One of my favorite annual posts is the year-end Peers collection. This year I’m happy to feature a few new faces here, along with several long-time contributors. I was worried we might not make this happen for 2024, but a flurry of late submissions made it a reality, so I’m grateful to those who found the time to send something along!
Some of these folks are pros, while others are semi-professionals or hobbyists, but they all have produced some fantastic images over the years. I hope you’ll take time to see their highlighted images below and visit their websites/social media accounts to see their full “Best of 2024” galleries or their general photo collections.
Also, be sure to check out my peers’ Best Of selections that I’ve shared from other years.
All photos below are posted with permission and remain the intellectual property of their original owners. Please respect their copyrights!
Ken Archer
Ken and I have crossed paths several times shooting wildlife and birds in the Pacific Northwest and in Yellowstone. Having worked for decades in journalism, Ken now leads photo tours in North and Latin America.
About the photo: “Perched atop a small thorny bush, a colorful Swallow-tailed Sunbird in full territorial song mode had attracted our attention. But we were soon distracted by a loud roaring echo coming from somewhere across the valley beside us. Last year, during our maiden visit to Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in South Africa we saw and photographed lions during our adventure every day of the tour, but not once did we hear a lion’s voice. This morning was the first time any of us had heard a lion roar. Chills traveled down my spine and excitement rushed through my veins. Soon we spotted the handsome male lion atop a distant hilltop. After a couple more loud roars, he began walking in our direction just as the morning sunlight was beginning to scatter light into the valley and was soon within photographable range. Luckily, he meandered up the desert valley, and our nerves had time to calm a bit. As the lion traveled, he would roar every few minutes giving us several nice opportunities to photograph him in all his glory, bathed in golden morning light.”
See Ken’s Best of 2024 gallery.
Ekaterina Bee
Ekaterina is a young photographer from Italy who’s found success in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, placing three times already in youth categories (her first win was at the age of 6!), including last year’s 11-14 Year-Old category win. It was a delight to meet her and her family in London.
About the photo: “During a family trip in east Africa, even though I am only 13 years old, I had special permission from UWA to go on a gorilla trek in the Bwindi Impenetrable forest. So I realized this dream I had since I was a child. When we met our gorilla family, my attention was caught by a baby gorilla playing on a tree. For a few moments the cub put his hand on his head, giving it a thoughtful look, which charmed me a lot. We are really similar! Humans and gorillas share approximately 98.3 % DNA and this cub’s behavior was so similar to the human behavior.”
See more of Eka’s work:
John Blumenkamp
John is a nature and wildlife photograph who documents subjects in the western US, particularly in Utah and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. He was also a fellow Highly Commended recipient in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Animal Portraits category a few years ago, and we also shared honors in the 2017 Windland Smith Rice photography awards.
About the photo: “I can’t think of a better way to kill some time while waiting for a float plane to take us to observe brown bears than photographing a few of the local bald eagles near Hormer, Alaska. Here is one of my favorite images from the time spent with these amazing raptors, where the look seemed to be asking the question of when he/she would officially be named the national bird of the United States, which finally did happen at the end of 2024. Happy New Year to all!”
See more of John’s work:
Milo Burcham
Milo is a wildlife biologist based in Alaska. He has had work featured in National Geographic, Audubon, and Time magazine, and worked with the BBC on the original Planet Earth series. He is currently studying black bears in Prince William Sound.
About the photo: “I spent a week in June on Alaska’s Arctic slope, photographing the region’s wildlife. Although I have lived in Alaska for 23 years, it is a very big state, and I had spent very little time in the Arctic during breeding season before this year. A tip on my very last day pointed me to a pair of Yellow-billed Loons on a small pond. While I spent less than an hour with them, the water was like a mirror and the loons, confiding. A couple of my favorite images of 2024 came from that encounter.”
See Milo’s Top 50 images from 2024.
Mike Cavaroc
Mike is a photographer and writer based in Jackson. Some of his recent projects focused on the night sky and the Arizona Trail, resulting in the published book, Wanderlove. He has presented at TEDxJacksonHole and guides in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
About the photo: “This was, sadly, my last encounter with Grizzly 399. As everyone’s heard by now, she was struck by a car in late September, making my last visit with her in late May.”
See Mike’s 12 favorite photos from 2024
Laura Dyer
Laura is a professional photographer who specializes in African wildlife, but also photographs nature subjects in Europe. We met in Kenya while both hoping bring clients face to face with the black leopard! Laura and her husband Dan helped spearhead a conservation fundraising project with the film The Last Cheetahs (which you can watch in its entirety here).
