2025 – The Year in Pictures. Continuing a tradition that began over ten years ago here is a selection of a few of my favorite images released in the past year. These are not necessarily my best or most popular, but each represents a special moment in time in which the beauty of this amazing world revealed itself before my lens.
Please share and enjoy! I’d love to know your thoughts and if any images resonated with you or conjured up good memories. You can click on any image for a large high quality view, to learn more about it or purchase a fine art print.
I look forward to seeing your favorite images, and most of all I wish everyone a healthy and Happy New Year!
-Russ
Cascade on the Tuolumne River, Yosemite National Park, California USAMotmot bird (Momotidae), Arenal Volcano National Park, Costa RicaSunset at Playa Matapalo, Puntarenas Province, Costa RicaSplendid Leaf Frog (Agalychnis calcarifer), La Paz Waterfall Gardens, Costa RicaRio Celeste, Tenorio Volcano National Park, Costa RicaArenal Volcano, Arenal Volcano National Park, Alajuela Province, Costa RicaRio Celeste Waterfall, Tenorio Volcano National Park, Costa RicaMorning light on Mount Cook, Aoraki Mount Cook National Park, New ZealandRainbow Falls, Wailuku River State Park, Hawaii USAPowerful surf on the Puna Coast, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii USAJungle stream on the Hamakua Coast, The Big Island, Hawaii USASunrise at Mather Point, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona USA
Sunset over Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite National Park, California
John Muir referred to the Sierra Nevada Mountains as the Range of Light, and it’s hard to imagine a more fitting moniker. The play of light amid the high peaks, the unique cloud formations along the eastern escarpment, and the painterly sunsets combine in a luminous landscape to stimulate the senses. And though I have many favorites in the range, one location seems to embody the spirit of these mountains like no other – Tuolumne Meadows.
Tuolumne Meadows, in the high country of Yosemite National Park, is a pristine alpine environment of glacial-polished domes, cascading streams and lush meadows under an indigo sky. At nearly 9,000 feet it also has a short summer season between snows with virtually no spring or fall, which makes an annual pilgrimage even more special.
Days here might be spent photographing the landscape, climbing the world-class granite, exploring miles of forest trail, or just lounging by a secluded spot along the river as Muir once did. However you experience Tuolumne, when the daylight fades it’s time to find a clearing in the meadow or scramble up a dome to reflect on the day and enjoy the show as the Sierra magic hour ushers in the night.
Sunset over the Channel Islands and Ventura Pier, Ventura, California
WYSIWYG (or “what you see is what you get”) is computer lingo for software that optimizes the screen display for a particular type of output. Back when word processing and desktop publishing software first hit the scene this was nothing short of a miracle. The software emulated the resolution of the printer in order to get as close as possible to WYSIWYG, but the main attraction was the ability to previsualize what you were producing prior to printing.
We now live in a far more advanced digital world of 4K monitors, massive image files, and the processors and video cards to handle them, but without color consistency across devices we might as well be living in the dark ages.
Monitor calibration has a reputation as being one of the great mysteries of digital imaging, but it really doesn’t have to be. Printing images that accurately represent what you see on-screen is a reasonable expectation that shouldn’t break the bank on wasted ink and paper. But unlike the out-of-box WYSIWYG experience you get when printing documents, your monitor requires a little assistance when it comes to images.
What you need is a spyder, and I’m not referring to those furry creatures lurking in your garage. Several companies sell highly accurate and reasonably priced kits like the Datacolor SpyderX Elite that include everything you need to guarantee that your output is consistent from screen to print. The spyder is actually a color sensor (called a colorimeter) that plugs into a standard USB port and works in tandem with software to read your monitor’s output. The process is known as calibration and it creates a custom profile that tunes your display to an industry reference standard, which is then used by image editing programs like Photoshop and Lightroom to provide consistent reliable color.
You trust your eyes and photo equipment when it comes to accurately representing your vision in the field, but it’s all for naught if your monitor doesn’t faithfully reproduce those tones and colors. Much like driving in the dark with your headlights off, editing images without a calibrated monitor is a guessing game. So before you buy another lens or camera body, don’t overlook one of the most important investments you can make as a digital photographer. A quality monitor and calibration kit may not be the most exciting gear you’ll buy, but they do guarantee that what you see is what you get.
that include everything you need to guarantee that your output is consistent from screen to print. The spyder is actually a color sensor (called a colorimeter) that plugs into a standard USB port and works in tandem with software to read your monitor’s output. The process is known as calibration and it creates a custom profile that tunes your display to an industry reference standard, which is then used by image editing programs like Photoshop and Lightroom to provide consistent reliable color.