My top five images from 2025

I guess I will be the first to break cover this year to post my top images from 2025! I know we have a few weeks left of the year but as I am going to be phenomenally busy at work right up until Christmas I thought I would do mine now. This is always a tricky process for me and I have made it even harder for myself this year (thats what she said) by only choosing five but allow me to cheat a little and include one honourable mention!

Honourable mention

Looking down on me

I visited Knowlton church the day after I got the news my Father had suddenly passed away. Obviously my head was in a very bad place and I just needed to get out somewhere and be outdoors. I ended up here and just allowed myself to be absorbed by the elements, getting soaked several times by some really heavy showers. But I didnt mind as I ended up being treated to some fantastic rainbows as the rains passed and the light emerged from behind the dark clouds. I felt like Dad was looking down at me while I was here getting these shots and I blubbed like a baby viewing this scene as the camera snapped away on a intervelometer besides me. Its not the best image in the world but to me it will always remind me of my Dad. xx

Number 5

Journey

I took this on my Infrared converted Nikon D90 with a basic kit lens and I loved how it came out. I feel woodland sometimes is very tricky to do in black and white but IR cameras add some mysticism to the final image you just cant get shooting with a normal camera. This was also one of my first images of the year and is testament to the regard I hold it that it still makes my top five this year!

Number 4

Intersteller

How could I not include an image of my favourite tree in my top five? This was taken on an evening out with Jack Lodge and is of course Lonely Joe with the Milky Way rising behind him. This is of course a composite with one image for the foreground and ten for the sky, which I then combined in Photoshop. I think the crop is corn this year which proved a little problematic as it was about 6ft high at this point! Luckily there was zero wind this night too which helped massively for the foreground. It also reminds me that I am lucky to live in an area where there is minimal light pollution as this scene is less than five minutes from my home and only a couple of miles outside of the town I live in.

Number 3

The bluebell path

This was a simply glorious 20 minutes of photography from back in the Spring. No fog or mist, just beautiful soft predawn light filtering in from the right of these massive Beech trees casting a gorgeous glowing light over the woodland. The combination of those spring green leaves and the almost purple bluebells always makes for a beautiful scene. For me the small group of dandelions just right of centre make it just that little bit more special.

Number 2

Fetch

For about a week this was my top image of the year. A wander around Fonthill lake proved very productive when I stumbled upon these branches reaching up from the still waters. The lake level had dropped quite a lot over the summer, revealing this detritus from a fallen tree. I also loved the colours of the trees on the opposite side of the lake reflected in the calm waters. A much more abstract image from me and I feel like one I wouldnt have even noticed a couple of years ago. I guess this is another reason why I liked this image so much is that to me, it demonstrates just how much I have improved as a photographer over the last few years, at least in my mind if not in others!

Number 1 (or could it be 666, the number of the beast?)

EDDIE

Iron Maidens mascot, a skeletal figure know as Eddie is the face I see in this ancient oak which resides in Savernake Forest. This was absolute peak colours here on this day and this scene in particular has it all. The fog was fleeting and hard to photograph but I had just enough in the composition to give me the atmsophere I wanted. I also included the Rowan tree to the right of Eddie as those red berries just add to the overall colour palette. I think this is for me, a deserving number one spot for my 2025 and I will go as far to say as it might be my favourite image I have EVER taken?

Well thats it folks. My top five plus one very honourable mention. 2025 has been a tough year for me emotionally and I must admit to struggling a lot over the last couple of months. However I will keep saying it until I am blue in the face. Being out in nature is nothing but a positive experience and does wonders for your mental health. Get outdoors if you are struggling mentally. I promis you it will only help.

Toodles