About the photo: “Easily the top image and moment of 2024 for me, was an aardvark, out not only in the day time but at sunset in the Makgadikgadi pans.
One of the rarer African finds, a lifelong dream for many is seeing an Aardvark. These are nocturnal creatures, who come out under the cover of dark to search for ants, of which they can eat 50,000 in one night. However, they are also cold sensitive, feeding in bursts and returning to their burrows to digest and be warm. A very sudden cold snap in the central Kalahari meant night time temperatures really plummeted, below what the aardvark can handle, and so his night time feeding schedule was not long enough for the volume of food he required. This meant, on this very rare occasion, a sunset aardvark existed on earth. It was a truly special event, to be out with an aardvark as he went about his business, digging, feeding, relaxed in our presence. Being South African, I’ve spent many years in places aardvark exist, and only had 2 fleeting glimpses of them before, so my heart was in my mouth pretty much constantly from the moment he emerged until the sun disappeared. Quite the 2024 gift.”
See more of Laura’s work:
Jess Findlay
Jess is one of Canada’s leading nature photographers, and has been doing exciting work on some longer conservation and research projects in more remote wilderness areas in recent years. He’s a past winner of the Windland Smith Rice Youth Photographer of the Year Award, and has multiple honors in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year’s senior competition, and currently has an image in the WPY People’s Choice competition (which was previous featured in this year-end list!). Much of his work highlights the amazing wildlife of British Columbia, as well as tropical birds and other species in Central and South America.
About the photo: “Just before dawn, in the mountains of British Columbia’s Southern Interior, sibling Northern Saw-whet Owls—a few days before fledging—peer out from their nest cavity in a Trembling Aspen.
Having been a dream experience/photo of mine for many years, it was quite surreal to see these little guys appear nearly two months after many days and nights of work yielded several nest sites. This still, quiet moment belies how tricky a process it was to actually come away with successful photos. The only opportunities for photography are two very short windows at twilight; about a half hour between their appearance at the cavity entrance and conditions too dark to shoot. Exposures of up to several seconds were plagued by bouts of very strong winds, coinciding to an almost comical level with these exact timing windows each day… frustrating to say the least, especially when your camera is precariously mounted on a ladder 4 metres above the forest floor.
What a privilege it was to spend so much time learning more about this species during the last few months!“
See more of Jess’s work:
Amy Gerber
Amy is a fellow Yellowstone-area photographer who’s been documenting wildlife in the GYE’s eastern region for years, in addition to other locations such as Costa Rica and Africa.
About the photo: “Yellow… is happy. Sunny. Pretty. Shiny. These beautiful, tiny flowers are yellow columbine and a favorite for this cute little pika. Some associate these flowers with foolishness due to the jester-hat-looking flower. Others say they are eagle-like, resembling talons. Whichever way you look at them, there is no denying their beauty. This little American pika (Ochotona princeps) was busy collecting vegetation for its stored “haystacks.” Look under boulders on any high elevation talus slope and you are likely to see piles of vegetation. These industrious little critters collect this vegetation all summer long so they have insulation and food through the winter. They live in some of the harshest places: high elevation rocky slopes that, during winter, are covered by feet and feet of snow. They don’t hibernate, so this haystack storage is critical to their survival.
Because they don’t hibernate or migrate, they are extremely sensitive to changing climate. As a result, they are being studied intensively and have become Wyoming’s poster child for potential negative consequences in alpine habitats due to climate change. Extremely sensitive to high temperatures, the fear is that they will slowly succumb to the heat as temperatures continue to climb. However, current research is uncovering interesting adaptations. For example, they are foraging at night instead of daytime. Amazing and hopeful for these cute little animals. Definitely one of my favorites, especially during flower season!!”
See more of Amy’s work:
Liron Gertsman
Liron is a standout photographer from British Columbia, known for his meticulous planning and preparation to create a single outstanding image. He was the overall winner of the Audubon Photography Awards, and has been awarded in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year and other competitions. Liron’s work has been displayed at the Natural History Museum in London and the Smithsonian.
About the photo: “A few years ago, while dreaming up some crazy wildlife photo concepts, I had an idea. What would it take to photograph birds with a total solar eclipse? Obviously, this was going to be difficult to pull off. Besides the fact that total solar eclipses only take place somewhere on the planet every 1 to 3 years and that eclipse totality typically lasts just a few minutes, it is also very hard to know what birds are going to be doing when darkness envelopes the Earth in the middle of the day.
