top 10 Archives • Michael Russell Photography

My Top 10 Photographs from 2021

December 16, 2021

December brings the time of year where we look back on the previous year and reflect on what occurred. I was hoping 2021 would be less eventful than the situation in 2020. While it was different, and much improved in many ways, the weather decided to be a big force where I live and not in a fun way. On the plus side, I did get out a lot more this year (locally) for photography, and I think I improved on some things from the previous year, which is all one can ask for really. 2021 also brought some really good fall foliage which I was able to both enjoy and photograph.

As usual, I started working on this list when I collected images for my 2022 Nature Calendar. I’ve published new images since then, and had many others to consider as well. If you click on a photo you’ll be taken to my Image Archive. I’ve also linked to corresponding blog posts that contain these images (if available) to provide more information about the location or to see other photos from that area. As usual, choosing 10 images is rather difficult, even though these should be considered my favourites and not the “best” necessarily. These aren’t in any order really as that would be just too hard!

I hope you enjoy this years selections and am curious to hear if you have any particular favourites. What do you see in photo #5?

My Favourite Photos of 2021:

1. Black Poplar (Populus trichocarpa) and Paper Birch (Betula papyrifera) in Katzie Marsh (Pitt Meadows, British Columbia)
Blog post: Pitt Polder Dike Walk Part 2 – Pitt Lake Dike Trail

2. Western Tiger Swallowtail ((Papilio rutulus)) (Langley, British Columbia)
Blog post: Lavender Flowers, Bees, and a Western Tiger Swallowtail

3. Mount Maxwell (Hwmet’atsum) In the Clouds
(Salt Spring Island, British Columbia)

4. Pacific Tree Frog (Pseudacris regilla) (Langley, British Columbia)
Blog post: Juvenile Pacific Tree Frog (Pseudacris regilla)

5. Cloud Formations
(Langley, British Columbia)

6. Western Trillium (Trillium ovatum) flower (Langley, British Columbia)
Blog post: Western Trillium Flowers in the Fraser Valley Of BC

7. Raven Peak and Fall Foliage (Pitt Meadows, British Columbia)
Blog post: Pitt Polder Dike Trail Walk Part 1

8. Backlit Bracken Fern (Pteridium aquilinum) (Langley, British Columbia)
Blog post: An Evening Walk in Campbell Valley Regional Park

9. Water Plants in Katzie Marsh
(Pitt Meadows, British Columbia)

10. Barrel-Roof Shed at Burgoyne Bay
(Salt Spring Island, British Columbia)

You can view my favourite photographs from 2020 here: My Top 10 Photos of 2020.

My Top 10 Photographs from 2020

December 12, 2020

It is time once again to post my favourite images from the past year. 2020 has not been a typical year by any means, but I can’t really complain overall. I stayed closer to home this year, and photographed more wildlife than usual. Part of this was the limited locations I had at times, avoiding crowds/people, and due to owning a longer lens now. As usual, I started working on this list when I collected images for my 2021 Nature Calendar, though the criteria for that is a bit more limited than a top 10 list (I generally avoid human elements). I let this selection of images sit for a while like I did last year, but only wound up rotating one image in/out this time.

If you click on a photo you’ll be taken to my Image Archive. I’ve also linked to corresponding blog posts that contain these images (if available) to provide more information about the location or to see other photos from that area. These photos aren’t in any specific order though I think the first photograph of the fledgling Barred Owls is my favourite. The blog post below the photo outlines some of my luck involved in making the owl image. That was a photo opportunity I never imagined having and can’t really expect to again! I didn’t anticipate photographing a comet this year either, so there are always surprises.

I hope you enjoy this years selections and am curious to hear if you have any particular favourites.

