Forty Favorite Frames

I am incredibly lucky and amazingly grateful for my year of adventure, work and family. Here are some of my favorite photos, taken from as nearby as right here at this computer and as far away as the Southern Hemisphere, 600 miles out to sea or a couple miles high, yet somehow still standing on the ground.

My granddaughter jumped onto the chair, raised the blinds and waved bye-bye to Mommy who promised she’d be back within the hour … (she was!)

A sea lion rests atop a rocky climb on South Plaza Island in The Galápagos, while frigatebirds (“The Galápagos Air Force”) fly overhead.

A marine iguana appears to be spying on our expedition ship — the MS Santa Cruz II — on Española, the archipelago’s southernmost island.

My Mom turned 91 and granddaughter Charlie — named after my father, Mom’s hubby — turned 1 this year.

My wife and I gathered with my cousins in Northern Ohio for the full eclipse, “totality” awesome!

As the moon fully eclipses the sun during the middle of the afternoon, I had a profound, otherworldly feeling. And watching it occur, for the minutes without eclipse goggles — even though this sounds silly — it all seemed to be broadcasting in high definition.

Marci emerges victoriously from a cold plunge in Lake Michigan as we squeezed the last drops out of summer.

Bride Brie playfully peers through her husband Eric’s ring during the “formal” wedding photos, just like she did during the ceremony.

I photographed the bride and her sister hugging outside of the gauzy wedding tent screen and thought it looked like a hazy, century-old snapshot from some great grandparent’s album.

The Princess and The Frog step out on Halloween.

Daughters Edna and Doral Abrahim take their mother, Shamamta, to the sanctuary of the Church of the Transfiguration as she celebrates her 90th birthday.

The sky played a starring role in my photography this year. I was blown away by the reflections in our rented cottage windows; they looked like an art gallery.

But I didn’t have to travel far; all I had to do was look up from my front porch.

Just hours before my dad’s cousin and I were slated to leave for The Galápagos Islands, Ecuador announced a State of Emergency…

But we obviously took our chances and went anyway.

I’m unbelievably lucky to have been asked along on the journey, though the rush hour traffic on Santa Cruz Island was slow moving.

A giant tortoise cools off in a lush highland pool on Santa Cruz Island. This particular tortoise is likely older than The Titanic.

We carefully trekked through a tortoise preserve in the lush highlands of Santa Cruz Island.

A sea lion sleeps amidst the shore rocks on Española Island. If you zoom in or look carefully — you can see a bunch of iguanas all over the place.

After carefully walking us through, guide Jhosellyn Aguas Flores shows us the walls and ceiling of a lava tube formed two million years ago on Santa Cruz Island.

I’m not exactly sure what was going on here, but after about a thousand hours of Christmas, the kid’s table was alternatively a dining area, a playscape and a mattress.

Continuing on with my Looking Up theme, the sky puts on a remarkable show whether on the East Coast of Michigan over Lake Huron …

Or the West Coast, looking over Lake Michigan. I love the 30-second-long exposures I can do with my iPhone at night.

A Lake Michigan beach campfire and roasting marshmallows (or “mashed potatoes” as AI keeps trying to write).

The bridal party plays around before an Ann Arbor wedding

During the hottest wedding I’ve ever shot, the bridesmaids earned their keep by fanning the bride during our official portraits in the non-air conditioned church.

Oh, Zora helped me edit that last photo.

My silly son-in-law sneaks some more s’more bites to my granddaughter after her s’posed limit was reached.

April showers bring granddaughters out to play.

Playing with the granddiggities was THE BEST PART of 2024!

GREAT COINCIDENCE: Bee prepared — I was testing out my flash before my buddy’s daughter’s wedding. I snapped a bee in flight around our wisteria on the back deck. Sending the snapshot to my buddy, I wrote, “Flash test.” He texted back, “Are you there already?” I had no idea, but the backyard altar at the bride’s home was a large wisteria arch (yes, with bees.)

Speaking of my buddy Chris, it was great shooting his daughter’s wedding. On account of him being a photographer as well, he knew what a fun shot this would make as he peered out just before walking her down the grassy aisle to the wisteria arch.

It’s as if The Big Dipper dumped the Aurora Borealis out over Southern Michigan.

The receding ice and snow melt make for gorgeous patterns along the beach in Harrisville, Michigan, where I used to camp as a kid.[

My granddaughter pulled up her rocking chair from another room to have a conversation with my daughter.

Here’s one of my favorite snaps from a NYC trip. I couldn’t decide if the Manhattan Bridge and One Manhattan Square looked better in B&W or color.

A few new babies joined our extended family. We got to meet Parker this year. Here he poses like a natural with Daddy Dave Roy.

Here’s a milk toast to the two new babies in our extended family! (Actually, it’s a funny detail photo I snapped at a wedding earlier this year.)

The final sunset over The Galápagos Islands, before the two-day sojourn home.

And, of course, I have to end with a bunch of silly snaps of me in South America:

The Tortoise and the Hairless.

A rare glimpse of a North American Homo sapiens sapiens posing on a Galápagos island with a bored sea lion. (Although his guide said the “sapiens” part is questionable.)

Hanging out at The Equator, I can’t tell whether I prefer Spring or Fall; I’m split between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. (But I’m technically one pound lighter here, so my gut says I should stay put.)

And ♫♫ Machu Picchu Man … ♩

Thank you for adventuring along with me, both here at home and far afield. I wish you a 2025 that’s equal parts exciting, relaxing, enriching and happy.

Cheers!

 

Rodney Curtis is a recovering journalist and author of four books.

Check out Rodney’s books here.