10 Pretty Good Photos from 2023
A Year Spent Traveling
I’ve been traveling for almost a year now. I began in March and have been traveling full-time since then.
I’ve lived in five cities on two different coasts, worked from all four mainland US timezones, been in or through twenty different states, driven thousands of miles, taken countless flights and train rides, and even managed to visit two Canadian provinces.
I remember being completely exhausted by the routine I was in before I started this.
I think routine can be a positive thing in the right context, and with enough freedom to break the rules. On the other hand, it’s far too easy for me to get stuck in a “Groundhog Day” rut of doing exactly the same thing every single day.
At the beginning of the year, I found myself in that very rut, uninspired, living someplace I’d never really wanted to be in the first place.
Just making the best of things.
Everyone who lives this kind of lifestyle- van lifers, full-time travelers, digital nomads- talks about not needing ‘stuff’ to be happy. It’s a bit of a cliche, actually. We all know it’s not ‘stuff’ that makes us happy.
Packing up to leave Los Angeles in May.
Leaving the physical objects behind wasn’t difficult in the least. The only thing I really ever miss as a musician is having a guitar nearby.
But seriously: It’s the easiest trade in the world.
Make do with just the things I can’t live without (okay, maybe a little extra too…)
Spend the entire year making incredible friends, taking tens of thousands of photos, seeing so many new places, revisiting old favorites, and spending weeks or even months exploring amazing cities.
Favorite Photos of 2023
That brings us to the central point of this blog–my favorite photos of the year.
I’m not going to drone on and on, but this year it’s less about the ‘best’ photos of the year and more about the ones I feel represent all that I did and saw in 2023.
I have a habit of saying that I’m not a great photographer, just very committed to going to cool places when the light is good, and I did a whole lot of that this year.
I’ve never had such a hard time choosing just 10 favorites from the year before–simply because I had a staggering amount of experiences in a staggering amount of places.
Process of elimination.
So this year, it’s just 10 pretty good photos with stories that make them memorable to me.
Here’s to taking WAY too many photos and doing it all over again in 2024.
1. Santa Monica Pier | Los Angeles
The first city I lived in when I started traveling full-time 🎢
There’s not a ton to say about this one, it’s just THE shot I always wanted from the pier. I can’t wait to come back for more in March.
2. Manhattan Beach | Los Angeles
A wave, because sometimes simple is plenty 🌊
I was standing on the pier at Manhattan Beach during golden hour, and rather than shooting anything ‘interesting’ I spent a half hour just snapping photos of the waves lit up by the sun. I’ve always adored the ocean, and this shot transports me back to the west coast instantly.
3. Pacifica | Bay Area
A photo from my very first roll of film 🎞️
This is my favorite photo from my very first roll of film EVER in one of my favorite places on the West Coast. It was also published in my friend Evelyn Goroza’s magazine: Salome.
4. Pike Place Market | Seattle
A favorite from my time in the Pacific Northwest 🎡
One of the first images that made me realize my style was shifting a little bit, and one of my favorites from the two months I spent in the Pacific Northwest this year.
5. San Francisco | California
The best (only) light I've ever had in my four visits to the Bay Area 🌇
San Francisco is one of the most photogenic cities in the country. Second only, in my opinion, to New York, and I haven’t been able to stop talking about the light I was lucky enough to document on my fourth visit to the city earlier this year.
6. Harvard Bridge | Boston
A shot I took with my partner the day we met 🚲
A few hours before I took this photo, I had never met the woman who would become one of the most important people in my life. I very clearly remember trying to talk myself out of falling completely and irreparably in love on this sunset walk through Boston that we never meant to be a ‘date’.
7. Riverside Park | Manhattan
Something from my first time photographing NYC 🌅
Sometimes I think living in Manhattan has ruined the rest of the country for me. I don’t plan to stay in the US a whole lot longer, but while I’m here, I want to spend as much of that time in New York as I possibly can.
8. 41st or 42nd St. | Manhattan
An experiment from Midtown 🏙️
The taxi in the background makes it immediately clear what city you’re looking at despite the ambiguity of EVERYTHING else in the frame. Having so much time to wander New York City this year was nothing short of a privilege, and I’m forever thankful for the inspiration this city has given me.
9. Adirondack Train | New York
Leaving the country by long-distance train for the first time 🚞
So many firsts in this photo. First time leaving the country by train, first time seeing upstate New York, first time traveling long distance in something other than a car or plane, first time seeing a concert in another country, first time traveling to a place where the primary language is not English.
10. Williamsburg | Brooklyn
Favorite sunset this year(?), and one of my last walks in the city until I get back next year–when it's warm again 👀
Living in New York has always and will always be like living in a movie. If I wasn’t sure that I’d take the best photographs of my life in this city, I was convinced after shooting this sunset in Brooklyn.
The End
Thanks for following along this year, especially if you made it this far! I hope you all are as excited as I am about next year.