The Year that Was 2022 — Stories Behind My Favorite Images of 2022 (Part 1 — Lowcountry Living)

Happy Holidays everyone!

It has been another great year for my photography. Looking back, I am frankly amazed at just how many images from this year can make it into my personal favorites. Although I have been doing landscape photography for more than a few years now, the last two years probably saw the biggest jump in the quality of my images. I’ve made great progress in almost every aspect of my photography from planning my shots and locations and all the way through editing.

This was also the first year I seriously tried to sell my work at art fairs and other venues. This experience helped me get over the concerns of whether I was good enough (impostor syndrome is not unusual with photogrphers). I even dipped my toes in doing commission work (I am grateful to the customers that trusted me with this). In short, as I mentioned above, it has been a great year.

So, to celebrate the end of the year, here are the stories behind some of my favorites from 2022. Since there were so many, I had to break this into several parts. This part will focus on images taken in South Carolina during a workshop in Charleston at the end of march.

Special shout out to Kate Silvia and Kenny McKeithan who led the workshop in Charleston. Make sure to check them out. So, without further ado…

Click on the image to go to a product page. As I look back at 2022, is amazing just how many images that I love I took this year. I had to work hard to reduce this list to a manageable level.

Arthur Ravenel Jr. bridge is a staple of Charleston. We came there for a sunset shoot after spending some time at the famous Rainbow Row in Downtown Charleston. And, boy, did the sunset delver. The beautifully lit clouds with made the location one of my best experiences this year.

Sunset at the Arthur Ravenel Jr Bridge, Charleston, South Carolina

The shot on the right is a panorama of six images taken with a long 150mm (225mm equivalent) lens. The light from the sunset on the left, just outside the frame, gives this image a kind of cynematic look you sometimes see in the initial establishing shots. A perfect way to kick off my top choices. After we were done, and other participants went to rest before an early shoot the next day, I stayed behind. First, I went up the bridge, and then returned to our sunset spot for a night shot. Although I love the night lit bridge by itself, I think that the clouds that day gave this image just that extra kick to bring it into my top twelve for the year. I should point out here, that I have several more great images of this bridge, which did not make it to this list.

A Night Shot of Arthur Ravenel Jr Bridge in Charleston, South Carolina.

After doing a sunrise shoot at Folly Beach the next morning, we went to visit the Magnolia Plantation. This plantation is amazing and offers a variety of great shots of the live oaks, cypresses and various flowers. For the purposes of this list, I chose two of the more unusual shots I took there. The black and white image of the live oak was taken with a long lens (again). I have a color version of the same shot that I also like, but I just think that the black and white version with the edit to mimic an infrared shot brings that something extra to the shot.

Live Oak at Magnolia Plantation in Monochrome.

The second image from the Magnolia Plantation surprised me. I am used to water looking like glass when you take a long exposure, and this was what I expected when I took this image. However, apparently water and leaves moved enough on the surface to create these amazing streaks. This was enough to get the image to my top choices list.

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Circles on the Water at the Magnolia Plantation

On the last day of the workshop we went to the bone-yard beach at Botany Bay for sunrise. As people spread out, I found myself a nice dead tree placed right at the edge of the surf. As the sun came up, I kept shooting, experimenting with different shutter speeds until I was happy with the result. During one of the art shows I participated this year, a customer mentioned that they saw a couple sitting at the top of the root, watching the sunrise. Ever since then I cannot unsee it.

Sunrise at the Bone-Yard Beach at Botany Bay

After we finished at Botany Bay, on our way back to Charleston we stopped at the Angel Oak tree. This amazing like oak is estimated to be 400-500 years old, and it stands over 60ft tall and over 25 feet in circumference. It dwarfs the people standing next to it. The location was teaming with people, but I managed to take a few shots without a crowd. I especially love a series of shots of the branches of this amazing tree reaching for the sun. One of these makes an appearance on this “favorite” list.

Reaching for the Sun. Angel Oak Tree near Charleston.

Azaleas and Cypress Trees at the Cypress Gardens

Finally, after finishing up the workshop and before leaving South Carolina, I stopped at the cypress gardens. It is another amazing location near Charleston, and I had a blast photographing it. I had the benefit of great light although it was in the middle of the day. Out of the many shots that I love, which I took that day, I chose one to include on this list. The combination of the white azaleas and the cypress trees in the background is just something special.

As i already mentioned, narrowing down the list of my favorites was very hard this year, and many great images I took during my several days in Charleston didn’t make it onto the list.

If you would like to see more images from South Carolina, be sure to check out my South Carolina gallery.

Happy Holidays!