As the New Year gets underway I thought I would take a look back at some of my favourite images from 2025. Creating this website and taking intermittent steps away from social media was the biggest change I made last year, followed by finally purchasing a Canon Pro 1100 printer and getting to grips with creating my own prints. I had quite a few trips abroad in 2025 - more flights than I would normally take - and saw some amazing places both for work and holidays. Here are a few favourite images from local photography excursions, and further afield.
Forest Flames: Technically this image was made on Boxing Day 2024….but who’s going to quibble over a few days! These were some of my favourite conditions for woodland photography - incredibly still air and grasses laden with dewdrops, as the mist swirled and thickened around me. This was taken on the hillside just above Sidmouth in Devon, and I was drawn to the three layers of rich russet-toned grasses, the blackened stems of the shrub understory, and the tall pines beyond extending upwards. It had a feel of forest flames to me, and I kept the composition simple to emphasise the layers.
Sound II by Antony Gormley, Winchester Cathedral: The crypt at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire frequently floods in the rainier months of the year, and I was very lucky to time my visit perfectly. I live very nearby so once I’d realised the crypt was under water I was able to pop down at a quieter time. This was handheld perching my camera on the protective railings that stop people wading into the water - high ISO and noise reduction were my friends here! This image required very careful and time-consuming editing, but was totally worth it. It’s an amazing sight to see!
Eiffel Tower at sunset: This is the classic view of the Eiffel Tower taken from the Montparnasse Tower nearby in February. You need a timed entry ticket, and we nearly missed the window but fortunately managed to get up to the viewing deck just in time for the perfect afterglow. This shot was taken handheld with my compact Canon G5X Mark II - a brilliant camera for travel and lightweight photography. There are small gaps in the glass screens that run around the viewing platform, and you have to wait your turn to get the chance to stabilise your hand and get the shot. I was very happy to get the timing perfect in this case!
Aldabra, Seychelles: I was very lucky to go on a small-boat Indian Ocean cruise in March, stopping off at the remote atolls in the Seychelles that are UNESCO world heritage sights with very tightly-controlled entry. This piece of coral on the powder white sands of Aldabra caught my eye, and I wanted to create a minimalist image to show the purity of the sand and turquoise water. Just out of sight to the left were multiple small sharks!
Arriving in Madagascar: Another image from the Indian Ocean cruise, this time our first glimpse of Madagascar as we arrived in the hazy morning sunshine. I waited until the sailing boat was in exactly the right position between the islands.
Temperate rainforest: This gnarled oak, laden with mosses, ferns, lichens and fungi, hangs from a precipice high above the wooded Dartmoor valley below. I had clocked it the year before during a rock climbing trip, since you really only encounter it on the tricky descent from the top of some granite cliffs. I made a short trip to Dartmoor in October to try and capture some of the rare temperate rainforest there, and made this tree a priority. I’m thrilled with this image - the detail is incredible, and a shaft of sunlight after gentle rain illuminated the colours of the trees in the valley. The detail when printed out large-scale is mesmerising.
Wistman’s Wood, Dartmoor: One more image from my trip to the temperate rainforest of Dartmoor in Devon. Wistman’s Wood is very famous, but entry is now prohibited to prevent damage to the trees and moss-laden boulders. It’s still possible to find and create images from the outside looking in, but you need to be observant, patient and creative - especially without mist or fog! I’ve included this image because of the composition - I did two laps of the wood before I saw this, but was immediately drawn to the sense of a portal into a magical world and used a telephoto lens to isolate this scene. For me, it captures exactly the mystical qualities of this woodland that make it such a popular destination.
‘Christmas trees’ on New Year’s Eve: 2025 closed with a day of continual fog, coinciding with a morning free for photography. I went to my local woodland, Micheldever Woods, where there is always something interesting and unique to photograph. These trees caught my eye - they just need some tinsel and baubles and the effect would be complete!
So these are my top picks for 2025! It’s been nice to go through and select these images. I also had trips away to Lake Louise in Canada for a work conference, and Madrid, Toledo and Bulgaria for sightseeing and climbing. Hopefully 2026 will be just as fun, but ideally with fewer flights and more excursions closer to home.