My Favourite Photos of 2020:

1. Barred Owl (Strix varia) Owlets Snuggling (Langley, British Columbia)
Blog post: Barred Owl (Strix varia) Fledglings in Campbell Valley Park

2. Waterfall along Poignant Creek on Sumas Mountain
(Abbotsford, British Columbia)

3. Comet NEOWISE in the evening sky above Burnaby Mountain (Burnaby, British Columbia)
Blog post: Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) And My First Astrophotography

4. A juvenile Bald Eagle next to Boundary Bay with Mount Baker (Washington) in the background. (Delta, British Columbia)
Blog post: Viewing Bald Eagles at Boundary Bay

5. Devon Falls (Abbotsford, British Columbia)
Blog post: Devon Falls at Bassani Park in Abbotsford British Columbia

6. Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca) foraging at Blackie Spit (Surrey, British Columbia)
Blog post: Birds at the Boundary Bay Wildlife Management Area

7. Golden Ears and sunset light at Derby Reach Regional Park
(Langley, British Columbia)

8. Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus) flying at Boundary Bay Regional Park (Delta, British Columbia)
Blog post: Birds at the Boundary Bay Wildlife Management Area

9. Lummi Peak on Lummi Island (in Washington State) – photographed from Boundary Bay
(Delta, British Columbia)

10. Male Wood Duck (Aix sponsa) on a tree branch
(Burnaby, British Columbia)

You can view my favourite photographs from 2019 here: My Top 10 Photos of 2019.

My Top 10 Photographs of 2019

December 16, 2019

It is again time to post my favourite images from the past year. Choosing these images is always a good exercise, though I did something a bit different this year. Usually selecting my images for my yearly calendar is a good basis for my top 10 selections. This year I ignored the calendar images, and went through all the photos I have completed from 2019 from scratch. I also set aside this selection of approximately 25 images and then went through all the 2019 images again a few weeks later. Often I wonder if my selections in these lists are just my favourites from the 20 minutes it took to choose them. So this year I went through the list a few times over a longer period.

I like sharing this list each year, and viewing everyone else’s lists as well. I also make this post so I can participate in Jim Goldstein’s annual Your Best Photos project. His collection of these posts is a great place to find new photographers you may not have discovered before.

I hope you enjoy this years selections and am curious to hear if you have any particular favourites.

My Favourite Photos of 2019:

1. A Black Cottonwood (Populus balsamifera ssp. trichocarpa) reflection at Silver Lake Provincial Park
(Hope, British Columbia)

2. Queen of Oak Bay in the Salish Sea (West Vancouver, British Columbia)
Blog post: Point Atkinson Lighthouse in Lighthouse Park

3. View of the City of Vancouver, North Vancouver, and beyond from Burnaby Mountain (Burnaby, British Columbia)
Blog post: View of Vancouver and North Vancouver from Burnaby Mountain

4. Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum) at Godwin Farm (Surrey, British Columbia)
Blog post: Godwin Farm Biodiversity Preserve in Surrey

5. Wetland plants (reeds or sedges) growing in Katzie Marsh (Pitt Meadows, British Columbia)
Blog post: Katzie Marsh Loop in the Pitt-Addington Wildlife Management Area

6. Reflection of Mount Maxwell on a rainy day at Blackburn Lake (Salt Spring Island, British Columbia)
Blog post: Fall Foliage on Salt Spring Island

7. Gable Roof Barn (1898) and Gambrel Roof Barn (1939) at Annand/Rowlatt Farmstead (Langley, British Columbia)
Blog post: Annand Rowlatt Farmstead (1886) in Township of Langley

8. Learning to Sail at Crescent Beach (Surrey, British Columbia)
Blog post: Crescent Beach Pier at Sunset

9. Baby Eastern Cottontail (S. floridanus) Eating Hawksbeard Flowers (Langley, British Columbia)
Blog post: Random Photos Volume II

10. Blanketflower (Gaillardia aristata) growing in a field at Blackie Spit (Surrey, British Columbia)
Blog post: Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II Lens Review

You can view my favourite photographs from 2018 here: My Top 10 Photos of 2018.

