2019 Top Ten Favorite Images

Looking back on this year, I thought I would share with you my Top Ten Favorite Images from 2019. These images are special to me because of either the overall beauty, the challenge of capturing the image, the memory associated with that image or some other technical aspect of photography. Photographers live under the constant pressure of capturing the next great image, and it is nice to stop and admire our past art on occasion. This past year was my first full year living in the Davis Mountains, and I also began leading international and domestic photography workshops for Kevin Loughlin of Wildside Nature Tours. Much of the year I was very busy photographing time lapse images and working as a scout/animal wrangler with Skip Hobie for a TV documentary to air either on PBS or BBC about the wildlife of the Big Bend region. 2019 was also my first trip to the Galapagos Islands with Wildside Nature Tours and it was an amazing experience. I have now been to Israel and the Galapagos Islands which are both major parts of my life, faith and science.

Photographically speaking, I changed my predominant camera system to the Olympus OM-D and PRO lenses and that has been interesting as well since there are so many features on the OM-D E-M1x body. I still have most of my Canon bodies and some lenses, the Sony A7 III body and all my Sigma ART lenses. I finally had time to start using my Cognisys StopShot for high speed imagery and you will see on of the results of that in this list.

While 2019 draws to a close, I realized I needed to seriously focus on my health and began eating according to Keto principles. I was inspired by my new friend and birder extraordinaire, Greg Miller of The Big Year, who shared his journey with me at the Rio Grande Birding Festival in November. It is a very low carb way of eating and I lost 10lbs in the first four days and I can tell some major differences in my body.

I will soon be in Yellowstone doing a winter photography workshop, followed by teaching some classes and workshops at the Space Coast Birding Festival in Titusville, Florida. February will find me in Costa Rica and in Peru where I am co-leading a photography workshop on an Amazon riverboat cruise. The rest of the year will of course be Big Bend and Fort Davis region; the Florida Birding & Photo Fest in St. Augustine, Florida; The Biggest Week in Birding in Ohio; Glacier National Park; high speed hummingbird photography workshops here in Fort Davis; Fall in Southwest Colorado, Panama for dart frogs and birds; the Bosque Crane Festival in New Mexico; and the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival once again. Finally, I plan to develop a video series for purchase on Lightroom CC for Bird Photographers.

I certainly hope you have an incredible 2020 and that you will join me for some photography workshops and/or tours in 2020!

So, without further ado, here are my Top Ten Favorite Images from 2019 in order from favorite to 10th favorite.

Lee Hoy

#1 – Polistes Dorsalis (Paper Wasp Species)

I have spent a great deal of time learning about high speed insect flash photography the past couple of years, but circumstances made it hard to try it often. Finally, in 2019, I had some time and a willing subject. This image was the result of a lot of trial and error using high speed flash photography. One reason it is my favorite is the amount of work and effort it took to get to this point. I also love the combination of colors with the wasp and the background in this image. It was taken on the 23 July, 2019, and the individual wasp was captured in my yard here in the Davis Mountains. These are fairly common wasps in the Big Bend region and there is no common name for this species other than a generic term of paper wasp. The background image was taken in my Fort Davis yard of Plains Zinnia (Zinnia grandiflora) and was blurred on purpose to produce a nice, pleasing background. The wasp was brought into the house and put into a flight chamber where it would fly around and trip a laser, triggering the high speed flash setup to capture the image. That day, I actually captured quite a few images of this wasp, but this particular one is my favorite.

For the more technologically inclined among you, here is a description of the entire setup which involved a Cognisys StopShot, High Speed Shutter, and flight chamber, and (4) Godox TT600 Thinklite Flashes. The flashes were each mounted on a Square Jellyfish Legs Micro Tripod. A Manfrotto 244N Vairable Friction Magic Arm, Manfrotto 035RL Super Clam with Standard Stud, Westcott Adjustable Shoe Mount Umbrella Bracket, and a Impact Telescopic Collapsible Reflector Holder were used to hold the background. For the exposure, (2) flashes were aimed at the flight chamber and were diffused with simple, commercial diffusers. and two non-diffused flashes were aimed at the background.