After well over a year of research and virtual planning, and close to a week of intensive in-person scouting up and down the coast of Sinaloa, Mexico, it all finally came together on the morning of April 8th, 2024. Just offshore from Mazatlan, eclipse totality lasted almost 4.5 minutes, and I enlisted the help of a small boat to position myself near some islets that I found lots of seabirds frequented during both the day and the night. As the moon began to uncover the edge of the sun at the end of totality, I captured this image of a Magnificent Frigatebird in front of the spectacular eclipse phase known as the ‘diamond ring,’ a moment that lasts just a few seconds.”
See more of Liron’s work:
Danny Green
Danny is a highly-lauded photographer from the UK. He’s been honored multiple times in such prestigious competitions as Wildlife Photographer of the Year (he’s a fellow winner of the Black and White category, among other commendations), European Wildlife Photographer of the Year, and Nature’s Best. He leads photo tours worldwide. As with so many of my peers on this list, we first met in Yellowstone!
About the photo: “I was up in Scotland in early August getting my annual fix on photographing badgers. I love badgers. They are such good fun to photograph and I have been working with them for many years now. They are quite common in the UK but that doesn’t mean they are an easy subject to tackle, as they are mainly nocturnal and very elusive. I was keen to try something a little different with the badgers this year and so I tried to use flash as a source of back lighting. It took me a while to figure out the position and power of the flashes but I think I got there in the end. I used four flashes for this image but all on very low power so each flash was very subtle. The falling rain was an added bonus and really added to the overall feel for the image… like a badger amongst the stars.”
See more of Danny’s work:
Bill Gussman
Bill is a long-time friend with whom we’ve shared adventures in Yellowstone, Africa and Australia. Even though he doesn’t have a website and only shares photos on his personal social media account, I’m happy to include his posts here.
About the photo: “Walking the trails of Thailand, listening intently for bird calls, another sound echoed eerily through jungle. The sighting was difficult, as the trees and vines blocked our view and going off trail was nearly impossible. Eventually the sound came closer and the maker of the shrill call swung into view: the Lar or white-handed gibbon.”
Karim Iliya
Karim is photographer and filmmaker who specializes in underwater work, but who boasts a portfolio that’s quite diverse, including aerial shoots, erupting volcanos, and more. He was part of Wildlife Photographer of the Year’s People’s Choice. Karim recently launched a non-profit called kogia. It’s a library of nature photos and videos that can be used for free by small non-profits, biologists, activists, artists, and individuals doing conservation work through a quick and easy application process. We are also building a fellowship program to decolonize nature storytelling and give tools to young people around the world to tell conservation and nature stories from their own communities.
About the photo: “In the far north of the world as winter approaches, their coats turn from a dark black, brown, or grey, to a bright white, making them nearly invisible in the snow. If you take your eye off the Arctic fox for even a moment it disappears back into the winter. When photographing wildlife, there are so many variables you can’t control such as weather and lighting. Often you don’t even see any animals. I normally hope for beautiful golden afternoon sunlight, but the bright flat white light, overcast white sky and clouds made for perfect conditions and make a very different and intimate portrait of this fox. I take these photos not only because I love these animals, but because I think that all life deserves respect, admiration and attention.
Like many places, Iceland has a complicated history with foxes. Many of them are hunted by farmers who worry about their baby sheep being eaten. This fox’s mother and siblings were killed by a hunter, who brought her to a small hut in the countryside managed by nature and hiking guides. Living outside, the staff fostered her, feeding her scraps of food to fatten her up so that she might survive the harsh winter alone. I went to photograph her two days after the hut closed down for the winter.”
See more of Karim’s work:
Jennifer King
Jennifer and I met in Yellowstone (of course) a few winters back, and seem to cross paths there every year. She is an award-winning landscape and fine art photographer who has been widely published and has been a featured speak for numerous events and organizations. She’s known for her black and white work especially, but opted for color this year!
About the photo: Jennifer photographed this black bear family in the Great Smoky Mountains.
See more of Jennifer’s work:
David Kingham
David and his partner, Jennifer Renwick, are full time photographers who travel the country photographing landscapes and other natural subjects. They lead and teach workshops around the country. David is also owner of the Nature Photographers Network and publisher of Nature Vision Magazine.
About the photo: “It felt like pure serendipity. I don’t typically seek out wildlife in Yellowstone, preferring to focus on the park’s dramatic landscapes. Yet, each morning, we couldn’t help but notice the fresh tracks of the Wapiti Pack in the snow along the roadside. Their presence was a subtle thread woven through our journey, first in Hayden Valley and then, the following day, as we moved to the park’s west side. We weren’t actively tracking them, just acknowledging their existence in this wild expanse. So, with no expectations, it was a delightful jolt when a lone wolf emerged from the woods this afternoon. We watched, captivated, photographing it for a few minutes before it melted back into the forest shadows.