My Top 10 Photographs of 2018

January 17, 2019December 16, 2018

Once again it is time to post my favourite images from the past year. Choosing these images is always a good mental exercise, and I get a bit of a head start when I design my yearly calendar sometime in late October. I like sharing these image every year, and viewing everyone else’s lists as well. I also make this post so I can participate in Jim Goldstein’s annual Your Best Photos project. His collection of these posts is a great place to find new photographers you may not have seen before.

If you click on a photo you’ll be taken to my Image Archive. I’ve also linked to corresponding blog posts that contain these images if you want more information about the location or to see other photos from that area. There are a few images here that will have blog posts for them soon, but they aren’t finished yet. These photos aren’t in any specific order though I think the first one of with fall foliage around the road in Québec is my favourite overall.

I hope you enjoy this years selections and am curious to hear if you have any particular favourites.

My Favourite Photos of 2018:

1. A closed road (Chemin Cafferty) disappears into the trees (Chelsea, Québec)
Blog post: Meech Creek Valley in Gatineau Park

2. Great Blue Heron at Hog’s Back Falls (Ottawa, Ontario)
Blog post: Hogs Back Falls on Ottawa’s Rideau River

3. Vine Maples Over Lower Falls Trail (Maple Ridge, British Columbia)
Blog post: Lower Falls in Golden Ears Provincial Park

4. William Norman Ruckle Farmhouse and Orchard
(Salt Spring Island, British Columbia)

5. Fall Maples at Lac Bourgeois in Gatineau Park (Gatineau Park, Québec)
Blog post: Fall Rhapsody in Gatineau Park

6. Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) in Fulford Harbour (Salt Spring Island, British Columbia)
Blog post: Fulford Harbour on Salt Spring Island

7. Dunlop Falls on Fortune Creek (Gatineau Park, Québec)
Blog post: Dunlop Falls on Fortune Creek in Gatineau Park

8. Waterfall on the Mississippi River
(Almonte, Ontario)

9. Summer evening at Lower Falls on Gold Creek at Golden Ears Provincial Park (Maple Ridge, British Columbia)
Blog post: Lower Falls in Golden Ears Provincial Park

10. Pacific Dogwood (Cornus nuttallii) Flower
(Langley, British Columbia)

You can view my favourite photographs from 2017 here: My Top 10 Photos of 2017.

My Top 10 Photos of 2017

May 31, 2019December 21, 2017

It is once again time to post my 10 favourite photographs – this time from 2017. I do this every year as it is a very good exercise (and not always easy) but also so I can participate in Jim Goldstein’s annual Your Best Photos project. His collection of these posts is a great place to find new photographers you may have been unfamiliar with before.

If you click on a photo you’ll be taken to a larger version in my Image Archive. I’ve also linked to corresponding blog posts that contain these images if you want more information about the location or to see other photos from that area. These photos aren’t in any specific order though I am still enjoying the first one a lot as I probably wouldn’t have attempted to make it in previous years. Sorting images for my calendar often gives me a head start on this list. While it did help this year for some reason the images I chose as my favourites are fairly different this time around. This is partly due to the variety I want to show in my calendar as well as I try not to include any human made elements in those photos.

I hope you enjoy this years selections and am curious to hear if you have any particular favourites.

My Favourite Photos of 2017:

1. Sasamat Lake
(Port Moody, British Columbia)
Blog post: Sasamat Lake on a Fall Day

2. Mount Shuksan from Huntoon Point
(North Cascades, Washington State)

3. Barred Owl (Strix varia
(Langley, British Columbia)
Blog post: Adult Barred Owl (Strix varia)

4. Mount Cheam and the Fraser River
(Agassiz, British Columbia)
Blog post: Mount Cheam and the Fraser River in Agassiz

5. Fall Reflections at Rolley Lake
(Mission, British Columbia)
Blog post: Fall Reflections at Rolley Lake Provincial Park

6. Sailboat in Burgoyne Bay
(Saltspring Island, British Columbia)
Blog post: Burgoyne Bay Provincial Park Farm Buildings

7. Dogwood Flowers
(Langley, British Columbia)
Blog post: Dogwood Flowers – Eddie’s White Wonder

8. Vancouver Convention Center & Vancouver’s Coal Harbour
(Vancouver, British Columbia)
Blog post: Vancouver Convention Centre

