This year has flown by really quickly and took me kind of off guard as far as coming up with my Best of 2022 or favorite images of the year. This is a group of images that I both enjoyed making and really love. I hope you all enjoy them as well!
“Loon Lake Pink Fog”“Point Betsie Sunset 1”“Kingsville At Home Again”“The Way You Move Me”“Light of the Pines”“Greening of the Forest Floor”“Spring Tulips 1”
“Detroit Skyline 101”“Solar Burst Summer 2”“Lake Erie Lights and Reflections”
2022 was a really different year for me. These past 2 years honestly have been quite unusual for me and all of us I’m sure, in one way or another.
I hope that the New Year, 2023 brings all of you excellent health, great experiences, wonderful times with friends and family, and joy and success in your lives!
I was fortunate to be able to attend The 2017 Tulip Festival in Holland, Michigan this spring. I have been one other time but that particular year the tulips hadn’t even begun to bloom.
I was rewarded with beautiful tulips and daffodils this year at the festival, among many other types of flowers.
The lovely purple tulips above were some of the last I was able to see that day as the sun got lower in the sky.
The images below give you some idea of the abundance of tulips and wonderful color there at the Tulip Festival!
“Daffodil Tripartite In Sunlight” Just lovely little daffodils set against brightly colored tulips at The 2017 Tulip Festival in Holland, MI.
“Tulips in Rows” Beautiful rows of tulips with trees and flags in the background at The Tulip Festival.
“Tulip Festival Holland” Enjoying all of the many varieties of tulips at The 2017 Tulip Festival in Holland, Michigan!
I’d like to share with you one of my favorite times of year at Nichols Arboretum in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The time when The Peony Gardens come to life!
In early June, depending on the weather, these beautiful show stoppers begin to make their appearance. For the next couple of weeks you’ll have the opportunity to stroll through and enjoy these gorgeous peonies!
Below you’ll find a few of my images of the Peonies at Nichols Arboretum with a brief description underneath.
I have many more photos of peonies of every variety in my online galleries if you’d like to take a look!
“Dusted in Yellow” Beautiful red peonies with a large golden center, fully opened to the morning sunlight!
“Nestled Peonies” A lovely group of pink peonies nestled within their green foliage!
“Pink Sorbet” That’s what this gorgeous puffy and full blossom reminds me of. I also love the mottled pink color, not found in other peonies that I’ve seen before!
“Ahead of the Crowd” Lovely light pink peonies with ruffled petals against a background of white peonies!
“Peony Garden Stroll” Some peony admirers strolling through the Peony Gardens at Nichols Arboretum in Ann Arbor Michigan!
I hope you enjoyed this stroll through a very special place, and time of year! A morning of Peonies at Nichols Arboretum!
As you can see, I’m still trying to get in some more spring images before fall arrives, and being that it is now September 1st, well it’s certainly on our doorstep!!
In May, I found large areas of beautiful bright pink Azaleas in Virginia. This day happened to be a rainy one, which played really nicely with the flowers.
For the most part I’ve been processing them in color, but I decided to do one in monochrome. This one was processed first in Lightroom, then in Nik Silver Efex Pro.
There isn’t a lot of contrast here, but I like the tone on tone look to it. When adding more contrast, it seemed to detract somehow from the flowers themselves.