As we turned to head back to our snow coach, a scene of breathtaking beauty unfolded before our eyes. It was as if the wilderness itself was revealing a secret. This image is a departure from typical wildlife photography, where the animal is often the sole subject. Here, my intention was to capture these magnificent creatures within the context of their extraordinary environment. Of course, luck played a significant role. The wolves choosing to emerge onto this steaming thermal feature, the ethereal backdrop of frost-covered trees, and that fleeting moment of perfect light all converged to create this mystical scene.
The real challenge in that moment was resisting the urge to zoom in tight. My 100-500mm lens offered the tempting possibility of isolating individual wolves. But my gut told me to go wider. By pulling back to 200mm, I was able to embrace the surreal landscape, to tell a story that went beyond a simple wildlife portrait. I think that’s what makes this image special. It’s about the wolves, yes, but it’s also about the magic of Yellowstone.
In the moments that followed, the entire Wapiti pack emerged into another meadow. We watched them play, their movements echoing the familiar antics of domestic dogs. Nearby, bison stood seemingly unfazed, a testament to the complex dance between predator and prey in this unique ecosystem. It’s in these unplanned, unscripted moments that the true magic of Yellowstone reveals itself – when you simply allow the wild to unfold before you, and you’re fortunate enough to be there to witness it.”
See more of David’s work:
Florian Ledoux
Florian and I met in China during a three-day exhibition in late 2019 (right before the world fell apart). He specializes in photographing wildlife and natural areas in the earth’s polar regions. Florian has won multiple awards, including commendations in Wildlife Photographer of the Year and the Siena Awards, and has been a key contributor to BBC’s Frozen Planet II and Disney’s Polar Bear documentaries.
About the photo: “Mother Nature is the ultimate masterpiece of art and adaptability. In this breathtaking Arctic landscape, a female polar bear demonstrates perfection as she leaves her young cubs of the year on the melting fast ice to embark on a bearded seal aquatic stalk. The moment was both beautiful and poignant as she employed her finely-tuned instincts. She disappeared slowly into the water, navigating among the ice floes before diving to reappear where the seal was lying. I was tense and nervous while observing, knowing that every movement and every decision was crucial for her success. She jumped out of the water toward the seal, but it escaped from the sea ice into the water faster than she could catch it.”
See more of Florian’s work:
Jérémy Mathieu
Jérémy is a colleague who specializes in still and video photography. Though he is from France, we met in Yellowstone, where he leads tours. Jérémy is based in Canada, taking advantage of his time abroad to explore many of North America’s wild areas. He has recently directed a documentary on the impact of fish farms on the aquatic ecosystems of British Columbia.
About the photo: “While I was on a nature cruise in the Tongas, Alaska, we encountered a group of more than 15 humpback whales feeding. They were “bubble net feeding” on small fish, probably herring. It was incredible to see them fishing for 2 hours nonstop. As the group circles a school of small fish they use a team effort to disorient and corral the fish into a “net” of bubbles. They use intense vocalization to coordinate and efficiently execute the bubble net so they all can feed. As we were listening to them through the hydrophone, we were watching for bubbles on the surface so we could know where the whales would appear. After many attempts, they finally popped up where I was hoping, just in front of us with those high mountains in the background.”
See more of Jérémy’s work:
Andres Novales
I was first attracted to Andres’s macro photography, which is tremendous, but he also focuses on larger critters. Though based in Guatemala, he explores and leads tours throughout Latin America and around the world.
About the photo: “For an eternity, I dreamed of finding an emerald tree boa in the Amazon. It was one of my ultimate goals, but no matter how many nights I searched, I always came up empty-handed. Every trip gave me hope, but the jungle kept this snake well hidden—until my most recent herping tour.
That night, we were exploring a small tributary of the Amazon River, drifting quietly under the cover of darkness. We had a pretty productive night hike and were returning to the lodge. My flashlight was almost out of battery and we completely missed it, initially. Luckily, our team is comprised of skilled local guides and boat drivers and our driver spotted it at the last second. After all those years of searching, seeing this species felt almost unreal. It was beautiful, the prettiest snake I’ve ever seen. In that moment, all the waiting and effort were worth it. Finding this snake was a dream come true, and it reminded me why I keep coming back to this dreamy jungle year after year.”
See more of Andres’s work:
Judd Patterson
Judd is an excellent photographer, now based in Colorado. Though he works for the National Park Service in a capacity outside of photography, Judd travels frequently with camera in hand in his free time, with a focus on avian subjects. I interviewed Judd and highlighted some of his wonderful work a few years ago here in the blog.