The camera shutter is opened using bulb mode and the StopShot, but only remains open up to 20″ at which point the StopShot will reset the shutter on the camera to avoid noise in the image. The high speed shutter is attached to the front of the lens using an adaptor and is not tripped until the insect flies through the lasers which are aligned through the flight chamber. Once the laser is tripped, the StopShot opens the high speed shutter at 1/50,000 of a second, fires the flashes, closes the high speed shutter, and resets the camera shutter. For more information, see the Cognisys website.

This image was also a Top 100 image in the 2020 North American Nature Photography Association’s (NANPA) Showcase. It will be featured in the publication from NANPA known as Expressions which will showcase all 250 images that were honored. A very nice honor for an image what was a challenge to capture.

Below is a slideshow of other insect images that didn’t make the top ten.

Camera & Exposure

Cognisys StopShot

Canon 7D

Canon 100 f/2.8 Macro USM

18″ @ f/16, ISO 200

1 2 3 4 5

Image Subject & Location

Polistes dorsalis (Paper Wasp)

Davis Mountains

Jeff Davis County, TX

23 July, 2019

#2 – Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus)

One of the reasons I moved to Fort Davis, besides the spectacular scenery and the unbelievable climate, was for the wildlife. I knew having a great yard would produce some nice images. I am fortunate to live in the Davis Mountains Resort which has long been known as an outstanding birding place to live. It is a large, private neighborhood tucked into the southern side of the Davis Mountains. A highlight of the year are the hummingbirds in late summer/early fall which travel through the resort in southern migration or venture into the mountains as post breeding dispersals. I was committed to spending a decent amount of time capturing natural and high speed flash images of hummingbirds in my yard in 2019 and offering Capture the Hummingbird Photography Workshops here as well in 2020. Not only did I want to photograph hummingbirds using natural backgrounds, but I wanted to experiment with black and white backgrounds, as well as, start trying to use wide angle lenses.

You can probably see why this is my second favorite image of 2019. The Rufous Hummingbird male displays some bold colors to go along with their bold personality. I also find the pose very pleasing as you can see the fine detail in the gorget, the tail feathers, and the tiny feet. Using several flashes set to manual mode and low power (1/16th) allow the photographer to “freeze” the motion of the hummingbird as the duration of the flash is only about 1/10,000 of a second and we are not using any ambient light for the exposure. The black background is held by a light stand and adjustable arm and is black foam core from a hobby store. This image was taken just a few feet out my back door with my new Olympus system.

Below is a slideshow of other nice hummingbird images from this past year that didn’t make the top ten.

Camera & Exposure

Olympus OM-D E-M1x

Olympus M. Zuiko 300 f/4.0 PRO

1/250 @ f/14 ISO 400

Multi-Flash Setup (Godox TT600 Flashes)

1 2 3 4 5

Image Subject & Location

Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus)

Adult Male Basic Plumage

Davis Mountains

Jeff Davis County, TX

28 July, 2019

#3 – Sunset Over Study Butte

If you ask me my favorite spot in the entire United States, there are several locations that would certainly be high on the list! The Pribilof Islands off Alaska, Isla Genovesa in the Galapagos Islands National Park, Quidi Vidi Lake in St. John’s, NewFoundland, and Ouray, Colorado area would all vie for the top spot; however, Big Bend National Park is certainly my favorite and it is why I live out here. 2019 presented me with a few incredible days where I had 3 camera bodies going at once trying to capture the amazing scenery. May 31, 2019 was one of those days. I had two camera bodies setup on the other side of the road on tripods capturing rainbows and storms over the Chisos Mountains, but I am one who always looks behind me to make sure I am not missing something. I could see some special skies forming above Study Butte. I grabbed my Sony A7 III with the Sigma 14mm f/1.8 DG HSM ART Lens and ran to there other side of the road where the drainage for Rough Run Creek fashions some dramatic washes and scenery.

As the sun began to sneak out a bit from behind the clouds, the God rays began to form. The texture of this image really pops out as the lighting was so soft over much of the image with the only bright light being the sun itself. My eye is drawn down the drainage and toward the sun where the varying brightness of the clouds really stands out to me. Storms were all around but I had a bit before the rain began to fall on me. This is where looking all around you can really pay off in terms of images. I made sure to shoot with f/16 or higher to create a starburst around the sun.

