I captured this seascape image of waves crashing near the tidepools at Hawea Point along the Kapalua Coastal Trail on West Maui while spending nearly all of my photographic time on this trip trying to obtain pictures of birds (123mm, 1/2000 sec, f/4.5, ISO 800)
As I mentioned last year, we continue to be traveling less these past few years. I have worked at doing some more local photography but so far, have not produced anything that I felt merited sharing. I still find the energy and time to experience and photograph things that interest me. And I will work more diligently on local subjects as well. Some of the images selected for this post have been discussed at varying lengths in other posts found in this blog and many are also uploaded to my photography website and all of them to my albums on Flickr.
Okay, before getting too far into this post, here’s my usual caveat about favorites: as the title of the post says, these images are my favorites of the year, not necessarily favorites of yours or anyone else (although, of course, I do hope you enjoy them). As we might expect, our mileage may vary.
Maui
In addition to the one seascape photo taken on Maui on this trip, the rest of my favorites, as you might guess, are all images of birds. The first of them was of this Grey Francolin, which really seemed to me to just be posing; it stayed put until I had managed to take the shot before he moved on.
In addition to the one seascape photo taken on Maui on this trip (and shown at the top of this post as the featured image), the rest of my favorites, as you might guess, are all images of birds. The first of them was of this Grey Francolin (500mm, 1/1600 sec, f/7.1, ISO 3200), which really seemed to me to just be posing; it stayed put until I had managed to take the shot before it moved on.
The rest of this set of my favorites are all from images I captured from a large colony of Wedge-tailed Shearwater birds. The last three images of four in that series is of the same bird taking off and flying a large circle course over the ocean close to the colony, probably searching for food.
(500mm, 1/1600 sec, f7.1, ISO 1600)
(145mm, 1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 1000)
(145mm, 1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 800)
(145mm, 1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 200)
Lake Tahoe
These first two favorites from Lake Tahoe, were taken from an area I’ve photographed many times on previous trips. This first photo shows how low the water level and force of flow of these falls are at this time of the year.
This image provides a slightly different perspective on Fannette Island (than many other of my photos of Emerald Bay).
The remainder of my photographic time was mostly spent exploring a portion of the area in and around Fallen Leaf Lake (which is found just south of Lake Tahoe) over the course of a couple of days.
On my first hiking day, just trying to learn more about the trails in this region, I came across this Stellar’s Jay and managed to get this shot.
On my second day of hiking, mostly around the northern end of Fallen Leaf Lake, I got these shots.
Thank you for taking a look at my favorites of 2025. If you would like to see these images somewhat larger and with greater photographic detail and color fidelity, just click on this link to my photo website and the What’s New section or use this Flickr link to my 2025 Album. There you will find all of the above favorites along with others taken in the same locations at around the same time. If you agree with any of my choices or find something in my collection that you like better, you can always let me know by commenting in the Reply section below or by leaving a comment on the photo itself while viewing them in my photo website or Flickr site.
Here’s wishing you a terrific 2026.
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