Best of 2013.

A rundown of the best from 2013

I haven't been able to get out towards the end of the year as mid-November I was fighting a throat infection which then turned into bronchitis. But rest assured, as soon as I kick this respiratory infection, I'm going to be back out doing what I love to do which is photographing birds. These are a mixture of some images that have gone up on 500px.com and some which I have kept off that site and all are representative of what I consider as my best out of all the shots I've taken this year.

With this year drawing to a close - it has been an eventful one with the acquisition in June 2013 (thanks to Christian and I hashing out an "installment plan") of the 600mm f/4 - as he said - "it makes a dramatic difference in one's photography". The ability to get close to one's subject with the reach of the 600mm is just amazing. And considering snowy owls have dropped into Boundary Bay, I will be stopping by in the first week of January 2014 to take the 600mm f/4 out to see the snowys. 2nd payment is due in January 2014 also so I will be meeting up with Christian in the New Year to pass along the second payment which will tip the pendulum of majority ownership in the lens from Christian to myself. And the final payment will be in May of 2014 which will mean that I will own that big, beautiful lens entirely by May 2014.

Also lost in the mix was the acquisition in May 2013 of a Nikon TC-20EIII 2x teleconverter for my 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII - which extended my range out to 140-400mm f/5.6 (losing 2 stops of aperture in the process)

So here now are my best of 2013

Between splitting my time with hockey photography and wildlife photography, overall, this has been a good year. But I'll be back next year with a vengeance, once I kick this bronchitis crud and I'll be photographing raptors and other birds a lot next year. Maybe next year, I'll actually get the chance to make it out to the Fraser Valley Bald Eagle Festival. Either way, I'm looking forward to next year.