Below is a slideshow of some other shots from that very same day that didn’t make the top ten.

Camera & Exposure

Sony A7III

Sigma 14mm f/1.8 DG HSM ART

1/800 @ f/16, ISO 400

Handheld

1 2 3 4

Image Subject & Location

God Rays Over Study-Butte – Terlingua

Big Bend National Park

Brewster County, TX

31 May, 2019

#4 – Swallow-tailed Gulls on Plaza Sur

Earlier I mentioned that I made my first photography workshop trip to the Galapagos Islands last September with Kevin Loughlin of Wildside Nature Tours. The Galapagos Islands are a wildlife photographer’s dream because the animals are not afraid of humans and it allows for some wide-angle shots of wildlife you wouldn’t be able to capture anywhere else other than using a camera trap system. The weather had been spitting a light mist at us quite frequently this day making photography challenging in terms of keeping a lens dry and clean. But days like this often have some skies that make for interesting shots. Prior to this trip, my favorite bird was the Swallow-tailed Kite. There is something about that crisp, black and white plumage and those long tail feathers that really stand out. But a new favorite emerged after only a few days in the Galapagos Islands, the Swallow-tailed Gull. Yep, another crisp, black and white bird with some beautiful plumage, a red eye ring, a false eye (can be seen on the second bird in the back), and a nice bill to match. These birds are primarily nocturnal so the false eye is to help ward off predators while they sleep during the day.

We were hiking along the cliffs of Plaza Sur (also known as South Plaza Island) and I noticed these two gulls lounging on trop of the rock cliff which if I got down low enough would make for a very nice wide angle image. I grabbed my Olympus 7-14mm wide angle zoom lens and crept up to the edge of the rock. You must remain 6′ away from the wildlife on the Galapagos Islands and I was sure to remain outside this range. I was able to capture some images and crawl back away without ever disturbing the birds. While I captured some other very nice images of this species, this image remains my favorite because you can see the birds in their habitat.

Below is a slideshow of some other shots from the 2019 Galapagos Islands Photography Workshop that didn’t make the top ten.

Camera & Exposure

Olympus OM-D E-M1x

Olympus M. Zuiko 7-14mm f/2.8 PRO @ 14mm

1/250 @ f/16, ISO 800

Handheld

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Image Subject & Location

Swallow-tailed Gulls (Creagrus furcatus)

Adult Basic Plumage

Plaza Sur (South Plaza Island)

Galapagos Islands National Park (Ecuador)

12 September, 2019

#5 – Blowing Sand at Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado

I was looking ahead to 2020 when I decided to scout a trip for a photography workshop in southwest Colorado that would focus on the fall foliage and Great Sand Dunes National Park. If you have followed my photography, you know I love black and white images for their ability to express texture, mood, pattern, emotion, and contrast. The best time for fall foliage in that part of the state is late September/early October. so I figured I would start my scouting in the park to give the foliage around Ouray a few more days to develop. Arriving at my hotel and unloading in early afternoon, I wanted to catch some late afternoon light for black and white images because you need some really nice shadows much of the time to make your images pop.

After arriving in the park just as the visitor center closed, I headed on to the parking lot for the trail into the dunes. I have visited this park twice before but in the early summer and didn’t have much time for photography on prior trips. I loaded up my backpack and put my (2) Olympus OM-D E-M1x bodies on my dual harness strap and headed out. Walking in the thick sand can be challenging, it is even more so when the wind is blowing 20mph+ and occasionally gusting to over 40mph! These Olympus bodies are the most dust and water resistant on the market when combined with the PRO lenses. This would be a great test for this feature and I have to say, even with changing lenses, I had ZERO issues!

The wind actually helped make some rather pleasing images because so much dust was blowing, it looked like waves of moving water. The highest dune in the park is around 750′ tall and getting there is no easy feat! I had only walked out about 30% of the way when I found a spot that I thought would provide some nice shooting. Setting down my tripod with the Sony camera (the Sony camera didn’t handle the dust nearly as well as the Olympus), I began to shoot. The wind was really moving a lot of sand off of one dune right in front of me and putting it against some shadows really helped it stand out. You can see this near the center of the image. The shadows moving from left to right help draw the eye across the image up to the clouds. I love the ripples and texture in the sand, as well as the sand blowing around very small rocks in the lower part of the image.

