My Best of 2014

2014 has been an exciting year for me photographically, from many viewpoints, including the geographic and chronological. When I am not suffering from temporal displacement syndrome (otherwise known as jet lag), being lost in time and space has its virtues for a photographer—since so much of photography is about time and geographic locale, and feeling disconnected from each allows for much fruitful meditation, as well as consideration of the differences between cultures.

Compiling my annual best list of photos is a difficult exercise, but it helps me put the year in perspective, and last year’s Best of 2013 has remained one of the most popular stories on my blog throughout the subsequent year.

You are welcome to comment at the end of this story; also, please feel free to add a link in your comment to your own Best of 2014 photos. Editing is one of the most important aspects of the craft of photography, and compiling your own annual best list is a great way to exercise your editing skills.

This is my year in pictures. I am going to start with some flowers because, at home or abroad, I always enjoy creating botanical imagery. Here are some of my personal favorite flowers from the year, with other subject matter and places following the botanicals:

White Poppy © Harold Davis
White Poppy © Harold Davis
© Harold Davis
Tulips on White © Harold Davis
© Harold Davis
Tulip Panorama © Harold Davis
© Harold Davis
Tulips 1 © Harold Davis
© Harold Davis
Red Tulip, Giverny © Harold Davis
© Harold Davis
Into the Vortex of the Universe © Harold Davis
© Harold Davis
High-Key Tulips © Harold Davis
© Harold Davis
Flowering Quince © Harold Davis
© Harold Davis
Bounty of the Garden © Harold Davis
© Harold Davis
Alstromeria Ballet © Harold Davis

Related stories: Flowers Category on the blog; White PoppyWe Happy Flower Few; Trio of Tulips at Giverny; Harold Davis posters from Editions Limited; Photographing Flowers for Transparency; Flowering Quince; What Flowers Are These?

There’s a natural progression from photographing flowers to Paris in the spring. Rainbows seem a good place to start. I was lucky enough to be out on the Pont Solferino footbridge as a spring rainstorm was coming to an end, and to capture this double rainbow over Paris and the Seine River.

Double Rainbow over Paris
Double Rainbow over Paris © Harold Davis

Underneath the Pont Solferino there was action as well. I thought it looked like a stairway to heaven:

Pont Solferino © Harold Davis
Pont Solferino © Harold Davis

On this trip to Paris my group stayed near the Seine, so photographing along the banks of the river and under the bridges was natural—generally using an exposure that played on time and motion. This one is a long exposure from Under the Pont de la Concorde:

Under the Pont de la Concorde © Harold Davis
Under the Pont de la Concorde © Harold Davis

Worth noting: for the first time, iPhone captures are creeping into my personal bests! I captured this image of Les Deux Magots, the famous St Germaine-des-Pres haunt of Hemingway and other literati back when one could afford to be bohemian in Paris, using my iPhone camera, and gleefully processed it using the latest apps to look old-fashioned to match the traditional costume of the waiter.

Les Deux Magots © Harold Davis
Les Deux Magots © Harold Davis

Back to the banks of the Seine River, in Behind the Wall I played with camera motion (rather than subject motion).

Behind the Wall © Harold Davis
Behind the Wall © Harold Davis

Any way you slice it, Paris is a great city for night photography. I enjoyed the chance to shoot the skyline at dusk again from the Tour Montparnasse in Paris Sunset.

Paris Sunset © Harold Davis
Paris Sunset © Harold Davis

Of course, the Pyramide in the central court of the Louvre is a wonderful subject for night photography, even if photographing Night at the Louvre does involve an occasional  cat-and-mouse game with the tripod gendarmerie.

Pyramide © Harold Davis
Pyramide © Harold Davis

You can see more of my Paris photography in the Paris category on my blog. I do also love to photograph the gardens that are a short excursion from Paris. An iPhone capture, and a more formal version, of one of the famous green bridges in Monet’s glorious garden at Giverny are shown below.

