cascade

Before you say there is no cascade in this image let me explain. This splendid scene is the river Eas Gobhain in Callander. The name of the river “Eas Gobhain” translates from Gaelic as “The Smiths Cascade”

The reflections seen in the image only lasted a matter of minutes before the heavens opened and heavy rain began to fall.

Loch Alsh Gold

For me, this image has a little bit of everything and It’s my favourite image that I made on my 14-30 Wide angle lens in 2021. Loch Alsh is a sea inlet between the Isle of Skye and the North West Highlands of Scotland. If you look really close you will see the Skye bridge on the distant horizon.

Fearless

I absolutely love the shape of this wonderful tree. He stands fearless on top of the Enville Sheepwalks as he fights the constant battle against the elements of nature. The image was captured during a transition period between sunset and twilight known as the blue hour.

If you want to know more about the Sheepwalks have a look at this blog post where I document my outing and the evenings light.

Harvest

Having a vision is one thing, executing the vision is often quite difficult. Truth be known I’ve had this image in my head for quite a while. In fact I’ve been thinking about it for a couple of years. Finding the right field at the right time whilst experiencing great light turned out to be very challenging. I feel that this image accomplished my vision and I couldn’t have asked for better conditions on the day.

Final Thoughts

Whilst 2021 has had its challenges I think in terms of photography it’s been an exciting year producing some of my best images to date. Whilst I have only shared 10 images in this post I have made several others that I am extremely proud of. Some of which you will find on my website and others on my social media accounts.

I feel my biggest improvement in 2021 has been with composition. I have tried to elevate the aesthetic nature of my photographs by incorporating contrast, balance, colour and depth into images. Understanding light and teaching myself to see better quality light has also had a big impact on the quality of my work.

Bonus Image: Harvest II

I couldn’t help but to share another image from this fantastic morning. What a sunrise!

Thank you for reading! Please feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of the page.