I hope you enjoy this image as much as I do.

Below is a slideshow of some other shots from my 2019 scouting trip to Great Sand Dunes National Park that didn’t make the top ten.

Camera & Exposure

Olympus OM-D E-M1x

Olympus M. Zuiko 12-40 f/2.8 PRO @ 40mm

1/13 @ f/22, ISO 100

Handheld

1 2 3 4 5

Image Subject & Location

Blowing Sand across the Dunes

Great Sand Dunes National Park

Alamosa County, Colorado

26 September, 2019

#6 – Greater Roadrunner at Grapevine Hills

While scouting for some locations to film Greater Earless Lizards for the Big Bend wildlife TV special I mentioned previously, I drove out to the very end of Grapevine Hills Road in Big Bend National Park. This is not a highly visited location and it was the middle of the day, so not normally a great time for photography. Just as I was about to depart, I saw a Greater Roadrunner (one of the my top 5 favorite birds) sitting on a nice perch. The reason I like this image so much is that the mid-day light really brought out the iridescence on the roadrunner’s plumage. At most angles, a roadrunner looks like a basic brown bird; however, when the sun’s angle is just right to the bird’s plumage, then you notice the greens, blues, reds, yellows, and such that are really striking.

Watching a roadrunner on the prowl is about as close to watching a Velociraptor hunt as we modern day humans can get, and to see this bird focus in on its prey is a sight to behold. Photographing them is also fun because they have such a big, bold personality.

Ironically, I normally wouldn’t even take this shot due to the light, but I was still wondering how my new Olympus camera with the 300 f/4.0 lens would work. Obviously, I am quite please with the results.

Below is a slideshow of some other bird images from 2019 that didn’t make the top ten but are still very nice.

Camera & Exposure

Olympus OM-D E-M1x

Olympus M. Zuiko 300 f/4.0 PRO + MC-14

1/1250 @ f/7.1, ISO 800

Handheld

1 2 3 4 5

Image Subject & Location

Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus)

Grapevine Hills

Big Bend National Park

Brewster County, TX

15 May, 2019

#7 – Downburst On Kit Mountain

Sotol Vista Overlook is one of my favorite viewpoints for photography in Big Bend National Park. It rarely fails me, particularly with summer storms! It was no exception on the 2nd of June this year when storms began to form to the southwest. Eventually, a down burst opened up over Kit and Goat Mountains. I had limited time to photograph before the overlook would be drenched with always welcomed summer rains. I had three different camera bodies on tripods capturing different aspects of the storm such as lightening, time lapses, and storm clouds. I had been suffering from plantar fasciitis for a bit, particularly bad on my right heel. In a hurry to get setup, I tripped over the last remnants of a yucca stump left behind by a wildfire. As I fought to regain my footing, I slammed my right heel down on the nearby sidewalk and then fell to my side. I knew the pain would be serious and walking would be difficult; however, the moment would only last a bit. Quickly, I hopped up and limped over to my jeep and sure enough, that heel was beyond tender. I fought through the pain and captured some great images that evening as the storms intensified. The rain eventually made its way to my location so I rapidly put everything in the jeep, hobbling all the while.

While the image is nice in color, I knew I would love it more in black and white. The length of the exposure created a flowing rain falling upon the landscape below me and black and white conveys the intensity of the clouds, the texture of the desert floor, and the motion of the falling rain so much more powerfully than in color.

Below is a slideshow of some other 2019 landscape shots that didn’t make the top ten.

