My Personal Favourite Photographs of 2023
Many of the new year's wishes that we are receiving this year express the hope that 2023 will soon become just a distant bad memory, but to me years do not really have that much meaning. There was a moment this year that life as we knew it stopped existing and in that same moment a life came into existence that is the one we have come to know as our new life. If one had a choice in the matter of sickness and health, everyone would choose health. I doubt that anyone would ever want to experience hardship and my husband certainly did not wish to get a stroke, but we do have a choice in this matter and this is the choice of how we choose to deal with this situation, who we choose to be in this life that is undoubtedly different from the one we used to lead.
Our choice was clear from that first day; our job would be to accept what life dealt to us, yet to do everything we could to make things better. We chose to think in solutions and we know very well that not everyone even gets the option to do even that after a stroke.
I'd rather think in moments, in the many appearances of the now, than in a year. A year is a collection of days and the concept of years ending and beginning as if there is a clean break, has always been something of a strange concept to me. But, as the calendar now shows that 2023 is coming to an end, I might as well show you my favourite photographs of this year. They are the ones that I am most proud of and I am pleased that I can finally say that I have made far more photographs that I am proud of than in recent years, which might be considered slightly surprising after what happened. I can only tell you that priorities shift after you almost loose the person you love more than anything and "happiness" than becomes a choice or rather...the things that are not out of our control, but that are making us unhappy, are more easily removed from our lives.
In a way we both became different people and I know for sure that I became a better and stronger person than I believed myself to be. This is something that inevitably shapes the photographer in me as well and this finds its way into my photographs. Moments have become much more important as they have lost their ordinariness. They have gained in meaning.
So this was not a year that we would like to put behind us, a year to forget, it is a year that gave back to us the meaning of moments lived. Something that most people skip over, hurrying over to a next perhaps better moment.
My favourite photographs of this year are special to me in so many more ways than that they might be considered "pretty" and I hope that the photographer, who I am, can be found within these...
As always I will not put them in the order of how I rate them nor will I stick to a specific amount. These are my favourite images made in 2023
I went back to my lifelong passion for mushrooms; these little marvels of nature. Ever since I can remember I have been drawing or photographing them. To me they are the prime examples of the extraordinary in the ordinary.
I photographed little else for weeks on end, until winter decided to take over and hide these marvels from sight under a thick blanket of russet leaves
The forest floor burst open and tiny pink mushrooms started to emerge from the soil. I spent a good few days marveling about these elegant but poisonous miracles of nature
These mushrooms don't seem to exist to those who don't pay attention. They live in the reality of the careful observer of those who choose to see them.....
This tiny mushroom had been nibbled at. Of course we are taught to only photograph mushrooms in perfect condition. I liked this one better, it looked like a lantern
At the end of this year I would like to express my gratitude to all of you who have supported me, who bought one of my prints, my eBook and who have trusted me to be their teacher, who came to my rescue when I needed it most and who spent time with me in the forest, often in heavy downpours.
If you feel compelled to support my work, please consider buying a print or my eBook The Magic of Forest Photography. Prints are now available for many more countries in the EU. If you would like to buy a print and can't find the image in my print shop, please let me know and I'll try to make it available.
