I have finally finished reviewing all of my 2013 pictures.  I took about 25,000 images for the year so this selection is about 0.15% of the pictures.  I tried to include a variety of pictures from portraits, weddings and landscapes to give you a better feel of my work.  You can see some of the pictures below or you can go to the 2013 Favorite gallery here to see them all.   You can also see my 2012 favorites here.

I like this picture for a couple of reasons.  There is strong placement of the bride and groom at 1/3 lines and the symmetry of the arches for me is pleasing.  It portrays them bound together by the arch, but separate and distinct individuals, sort of an important concept in marriages.  I wanted to step away from the kissing, hugging cute pictures typical of weddings and examine the individuals.  I also like the strong covergng lines of the side, but the telephone pole and garage in the background are distracting elements.  Maybe I will work on this image at some point.

I like this picture mostly because it captures a fun, spontanteous moment in time of a family on a beach.  If you look at it for a while, lots of stories will pop into your mind.  Run with them and see where they lead you.  

There are times when the range of light far exceeds what is possible to capture with a single frame, but your eye adjusts as you scan across the image and captures the range of light.  I like this picture because of the intensive sunrise, bright colors, the floating clouds anchored by the rocks on the shore line.  The rays of the sun pull the eye into the picture and your mind into true majesty of the place.  This picture was taken at the very most southern tip of Isla Mujeres off the east coast of Mexico.  It is a magical place at sunrise.

The person is well placed along the lower 1/3 lines creating nice balance in the picture.  I like the picture because of the pleasing colors and very clean white background forcing the subject into focus.  

I really like to colors of this picture and for me the wonderful smiles of these sisters make the picture.  

I have included this picture because of its classical story of an older man teaching a young boy to fish with great success and another younger man with a young child recording the remarkable event with a cell phone camera!  The huge bass helps to make this picture interesting.  The picture teaches the point:  The best camera in the world is the one you have with you.

I have been working to develop my skills to deal with large numbers of people in family portraits.  I really like this picture because it shows the people in their natural environment, the people feel very relaxed and having a good time.  It avoids the so common posing model of solder lines of many family portraits.  

I love this family portrait because it also avoids the classic gather them together into a bundle and take a picture.  The parents bracket the children, holding them safe despite their mischievous nature.  The symmetry of the dad and young boy on the left with their arms resting on the tree reminds me of how much our children mimic adult behavior.  

I like this picture because it has a strong old time classical feel.  This was a wedding day picture in the studio, shot after their ceremony, something that is rarely done in today's world.  I believe this picture will be displayed and shown for many generations.

I like this picture because you can let your mind wander through it exploring all the details.  It is a picture of Machu Picchu from the Sungate.  This is the image hikers of the Inca Trial will see on their final morning of a 5 day hike.  Tired and exhausted the expanse is breathtaking and their path for final descent into Machu Picchu on on the far left, with Machu Picchu cradled in center of the picture next to Waynu Picchu.

When I was making this image I wanted to create a newborn portrait that was different than the 'snuggling on a white blanket sleeping type of picture' that captured the sense of pride and joy a mother feels for her new child.  I wanted the child to dominate (and our eye drawn initially to the child) and the mother much less so to reflect the quiet and many times not visible importance of the mother in raising and supporting their child.  The child looking away some is our indifference to the importance of mothers in the raising of our most valuable asset (our children) as we as a society expect them to be wage earners.  Last, the body of the mother is formed in such a way as to seem like an urn (or uterus) from which the child is coming.