Camera & Exposure

Sony A7III

Sigma 14mm f/1.8 DG HSM ART

2.5’ @ f/16, ISO 50

Tripod Mounted & Intervalometer

1 2 3 4 5 6

Image Subject & Location

Down Burst on Kit Mountains

Sotol Vista Overlook

Big Bend National Park

Brewster County, TX

2 June, 2019

#8 – Lantern & US Buckle, Fort Davis National Historic Site

In 2018, I was a post on social media about a Lantern Tour at the Fort Davis National Historic Site which is not that far down the road from where I live. In west Texas terms, 45 minutes is nothing. I went and I was not disappointed. Matt Walter, a local historian of incredible knowledge was our guide and I was hooked. So when 2019 rolled around and it was time to sign up, I hurried to secure the same time of tour as I had the previous year. I go so that there is still light when we begin, but it is almost dark when the tour ends. This tour guides the participant along a route where you stop and watch historical based skits about life on and around the fort. Employees of the park, local volunteers, and other interested parties help put on the skits. We were so fortunate to have Matt as our guide in 2019 and I was having a great time taking images of the scenes, skits, and participants.

The tour began to draw to a close and I asked Matt if he would be so kind as to pose for a specific image I had in mind. The only light was really from the lantern and I was hand-holding my camera. I knew the incredible image-stabilization on my Olympus system would be great. So, I chose a slow shutter speed and shallow depth-of-field to keep my ISO as low as possible. I took several images and this is the one that most caught my eye. I am a huge history fan of that time period in the United States and I wanted to highlight one piece of equipment from the time period. The images makes me feel as if I am actually on the grounds with an military man walking with the lantern for one last check of the enlisted men’s barracks at bed time, to head to mess for dinner, or to go prepare the horses for night.

Below is a slideshow of some other shots from the 2019 Lantern Tour that didn’t make the top ten.

Camera & Exposure

Olympus OM-D E-M1x

Olympus M. Zuiko 12-40 f/2.8 PRO @12mm

1/20 @ f/3.5, ISO 1600

Handheld

1 2 3 4 5

Image Subject & Location

Lantern & US Buckle

2019 Lantern Tour

Fort Davis National Historic Site

National Park Service

Fort Davis

Jeff Davis County, TX

#9 – Big Bend Bluebonnets & Mule Ears Peak Sunrise

It was early on a March morning when I was taking a client to Cottonwood Campground for some bird photography in Big Bend National Park. The Big Bend Bluebonnets, which can grow as high as 3′ to 4′, were blooming in amazing numbers in a few areas of the park. It was the best bloom I had seen in decades. Fortunately, my client wanted to stop to capture some images of the bloom. While we worked this area of the park, the sun began to rise directly behind Mule Ears Peak. These peaks are edges of a collapsed caldera and form a very distinctive shape.

The rising sun soon began to pass around the peaks creating a beautiful scene. The early morning sun also backlit the blooms creating a wonderful view and a great memory for us both. I had many other nice images of the bluebonnets in 2019, but this one stands out as one of my favorites.

Below is a slideshow of some other shots from Big Bend National Park that didn’t make the top ten.

Camera & Exposure

Canon 5D Mark IV

Canon 16-35 f/4.0L IS USM @ 16mm

1/200 @ f/16, ISO 400

Handheld

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Image Subject & Location

Big Bend Bluebonnets & Mule Ears Peak Sunrise

Big Bend National Park

Brewster County, TX

7 March, 2019

#10 – Roseate Spoonbill in Flight

In 2019, I attended the Florida Birding & Photo Fest for the first time as a photography instructor for Wildside Nature Tours. Kevin had invited me to go and work the booth and help with a couple of workshops. I was very excited to go as I also wanted to check out the new Olympus OM-D system designed for professional wildlife and sports photographers. For me and hiking up into the Chisos, the heavy Canon and Sigma gear was just too much as I never want to carry just one lens or body. This micro 4/3’s system was supposed to be much lighter and have all the features a pro would need. I had tried a few others and all fell terribly short for wildlife photography, particularly birds in flight.

Before I had a chance to shoot with the Olympus system, I took my big Canon 600 lens out to the boardwalk at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park as a part of the first workshop through the festival. I was using a tripod which is tough on the narrow boardwalk and, occasionally, handholding the beast of a lens. A Roseate Spoonbill flew directly overhead and I managed a couple of shots. Only one was of a composition that was pleasing and the more I looked at the image, the more I knew I had to develop it in a “high key” manner to really show the light passing through the flight feathers.

This was one of those images that the more I looked at it, the more I really enjoyed the results.

Below is a slideshow of some other wildlife shots that didn’t make the top ten.