This is my contribution to Amy’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: My Photography Journey prompt.
I had quite a few ideas for the challenge, none of which I could build a theme around. In the end I decided to simply pick one favourite nature or landscape image from each decade I have been taking photos. Because landscapes and nature have been constant subjects during my photographic journey.
As a result it’s also partly a journey around some of the places I have lived over the years.

1970s. Trees in snow covered farmland in Hatherton, Cheshire, England. I was still in secondary (high) school when this shot was taken. Taken a mile down the side road from my parents house at the time. It was part of the portfolio that got me a place at art school. Despite having been online for nearly a quarter of a century this is the first time I have posted the full frame, uncropped version. I have always cropped to a panoramic format in the past.

1980s. Storm clouds and light beams over Loch Arkaig, Scotland. Memorable because I had spent three days shooting landscapes in almost constant rain. The rain stopped early evening of the third day and the sun started breaking through the storm clouds. This shot was published worldwide by Olympus Japan and won a national photo contest in the U.K.

1990s. An American White Pelican on Last Mountain Lake. Probably the hardest decade to pick a favourite. I moved from the U.K. to Canada and was doing a lot of nature and landscape photography. One of the most memorable moments was sitting in the water at Last Mountain Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada while a flock of American White Pelicans swam and fished around me.

2000s. Osprey with a White Sucker over Lake Huron. This decade saw me living in Ontario, Canada. For the first 8 years I lived in Southampton on the Lake Huron shoreline. I would frequently head down to the lake shore for sunrise and sunset. If I was down there for the sunrise I would often hang around looking for birds. One morning I watched this Osprey catch the fish and immediately start getting harassed by a couple of Herring Gulls. The Osprey is looking at one of them while the water still drips off the bird and the fish. This was my second year shooting digital.

2010s. A juvenile Ruby-throated Hummingbird in late summer. I was now living on the South Bruce Peninsula, Ontario and in 2018 did a 52 week photo project which is how this blog started. This shot didn’t make it as a weekly pick for the project but it was published in a bird calendar the following year.

2020s. A portrait of a Coneflower. One year into the 2020s and a surprisingly difficult pick. I had a few nice sunrises from the local bay and a nearby lake last summer and autumn. Which meant that I couldn’t pick a favourite because they were all too fresh in my mind. However, I spent part of the first Covid-19 lockdown photographing flowers and plants with various unusual lenses. For this Coneflower I used a fast portrait lens wide open. It’s been a favourite since I took it.
35 replies on “My Photographic Journey”
Love these images from the past.
Glad you liked them. I really struggled to come up with a theme for this challenge.
Some great images, David
Thanks Sue. I couldn’t come up with a theme for uthe post I was happy with so decided to go with a favourite image from each decade.
Good enough!
It will have to be. I was still fiddling with the post right up to publishing it. I hit the publish button when I started considering swapping out one of photos.
Wow, what a fabulous journey, David. The first one is amazing, and you were in high school. The image of the light beams is very special. And, you won a national photo contest in the U.K., what a milestone you made at young age. These bird captures are beautiful beyond words. I will always love this cornflower image, so glad you include it.
Thank you for sharing your collections and beautiful memories.
Thanks Amy. It was an interesting challenge that I really struggled with. I was still editing and changing things right up until I published. And I only published because I started considering swapping out one of the photos and then another. I decided to publish to stop me messing around with it further.
It was because you have so many remarkable photos to choice from. Glad you decided to publish to stop… đ
Thank you again for sharing, DavidQ
Sorry, I couldn’t resist rewriting the introduction. That’s it now.
You have been at this a very long time! I am a newbie by comparison with only 14 years behind the lens.
I was a little shocked when I realised that one photo a decade meant 6 photos when I not quite 60 years old.
Time flies!
Beautiful shots, even the ‘ancient’ ones. I am always amazed at anyone that can photograph birds and especially when they’re action shots. What a wonderful journey!
Thanks, glad you liked the selection.
Amazing, as always, David. So glad you joined in even if you were not totally happy with it. Your birds are gorgeous, and so are the forest, mountains and flower. â„
Thanks Ann-Christine. It sort of works for me now. I rewrote the introduction after publishing.
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terrific journey David, loved that snow shot in your oldest image. You’ve had quite a run as a photographer and your work is always terrific. Always look forward to your L-A responses and this one did not disappoint. It was a great idea to do favorites by decade.
Thanks Tina. It was an interesting challenge. The scary thing was realising that I had photos from six decades when I’m not 60 years old although I am very close now.
Wow, love all these photos that you featured here!
Thanks Teresa. I had a hard time coming up with a theme for this challenge so just went with a some favourites from over the decades.
Great choices, David!
Thanks Teresa. Some decades were an easy choice. A couple of the decades I changed my choice at least once.
Interesting to see and read about your journey. A decade is a lot of pictures!
I think that’s why some of the decades were harder to pick a favourite from. It’s also why I limited myself to landscape and nature images.
Wow. Excellent photos. Trees in snow and storm clouds are my favorites.
Thanks John. Those two were a couple of the easier picks for a decade.
All of them are just fantastic! I don’t know if I could pick a favorite. However, the flower at the end is just lovely, I love the colors!
Thanks, glad you liked them. You may be the first person to pick the Coneflower photo as their favourite.
That may be because I’m an artsy kind of person and I love how the colors all come together! I wanted to be a painter when I was young. đ
There’s probably something in that. The most popular is the trees in snow followed by the storm clouds. Both more graphic than painterly images.
Well, I have to admit, those storm clouds are amazing!!!
A fabulous selection David. The first shot is still my favorite. I can see why it got you into art school
Thanks Sandy. The trees in snow followed by the storm clouds are by far the most popular by the comments.