My Favorite Photos 2023

Hanging Out in the Neighborhood

Each year I pick my favorite 12 photos of the year. And as I often do, this year I found it a challenge to narrow my picks to just 12 photos. In fact, today I removed several from the collection and added other photos to replace them and then took more out and replaced them. But I finally settled on my favorites. So here they are…

My Favorite Photos of 2023 –

Ta Da!

The photos I picked are not all technically my best work. But they speak to me in some way. And probably many of them would not stand out to anyone else. That’s okay with me. Photographs are a way of showing what has heart and meaning for the photographer.

How do you find a way to say what an extraordinary experience it is to be alive in this world? That is the kind of subject matter I try to work with.

   — Keith Carter

What Would Greta Thunberg do?

I am reading a mystery fiction book published in 2023, the latest in a series of mystery books by Richard Osman. In Osman’s book series a group of senior citizens form a group they call the Thursday Murder Club. To the chagrin of local police they get involved with and solve murders that seem to occur far too often in their neighborhood. (Isn’t that the way with murder mystery series? Who would want to live near Jessica Fletcher in Murder She Wrote? People seem to die every time she’s in the vicinity.)

Still I enjoy reading the Richard Osman books. He has a wry sense of humor about aging and his characters’ challenges with a changing world around them. But today I got a special chuckle as the author had a character in the story write post-it notes to place on his laminating machine and on his printer that said, “What would Greta Thunberg do?” I love it when authors have characters who are wrestling with how to respond to current issues in our world like climate change.

He downloaded the menu for her, but he has not printed it out, because you have to start somewhere. Ibrahim has stuck a Post-it note on both his printer and his laminator saying What would Greta Thunberg do?
― Richard Osman, The Last Devil to Die

Back to Photographs of the Year

I noticed that many of my photographs this past year have been of mundane scenes in my neighborhood and nearby parks. They include lots of nature, birds, flowers, and experimental abstracts. I spent a lot of energy last year completing my book. (Have I mentioned that I picked up my copies of the book from the publisher last week? It was so exciting to hold the finished book in my hands!)

How do you find a way to say what an extraordinary experience it is to be alive in this world? That is the kind of subject matter I try to work with.

   — Keith Carter

I feel that much of the time and energy that I would normally have put into making new photographs went into writing/sequencing/editing the book. Projects like my book are a great for promoting artistic growth and deepening. But I will be happy to take a break before starting another project.

Meanwhile the magic of seeing beauty in everyday life still fills me with joy.

What fills you with joy?

May you walk in beauty.