Giverny Waterlogue Watercolor © Harold Davis
Giverny Waterlogue Watercolor © Harold Davis
Giverny © Harold Davis
Giverny © Harold Davis

Related stories: Giverny Waterlogue Watercolor; Giverny.

The Parc de Sceaux is accessible from Paris via the RER (suburban railway). To understand the title of this image, Ghosts in the Enchanted Garden, you’ll need to look at it carefully!

Ghosts in the Enchanted Garden © Harold Davis
Ghosts in the Enchanted Garden © Harold Davis

It was a great pleasure in May to begin to explore the southwest of France. This is a region I enjoyed immensely, for the scenery and history—and, no surprise, the food. I hope to be back. Here’s the Pont Valentre in Cahors photographed conventionally, and captured via my iPhone and processed using the iPhone Waterlogue app :

Valentre Bridge © Harold Davis
Valentre Bridge © Harold Davis
Pont Valentre Waterlogue © Harold Davis
Pont Valentre via Waterlogue © Harold Davis

Related stories: Valentre Bridge and Impregnable.

Making my way to an overlook above a Bend in the Dordogne River on a misty day, I carefully shot the multiples needed to create a panorama.

Bend in the River © Harold Davis
Bend in the River © Harold Davis

Visiting Bourges, I was impressed with the still-unfinished grand cathedral, a World Heritage site and one of the most impressive examples of 13th century high Gothic style—but more impressed with the light on the cathedral as seen through my Window in Bourges!

Window in Bourges © Harold Davis
Window in Bourges © Harold Davis

Related story: France category on my blog.

Back home, I photographed the sacred and the profane; namely, San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral, a restored temple to Henry Ford’s assembly line, and models in motion. I particularly enjoyed choreographing in-camera multiple exposure techniques with models to create striking, painterly effects.

Graced with Light at Grace Cathedral © Harold Davis
Graced with Light at Grace Cathedral © Harold Davis
Ford Richmond Plant © Harold Davis
Ford Richmond Plant © Harold Davis
Tender Dance (via iPhone) © Harold Davis
Tender Dance (via iPhone) © Harold Davis
Wheel of Life © Harold Davis
Wheel of Life © Harold Davis
Falling © Harold Davis
Falling © Harold Davis
Dance of the Seven Veils #2 © Harold Davis
Dance of the Seven Veils #2 © Harold Davis
Passion © Harold Davis
Passion © Harold Davis
Les Desmoiselles © Harold Davis
Les Desmoiselles © Harold Davis
What rough beast? © Harold Davis
What rough beast? © Harold Davis
Kali © Harold Davis
Kali © Harold Davis
Gates after Rodin
Gates after Rodin © Harold Davis

Related stories: Tender Dance; Wheel of Life; Falling; Dance of the Seven Veils #2; Passion; Les Desmoiselles; What Rough Beast; Kali; A Rorschach for MFAs.

Over the summer I taught flower photography and digital black & white in Heidelberg, Germany. I had a great group of students, and a wonderful time getting to know Heidelberg and exploring the area.

The Old Bridge in Heidelberg was the first bridge across the Neckar River, and is still in much use today. It’s a great subject for black and white.

Alte Brucke, Heidelberg © Harold Davis
Alte Brucke, Heidelberg © Harold Davis

In contrast, the Great Hall at the old campus in Heidelberg is not much used except ceremonially; I was lucky to be able to take my time photographing in this historic place.

Great Hall, Heidelberg © Harold Davis
Great Hall, Heidelberg © Harold Davis

My hosts made sure I visited many local attractions, including Speyer cathedral in a city along the Rhine River not far from Heidelberg.

Speyer Cathedral (via iPhone) © Harold Davis
Speyer Cathedral (via iPhone) © Harold Davis

While I was in Germany, Germany won the World Cup. This iPhone still life composition of refracted wine glasses shows just a small bit of the celebrating that went on.

Wine Glasses © Harold Davis
Wine Glasses © Harold Davis

Related stories: Germany category on my blog; Cheap shots; More cheap shots.

