Each winter I go review the year’s work and select a set of “annual favorites.”I enjoy reviewing all of my photographs each year, but it is difficult to winnow them down to a manageable 12 to 16 images. As I created my 2025 Favorite Photographs I had to make hard decisions near the end of the process, and inevitably some photographs I liked were left out.

So this year I’m trying something new: I have assembled this set of 2025 (Almost) Favorite Photographs, selected from those I like that did not quite make the cut for my the 2025 Favorite Photographs.

Why didn’t they make it? I photograph a variety of subjects — from landscapes to travel to street photography. Since I want to include multiple genres I must eliminate photographs of one type to make room for others. Sometimes the issue is that I have a lot of photographs of certain subjects. For example, this year I had many photographs of trees and desert landscapes, and I couldn’t include them all.

With this in mind, here’s a set of 2025 (Almost) Favorite Photographs that didn’t quite make it into the final set. Continue reading to view them individually below and then in a gallery at the end of the article, where you can click on an image to view the set as a slideshow.)

First up is a pair of photographs that are related in two ways. They feature Utah’s red rock country, and both are older photographs that languished in my raw file archives for over a decade until I rediscovered in 2025.

The first is a from a narrow slot canyon I visited while exploring Southern Utah. The second is a remarkable feature that I was introduced to by a photographer friend: a cottonwood tree growing in the bottom of a huge depression in the sandstone. (I hear rumors that the tree later died during a drought.)

Next are five photographs from Death Valley National Park, where I have photographed every year for decades. The first two come from visits to the park early in 2025. The first is an almost abstract take on dunes in morning light, while the second features eroded badlands terrain. Both are dependent on special light qualities — soft, low contrast in the first and reflections from colorful morning clouds in the second.

Next is a photograph of Lake Manly, which floods Badwater Playa during exceptional rainfall years like 2025. I photographed the lake early early in the year after it reappeared for the first time in years… and again at the end of the year when autumn rains revived it again. This photograph comes from the end of 2025, on a morning when I arrived to a brief show of brilliant sunrise light which was quickly muted by clouds

To make the next photograph we rose hours before sunrise and traveled to a location high on a mountain ridge to view sunrise above the desert landscape. The photograph was made in the vividly colorful first light before the sun rose above the horizon, illuminating clouds whose colorful light suffused the shadowed valley and desert mountains.

One final Death Valley photograph features a a deep and narrow slot canyon in the park’s backcountry. We are all familiar with the red rock slot canyons of Utah, but the Death Valley canyons produce different and unique effects, here featuring cool, blue tones.

Of course, I must include a few from the Sierra Nevada, in this case from the Tuolumne Meadows area of Yosemite National Park. The area was almost deserted because the Tuolumne Meadows campground was closed for construction. I made the first two photographs early on a beautiful morning after rain, when ground fog formed over the meadow and mixed with drifting wildfire smoke to produce a unusual atmosphere and colors.

The next photo features a lake that often visit but rarely photograph. But this year it turned out to be the focus of several photographs. (Another photograph of this lake with fog is in my “favorites” set.) The lake was in morning shadows,and very quiet conditions produced smooth reflections of the surrounding lodgepole pine forest and early season undergrowth.

Mono Lake and its immense desert basin lie just over the Sierra Crest from the Yosemite High Sierra. On most trips to this part of the Sierra I cross the crest at least once to photograph there. On a visit at the beginning of July I focused on the quiet stillness of the lake in the morning, the fastness of this landscape, and the subtle colors of post-sunrise light and atmospheric haze.

One of my favorite winter subjects is California’s Central Valley when migratory birds arrive in huge numbers. The first photograph comes from early 2025 and features flocks of geese above a landscape of sunrise light on trees, ground fog, and distant mountains. The second comes from a very foggy morning near the end of the year when I photographed plants growing in a wetland pond.

Finally here are three photographs from various travels during the past year. We often visit Manhattan — we have relatives there, including our sons and their wives —and, let’s be honest, we just like Manhattan! The first photograph is a winter scene in Central Park, featuring a gigantic, spreading tree and habit of snow.

The final two come from Europe. The first is a photograph of a little corner of Venice. There are no Venice icons here, but I like the graphical quality of the architecture and the patterns of light and shadow. The second photograph features a group of tourists doing what tourists do — gawking at some impressive sights, this time in Belgium

Here is the full set in gallery form. Click the first one then use arrows to navigate through larger versions of the photographs.

Truth be told, there are still more photographs that I’d like to add to this list. But I think these 16 — plus the original 2025 Favorite Photographs — are enough for now!

• Bluesky
• Mastodon
• Mail

---

Leave a comment or question using the form. (Click the title to see the full article and to comment if you are viewing it on the home page.)

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.