2024 was a great year for us, we finally got back to traveling and photographing the way we love. The Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Ireland, England and Scotland. Traveling in the bimobil was great, even if some of the roads were really narrow. What a year!

2023 was another year in transition with the big move to the Netherlands. Fortunately, I had a whirlwind trip with Len through Southern Utah to give my cameras a workout. Once we settled in back in Didam, we started exploring our new home turf and planning for a big 2024.

This was the year we sere supposed to get back to what we love doing. After picking up the bimobil there would be a trip to the US, guests to host throughout the summer and a fall photography trip. Little of that turned out the way we had planned. Still, I made some photographs of note, mostly from experimenting with the capabilities of a new camera and from figuring out where our next home would be.

COVID had Portugal on lock-down, then restrictive measures for much of the year. The Delta variant derailed our plans to visit the US, so we shifted gears and managed a photography vacation in Madeira . . . only to arrive back home a couple of days before Omicron messed with flying again. The best news perhaps was that the bimobil was still on course to be ready in 2022.

What a yearI. Between a trip to Portugal with a side-trip to Munich to order the bimobil, getting our visas with rumors of a strange virus in China, to moving to Portugal in-between the surge in Portugal and the one in the US, it was a year where everything went right but nothing was normal. COVID put a halt to most of our planned photography scouting , . . but not all image making.

2019 was a strange year. We knew Ann was retiring and we were busy with plans to move to Portugal. Yet we weren’t done photographing the US, so we made one final grand tour, knowing it would be a long while before we could revisit some of our favorite locations.

This was, perhaps my most productive year photographically. Not only were we constantly out photographing, I think in many ways I hit my stride. It was also the year I stated photographing in a square format. If you look at one annual gallery, this is the one to pick. Apologies for the number of images, I swear that I culled them, removing many images worthy of being shown.

What a tremendous year! Not only did we do a grand, let’s introduce Beast to the world trip to the desert SW, we took another big trip to Yellowstone. We also did multiplel smaller trips, made easier since we could live in our vehicle. It was confirmation we had made the right choice in how to support our photography.

2016 was, in many ways, a slow year. Having ordered Beast, we spent the year waiting by taking only short trips, saving Ann’s vacation for the post-Sportsmobile pick-up trip. Still, we managed to get out and make some decent images that year.

Not only did Ann and I get out a lot this year, we also toured the desert SW with some friends in an RV. It was a discovery that led us to decide that Beast would allow us to do what we want, how we want to do it. It didn’t take us long to make our deposit afterwards.

In 2014 Ann received an extra week of vacation as a bonus at work. We spent 3 weeks in Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. In addition to enriching our photography, we learned how we prefer to travel and it has been our approach to trip planning to this day.

I again spent much of 2013 overseas. But upon my return, Ann and I started our photography trips together. And I decided to shoot with one camera and one lens for a year. What a year it was.

2012 was an odd year. I spent most of it overseas, but when on a trip to the San Juan Islands Ann asked if she could use a camera, I didn’t hesitate. To paraphrase Lou Reed, it was the beginning of a great adventure!

My first foray into digital photography actually happened the previous year, but 2011 was the year I bought the Fujifilm X100 and stopped shooting film. For me, it was the beginning of the return to serious photography.