My Most Significant Images of 2023

Dec 30

The godfather of landscape photography, Ansel Adams once said,

Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop.

Which is a nice quote, but my question is, ‘significant’ to whom? To what? I can’t claim that my work is significant to anyone or anything other than myself, so that’s the metric I’ll use. In chronological order, these are my twelve most personally significant images of 2023.

Because this was the first spectacular place we visited, and in less than ideal conditions, I made several images that I'm proud of.

Because this looks more like a painting than a photo, and I'm still not sure how I did it.

Because it's the closest I've come to capturing exactly how it felt to be in that place at that moment.

Because no matter what the cynics say, there's nothing wrong with photographing something that everyone has photographed.

Because years of astrophotography practice led to this.

Because I've been trying for a forest image like this since I started photography.

Because realizing that, with practice and modern technology, I could take long-exposure photos without a tripod opened up a lot of possibilities.

Because textures are always there if you need them.

Because sometimes you have to take hundreds of photos to take one photo.

Because sometimes cluttering an image works.

Because even in the wrong season, wrong light, wrong conditions, there's always an image to be made.

Because no matter how often I try and fail to find an image in the edit, it works often enough to keep trying.

2023

Adam Manninen

My Most Significant Images of 2023

Texas is, uh, also for the birds…

Florida is for the Birds