My next trip was to New York for some meetings and appearances related to a photography trade show. I’m of the general opinion that life in New York City has some resemblance to a stage show. At the very least, New Yorkers are definitely into appearances—so when I was able to sneak away from business and practice my craft of photography in Central Park at night it was fitting that New York seemed to me to be a stage.

Bethesda Fountain © Harold Davis
Bethesda Fountain © Harold Davis

In Barcelona, I shot straight up at the amazing ceiling of Antoni Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia, and captured an almost endless internal spiral staircase in black and white.

Sagrada Familia © Harold Davis
Sagrada Familia © Harold Davis
Stair in the Sagrada © Harold Davis
Stair in the Sagrada © Harold Davis

Traffic and the lighting of a fountain on the Gran Via gave me a chance to practice photographing car trails at night in Barcelona, while the odd positioning of my hotel room gave a peculiar perspective for my 15mm lens in the crooked, old streets of the Gothic Quarter.

Gran Via © Harold Davis
Gran Via © Harold Davis
Gotic Quarter © Harold Davis
Gotic Quarter © Harold Davis

In Morocco, I enjoyed photographing the great outdoor marketplace, the Jemaa-al-Fna, in Marrakech at night and the sand Kasbahs on the far side of the Atlas Mountains. When it rained in Rabat, my iPhone was ready to help me capture the view through the bus window.

Rain in Rabat © Harold Davis
Rain in Rabat © Harold Davis
Jemaa-al-Fna © Harold Davis
Jemaa-al-Fna © Harold Davis
Market in Marrakech © Harold Davis
Market in Marrakech © Harold Davis
Castle Made of Sand © Harold Davis
Castle Made of Sand © Harold Davis

Related stories: Jemaa-al-Fna; Market in Marrakech; Castle Made of Sand. After delays at Casablanca airport, I snapped an iPhone shot of leaving Morocco both lyrical and indicative of some travel fatigue.

Goodbye Morocco © Harold Davis
Goodbye Morocco © Harold Davis

Back home, I settled in to prove that one can make photos of the mundane as well as the marvelous; hence this image of a Venetian blind in my kitchen, drawn to allow bright sunlight to creep through.

Blind © Harold Davis
Blind © Harold Davis

Giving a Waves workshop on Point Reyes, California in December I was lucky to find a break in relentless rains and a stunning day for photography along the open Pacific Ocean.

Waves © Harold Davis
Waves © Harold Davis
Sunset at Point Reyes Head
Sunset at Point Reyes Head © Harold Davis
Storm at Sea
Storm at Sea © Harold Davis

Related story: Photographing Waves.

Coming a full circle, as almost befits a spiral, my last photo is of a Nautilus Shell, shot in my studio. Apart from the iPhone images, my photography has greatly benefited from a high-resolution full frame DSLR sensor paired with some excellent glass from my sponsor Zeiss. In the case of this Nautilus, I used the Zeiss Otus 55mm f/1.4.

Nautilus © Harold Davis
Nautilus © Harold Davis

Related link: Monochrome category on my blog.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this story, please feel free to comment. Please also consider creating your own best-of list, it is a great way to learn more about your work, and to practice your editing skills!

This Post Has 11 Comments

  1. A wonderful tour (de force)! Thanks, Harold.

  2. These are beautiful, but what about your stunning photos from Japan?

  3. Thanks Kathy! I was in Japan most recently at the end of 2013. So while I’ve processing and printing my work from Japan since then (see the Japan category on my blog, http://www.digitalfieldguide.com/blog/entries/japan, and a story about our new Japanese portfolio, http://www.digitalfieldguide.com/blog/12294) part of my self-imposed rule for this collation was that the photographs had to be made in 2014—which ruled my Japan imagery out! Perhaps I’ll get back to Japan in 2015.

  4. Dear Harold:
    What a wonderful trip through your year! I am always amazed and inspired by the work.
    I have almost finished watching the Photographing Flowers class.
    Almost as good as in person.

    Happy New Year!

    Constance

Leave a Reply

Close Menu