Recently I have heard some photographers suggest that IBIS-equipped cameras have made tripods obsolete. IBIS is a fine thing, but that overstates the case.
“Photographer Patricia Mitchell” — Photographer Patricia Mitchell at work in early morning autumn light in the Eastern Sierra Nevada.
Contemporary cameras incorporate remarkable advances in camera and lens image stabilization. Some newer cameras with IBIS (In-camera Image stabilization) claim to extend the useful range of shutter speeds for handheld photography by as much as seven stops.
IBIS can be very useful for photographers who shoot handheld. I do urban night street photography using a handheld, IBIS-equipped camera that supports high ISOs — and I can capture subjects that would have been just about impossible to photograph a few decades ago.
“Mountains, Sky, and Water” — Desert mountains and hazy light above Lake Manly, Death Valley.
Many of my Lake Manly photographs look out into Badwater Basin, across the lake, and towards the Panamint Range rising in the west. For this photograph I found a camera position a bit north of the “usual spot” and pointed the camera south to including the sequence of desert mountain slopes beyond the lake. This view includes the interrupted reflections of those slopes along with salt flats along the edge of the lake.
This photograph is related to another I shared recently that also featured layers of desert mountains extending into the far distance. Both feature “atmospheric recession,” in which haze lightens more distant features and obscures their details. In addition to elements such as converging perspective lines, this effect also can suggest depth and distance.
“Peja Signs” — An eclectic selection of advertisements, business signs, and stencils on wall in Peja, Kosovo.
There’s perhaps more going on in this photograph than meets the eye. Some elements didn’t fully register when I made the exposure, and in all likelihood there are more that I don’t yet understand. The photograph is from the Kosovo town of Peja, and “Birra Peja” is reportedly made from the water of the White Drin River, an important element of the Kosovo landscape with its source in the mountains just outside town.
The first thing that I noticed was the stenciled blue text on the white wall, along with the (hard to see) red stencil of a person whom I presume to be a Kosovo political figure of some sort. (The English text says “WHO ARE WE?!”) But the red signs, near and far, were also obviously part of the attraction of the scene, as were the particular products: the beer, a drink called “GO+,” and the smaller “Prima Pizza” sign. I’ll leave readers and viewers to ponder what else might be there.
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“G Dan Mitchell’s 2025 (Almost) Favorite Photographs” — 16 photographs that almost made it into G Dan Mitchell’s 2025 Favorite Photographs.
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.)
Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
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