Top Images of 2020

Needless to say, 2020 has been a very different and challenging year for us all. With that said, never have I felt more fortunate to live in British Columbia than during a time like this. I spent much of the spring isolated by myself in quiet pockets of nature, seeking out wildlife. During the summer months when most wildlife tend to become more retiring, I focused my efforts on some climbing objectives in the mountains not far from home. Come late summer and early fall, I dedicated some time to photographing some of these beautiful environments. Since then, the wettest part of the year has arrived, and my camera gear hasn’t seen a ton of action, and I’ve instead been focusing my efforts on running my business and producing content on my Patreon page. A sincere thank you to all you who have supported my photography in one way or another this past year - here’s to an excellent 2021!

I hope you’ll enjoy these highlights…

Early in the spring, I spent some time camped out in the grasslands of southern British Columbia, photographing a lek of Sharp-tailed Grouse. The sights and sounds of the spectacle is like nothing I’d ever experienced before. I’ll never forget waking up to the bizarre vocalizations of males dancing to secure the mating rights of nearby females.

From my frozen tent, on a night with a beautiful full moon, I could hear the high-pitched hoots of a male Northern Saw-whet Owl ringing out over a kilometre away. Marking a suspected location on my map, I made a plan to search the following day. Strapping on my snowshoes, I set off across the white landscape. If my hunch was right, the territory he was defending would also be home to a female already incubating eggs, despite the harsh bite of winter still lingering in the air. To my delight, after several hours, my searching had led me to the right tree, and I was greeted to these beautiful glowing eyes peering out at me. This image was made several weeks later as the nestlings were just about ready to fledge.

Early in the spring, while exploring some new areas, I pulled off along a dirt road to make some lunch. It wasn’t a couple minutes later when I began hearing a Merlin calling, then another. Given it was the beginning of the breeding season and I was hearing a male and female in appropriate habitat, my mind immediately shifted to “Where are they nesting?”. I located a feature I suspected might be the spot, and spent a few hours watching them interact, making note of where the male liked to perch. Returning later on that month, I scrambled up onto a small cliff and set up under a throw blind. Before too long, the male had alighted on his favourite perch, and I was able to get a few frames. It was a great encounter that reinforced the importance of knowing the calls of the birds in your area.

My annual Loon photo workshops were of course put on hold this spring, and though disappointing, this allowed me to focus my efforts on a species I’d long since been wanting to dedicate more time to: the Flammulated Owl. There are very few high quality images of this species, and their habitat is one of my favourite environments in the province, so I needed little motivation to commit the time and serious effort I suspected would be necessary. This image is the culmination of my efforts. Having found several individuals roosting and two nest sites, it wasn’t until my 11th day hiking off trail in the backcountry that I discovered an individual in a photogenic spot.

A rather serendipitous encounter with this beautiful Canada Lynx is one of my most cherished moments of the year. While waiting for the right light to develop for an entirely different subject, I heard a loud splash coming from the far shore of a pond where I was hanging out. Assuming it was the group of cavorting Ruddy Ducks I’d been watching throughout the day, it took me quite some time to figure out the culprit was in fact a Lynx trying to ambush the ducks! Having clued in, I threw together a pack with the essentials, grabbed my camera gear, and set off to try and track this beautiful cat. The better part of 45 minutes later, I had relocated her hunting throughout the willow-choked ravines and aspen copses that doted the landscape.

Meet Canada’s smallest bird: the Calliope Hummingbird. Though no heavier than a penny, these intrepid birds migrate several thousand kilometres each year. Their circuitous route leads them from wintering grounds in the pine-oak forests of southwestern Mexico, northward along the Pacific Coast to their breeding grounds throughout the mountains of the western United States and Canada. When returning south, many follow the Rocky Mountains in order to take advantage of the profusion of summer wildflowers; the nectar of which fuels their journey. It was great to spend some time with this male in the mountains of British Columbia’s southern interior this spring He was vehemently staking claim on his territory and was quick to ward off any intruding males. I’ve always loved this species, so it was great to finally dedicate some time to photographing one!

The northernmost peaks of British Columbia’s Cascade Mountains are defined by their steep and dramatic granite slopes. Not only do they make for excellent alpine climbing and scrambling, but they’re tremendously photogenic. This has become something of a backcountry playground for me in recent years, and I enjoy any opportunity to get up into these mountains, with or without camera in hand.

Autumn comes and goes in a hurry in this part of the world. Just as soon as the languished berry shrubs begin to turn incredibly vibrants shades of red, pink, orange and yellow, the bitter cold of winter can sweep in, painting the landscape white without warning. Taking advantage of what appeared to be the last snow-free days this fall, I hiked up to this beautiful and remote location to enjoy the warmth and scenery. It was such a treat to scramble up this aesthetic peak, take in the view, and later fall asleep at the base to the light of a full moon stretching obliquely across the alpine. When I woke to shoot sunrise, a black bear was gorging itself on the bounty of blueberries just a stone’s throw from my sleeping bag.

One of the most beautiful mountain views of the year, or perhaps that I’ve ever experienced, came about on a quick trip early this fall. During one of the last stretches of fairly stable weather, I scrambled up onto the Slesse Divide in the North Cascades. Defined by narrow ridges where sections of 4th class scrambling are necessary to get around, it’s somewhat of a precarious place. As such, finding a bivvy spot for the night away from rockfall hazard proved difficult, resulting in me sleeping on a slanted ledge that I flattened out with some rocks. Coupled with incessant wind, it wasn’t the most restful night I’ve experienced in nature, but a small price to pay to wake up in this environment!