About the photo: “There is nothing quite like seeing the vibrant turquoise-blue of a male Mountain Bluebird after a winter of more subdued tones. These colorful birds arrive in mid-March and herald an upcoming summer season full of bird song and wildflowers. To capture this image I spent a snowy afternoon with a recently arrived pair, and worked to frame them amongst the pines and big, fluffy snowflakes.”
See more of Judd’s work:
Kate and Adam Rice
Kate and Adam are award-winning photographers. Formerly nomadic, they have recently settled in Alaska, where they have opened a new photo gallery. They have received multiple commendations in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, lead tours and workshops in Alaska, the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, and abroad, and recently made their first visit to Africa! Kate and Adam are the co-founders of For the Love of Bears, a non-profit focused on bear conservation.
About the photo: “On our recent trip to Kenya one of our goals was big cats, including lions. Early one morning this stunning male was lying nearby a hippo the pride had killed. As the rising sun set everything aglow with golden light, he surveyed the distance for any predators that might come and try to steal the kill.”
About the photo: “Another goal of our Kenya trip was elephants, specifically big tuskers. We were treated to clear views of Mount Kilimanjaro one morning. As the sun rose we desperately hoped for elephants in front of the mountain. As luck would have it, we found this big tusker known as Conor emerging from the trees just as the sun was coming up. He was kind enough to hang out with us for a bit and here you can see him crossing a meadow as the morning light touches the top of the mountain.”
See more from Kate and Adam:
Vishal Subramanyan
Vishal is a young photographer who’s developed a devoted following due to his excellent work documenting bobcats in northern California. He was also honored in last year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition (where we met), and recently graduated from Berkeley.
About the photo: “I spent several months looking for this bobcat family without any success. As I had just started to give up, I received a text from some friends saying they had spotted the family. I grabbed my camera and rushed out to the park, and after making a few passes I finally spotted the bobcats on a slope below me and I took this picture.”
See more of Vishal’s work:
Michelle Valberg
Michelle is a veteran award-winning wildlife photographer and Nikon Ambassador from Canada. In 2022 she was awarded the prestigious Order of Canada. We somehow manage to just miss each other in Yellowstone each year, but one day we’ll meet!
About the photo: “A colony of King Penguins stands in perfect alignment on the rugged rocks of Gold Harbour in South Georgia, their stately figures framed by towering, snow-dusted mountains. In the foreground, waves crash against the shoreline as strands of kelp sway gracefully in the swirling waters. This scene captures the raw beauty and harmony of this remote paradise, where wildlife thrives amidst the drama of the elements.
Due to the bird flu situation in Antarctica, we were unable to make this landing, but we explored by zodiac instead. While it was a different perspective from my past experiences of being among the thousands of penguins and fur seals, seeing it from this vantage point was equally remarkable given the circumstances.”
See more of Michelle’s work:
Lennart Verheuvel
Lennart is a nature photographer from the Netherlands who shares an affinity for rare and elusive species. He travels to far-flung places looking for rather obscure animals, so I’m always interested in seeing the latest from his adventures. Lennart was also a fellow award-winner in the 2023 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.
About the photo: “I had already started looking into photographing Blue Whales underwater back 2019 when I discovered it might be possible in Timor-Leste. When Covid hit in 2020 I decided to spend my money on an underwater housing to make this dream a reality, and I was supposed to go in 2021. I spent two weeks on Tenerife first to learn free diving so I would be able to get the whale in a different perspective. However Covid prevented me from achieving my goals. Then I had to wait for 2 years because I wasn’t able to go in the right season. This was finally the year to go.
Getting into the right position with a Blue Whale in the water was much harder than I had thought. However, the time I had invested for this goal (three weeks) paid off when it all came together on the final day. First we made a fruitless effort trying to get into the water with Sperm Whales, but on our way back we saw this whale. The fattest whale I had ever seen, so much so that it might have been a pregnant female. It also moved relatively slowly and was not the least bit bothered by us. Finally, on my third time in the water I was able to get deep enough in time to catch the whale more or less at eye level while it was going down. After all this effort I was very happy with the picture.” Read more about Lennart’s Blue Whale Quest.
See more of Lennart’s work:
Check out my peers’ Best Of selections that I’ve shared from other years.
More Year in Review Content
My Favorite Images and Moments of 2024 (Coming January 8)
My 2024 Favorites in Entertainment and Literature
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2 Comments
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Tremendous beauty and heartbeat. Thanks for sharing – the captions were interesting, too.
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Author
George, thanks for taking the time to read through it all. Glad you enjoyed their work.
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