9. Spotlight on Mount Webb
(Chilliwack, British Columbia)
Blog post: Rainbow at Chilliwack Lake Provincial Park

10. Sunset at the White Rock Pier
(White Rock, British Columbia)
Blog post: An Evening at the White Rock Pier

Ooops – there is an eleventh photo below! I included this one as an extra photograph because I like it and it also represents something new. I haven’t tried to photograph an airshow since I had a rangefinder camera with film in it in the 80’s – so it was time to try again! Thanks, in part, to the autofocus on my Canon 5D Mark IV, this experiment turned out quite well.

Canadian Forces Snowbirds
(White Rock, British Columbia)
Blog post: Canadian Forces Snowbirds Over White Rock

My top 10 photos from last year can be found here: My Top 10 Photos of 2016.

My Top 10 Photos of 2016

December 15, 2016December 12, 2016

Once again it is time to post my 10 favourite photographs from the past year. I do this yearly as it is a worthwhile exercise, and to take part in Jim Goldstein’s annual Your Best Photos project. His collection of these posts is a great place to view photographs and find some new photographers to follow.

I hope you enjoy my selections here and am curious to hear if you have a favourite. If you click on each photograph you’ll be taken to my Image Archive. Many of these photographs have corresponding blog posts that I’ve linked to underneath the thumbnails here. These aren’t in any specific order, but I did place the photograph “Rainbow over Hatzic Lake” at the beginning as I think this is the first time I’ve photographed a rainbow (successfully at least) outside of my backyard. I was also shielding the camera from a rainstorm with my body, so the photo deserves extra points for that. 😉

Here are my top 10 photos of 2016:

Rainbow over Hatzic Lake
(Mission, British Columbia)
Blog post: Rainbow over Hatzic Lake

Sailboat in the Salish Sea
(Lighthouse Park, West Vancouver, British Columbia)
Blog post: Sunset at Juniper Point in Lighthouse Park

My Top 10 Photos of 2015

December 11, 2015December 8, 2015

I consider these lists more of a top 10 favourite photographs of that year than the “best”. Which of my photographs are “the best” is probably better left for others to decide. Once again, I am making this post so I can be a part of Jim Goldstein’s annual Your Best Photos project. Look for his post early in the new year with all the entries from a wide variety of photographers. His project is always a great place to find new photographers and their work.

I hope you enjoy the following photographs and I am curious if you have a favourite. Clicking on each photograph takes you to my Image Archive but below you’ll also find links to corresponding blog posts if they exist. While these are in no specific order that first panorama of Bagley Lakes might be my favourite overall. Here are my top 10 photos of 2015:

Panorama of the Bagley Lakes at the bottom of Table Mountain and Mount Herman
(Mount-Baker Snoqualmie National Forest, Washington State)
Blog post: Bagley Lakes Panorama

Fall foliage colours reflect on the surface of Deer Lake
(Sasquatch Provincial Park, British Columbia)

My Top 10 Photos of 2014

December 30, 2014December 17, 2014

I tend to consider this list more of a top 10 favourite photographs of 2014 than the “best”. Choosing the images for my Nature Calendars always helps me narrow these things down a bit ahead of making my final list below. Once again, I am making this post so I can be a part of Jim Goldstein’s annual Your Best Photos project. Look for his post early in the new year with all the entries from a wide variety of photographers. Always a great place to find new photographers and their work.

I hope you enjoy the following photographs and I am curious if you have a favourite. Clicking on each photograph takes you to my Image Archive but below you’ll also find links to corresponding blog posts. In no specific order here are my top 10 photographs of 2014:

Trout Lake Creek flows through the rainforest in Sasquatch Provincial Park
(Harrison Hot Springs, British Columbia)
Blog post: Sasquatch Provincial Park