The year in review

2012 started off with a bang. I had submitted four images to the Greater Lynn Interational, had all four accepted, received the “Children of the World” medal for my image of a young monk in a monastery in Yangon

and a FIAP Honor Award for my Bison at Grand Prismatic.

The “Children of the World” award surprised  me even more, since prior to my trip to Myanmar, I had extremely little experience in people/cultural photography.  It made this recognition even more special.

During the month of April three of my images where accepted and displayed in a juried exhibition at the Plymouth Center for the Arts, in Plymouth, MA. It was a wonderful collection of pictures of New England Photographers.

The end of June I headed to Maine with my friend Vicki Braden to photograph puffins on Machias Seal Island. On the way to Cutler, ME, we stopped in Acadia National Park for 2 days. Thanks to extensive rainfalls that week, the water in the streams was at a very high level and provided some nice photo opportunities at Cobblestone Bridge

and Waterfall Bridge.

Thankfully the rain stopped when we reached Cutler and our trip to Machias Seal Island was a go! We spent 2 wonderful days with the puffins and razorbills on and around the island.

In October I headed to the Pacific Northwest together with my mom, who was visiting from Germany. We did a 10 day whirlwind tour, starting in Seattle, on to Mt. Rainier, the Painted Hills (where we were accompanied again by my friend Vicki) then headed to the Columbia River Gorge and returned via the Olympic Peninsula to Seattle, where we finished the trip with a wonderful dinner with friends.

The Pacific Northwest had experiened an unusual dry summer and even during the first 8 days of our trip we had bright glaring sun – not exactly photography friendly. We still had a great time at the Painted Hills,

I did manage to find a couple of waterfalls with decent waterlevels,

and – yes, I know it has been photographed thousands of times – got my shot of the Japanese maple in the Portland Japanese Garden.

By the time we reached the Olympic Peninsula it started to rain quite steadily which made for some nice conditions in the Hoh rainforest.

When I returned home I learned that I was a Semi-finalist in the Nature’s Best -Windland Smith Rice – competition. Even so I did not make it any further in the competition it was nice to have gotten that far in such a prestigious event.

I also had a wonderful time photographing horses and dogs for friends and clients. I always feel honored if someone appreciates my photography enough to have one of my pictures hanging on their walls.

Unfortunately for the first time in 25 years I am now horseless. In November I had to send my wonderful Iberian mare into early semi-retirement due to an injury. She is now living on a farm in upstate New York and will hopefully have some beautiful foals.

To see more of my images taken this year, please visit my website at www.beatedalbecphotography.com .You can also click on each thumbnail for a larger version of each image.

So, what is ahead for 2013? I am heading back to Myanmar in January! I can’t wait! I will first spend 2 days exploring Bangkok with photographer friend Gavriel Jecan and then I’ll have 15 great days of visiting one of my favorite destinations.

Sometime in the fall I will be heading to Germany to visit family and friends and obviously photograph! In the meantime I will be exploring more of New England.

I’ll keep you posted on this blog, so stay tuned!

For all of you, I wish you a happy, healthy and peaceful New Year 2013!