My Favourite Shots of 2025
I don't know if there's a specific thread for this kind of thing, but as I haven't shot anything particularly worth sharing this week, here's some of my favourite shots from 2025.
When importing a set of images into Capture One, my first pass is to run through them all and mark any that look interesting as one star. I then run through those and edit them, marking my favourites as two stars.
To compile a set of favourites for the year, I select the entire 2025 folder and then filter by two stars. This gave me 1,558 two star images to browse through from this year. My picks from that list get marked with a red colour tag and being reasonably selective, I managed to reduce that list down to 157 images.
At that point I still need to filter down further, but I don't want to mess with any of the star ratings and can't be bothered messing around with C1P's clunky text tagging, so I export the entire set into a "best of" folder and then browse through that with XNView, tagging what I think are the very best from that folder. This got me down to 26 images, which I eventually whittled down to the 16 photo limit of a single post on here, that final selection was tricky as I had to get rid of 10 images that I really liked. Traditionally, I'd try to get down to 12 images for the year, but getting it down to 16 was challenging enough as it was.
Anyway, here we are, taken with a variety of cameras (too many) throughout the year and presented here in chronological order.
Dawn At Botany Bay Farm
I think this is the only dawn shoot I've done this year, as I've now got a lot more free time on my hands I should probably attempt to do a few more over the coming months. This battered Beech tree has endured all that the elements have thrown at it over the years in its lonely spot on the middle of Withnell Moor, outlasting the long demolished farm it now marks the former location of. I've made a few attempts to shoot this tree at dawn, but I think this is the only one I've shot with the GFX system and I was fortunate enough to be treated to a nice bit of light in the sky on this particular occasion.
Sunset In Rivington
From dawn to sunset now. This was taken as I made my way down from Rivington Pike one evening in January, well, I say evening, more like around 4PM (EXIF says 16:55, but I think that's about an hour out).
Hunted
This was taken on a cold afternoon in the western edge of Roddlesworth Woods. While the woods in general are very popular, this particular section seems to be an area few venture into as it's somewhat boggy and in my opinion a bit creepy. It's rare that I feel uneasy wandering in woodland, but this part of Roddlesworth puts me on edge a bit for some reason, perhaps it's the sinister looking trees lurking in there?
Sunset at The Pigeon Tower
Back to Rivington for another sunset. This time I'd managed to succesfully time passing The Pigeon Tower with the sun's disappearance into the Irish Sea Permafog™ on my way down from The Pike. I still had to make my way back through the Terraced Gardens and woods, but fortunately they're nothing like as creepy as Roddlesworth.
The Crumbling Walls of Turton Moor
April and feeling a bit frustrated visiting the same old location, I started looking for local areas that I hadn't really explored before, one such area that I quite enjoyed turned out to be Turton Moor. There's quite a steep climb up to these moors, but once you're at the top, it's just gently undulating. On this walk I was heading for a location called The Hanging Stones, which sounds kind of ominous, but just turned out the be a rocky outcrop on the hillside. I was blessed with really nice conditions on this walk and particularly, from a photographic point of view, delightfully soft light which the Z8 coupled with the 24-70 f/2.8S has rendered really nicely.
A Garden Invader
It was pure coincidence that I'd gone I was stood at the kitchen window when this lady popped out from the bushes at the back of my garden. Fortunately I happened to have the Z8 to hand with the 100-400 already mounted, so I managed to rattle off a number of shots through the kitchen window as she explored the garden. After this sighting I bought a cheap trail camera and set that up in my garden to track subsequent visits, which have revealed that she typically pops in and out a few times a week, but always at night, so I was extremely lucky to see her during the day. The trail camera has also revealed other wildlife running around my garden overnight, including a regular hedgehog, the odd mouse and occasionally a rat, although the trail camera also recorded the rats swift demise in the jaws of the fox.
Old Friends
I spotted this group of trees while wandering through Duxbury Woods and likened them to a group of old friends having a jolly time. This was taken with the GFX system mounted on a tripod.
Belmont
On this occasion I'd driven over to Belmont, a small village sandwiched between Turton Moor and Rivington. Conditions were supposed to be misty, but were leaning more towards drizzly so I got kind of soaked taking this after scrambling to the top of a small but steep hillock by the side of the road with the Z8.
Sunset From The Pike
Another sunset from Rivington, this time I remained at the top of The Pike for a different point of view. The Pigeon Tower can be seen near the right hand edge of the frame. The distant hills on the horizon are the Western Fells of The Lake District, terminating with Black Combe on the coast. Despite the serene looking conditions, I recall this was a blustery and chilly evening.
Heather At Black Coppice
For some reason or other I nearly always seem to miss Heather Season. This year I remembered, but was undermined by poor light on several visits (including those where I took the GFX) to the edges of the moors, but on this last one I got lucky with nice conditions and soft light.
Sunset Over The Mormon Temple
The Mormon Temple is one of few Chorley landmarks of note, so I tend to include it a lot in my sunset photos. On this occasion I'd been driving back across town one evening when I noticed the stormy sky really starting to catch the light, so when I arrived home I quickly grabbed the Z8 and headed back out looking for a vantage point to shoot from. I ended up in a field on a hillside in Withnell where I took this shot during the last few minutes of good light.
Another Sunset Over The Mormon Temple
Taken from more or less the same location. On this occasion, I'd been out photographing in Brinscall Woods with the GFX and noticed this nice sunset developing as I drove home. Fortunately, my route took me past the same location used in the previous shot from a couple of months earlier, so I was able to pull over and capture this nice sky.
The End Of Autumn
Due to various things going on in my life at the time, I missed the best of autumn this year, instead managing to catch the very tail of it on a walk through the eastern side of Roddlesworth woods. This was another drizzly day with, for the most part, poor light. Out of the images I took that day though, this one stood out to me and is probably one of my favourite woodland shots of the year.
On The Hunt
I've been photographing local Kestrels on and off for a couple of years now. This recent shot is probably from the best set I've captured so far and was pure coincidence as the location this was taken at was is not one I'd seen Kestrels at before. After studiously hovering over the field looking for prey, she eventually landed in a tree close to where I was stood allowing for some nicely detailed images. On this occasion, she was also being harassed by a murder of crows. She stood her ground for a while before taking to the air and then engaging the incredible high speed Kestrels are known for to swiftly disappear from view. Marvellous creatures, I'm hoping to get more good shots of them in the coming months.
Double Trouble
Another recent image from a quite special encounter. The local Roe Deer are usually very skittish, but on this occasion as I walked through the woods, the first deer I spotted stood her ground and just stared at me for several minutes, which was quite surprising considering how close she was to me. The second one emerged from behind a bush to see what was going on and they just stood there looking at me. Eventually after taking plenty of photographs I got fed up and continued on my route, whereupon I met another deer.
Sunset On The Pike
Another recent one from a memorable evening on Rivington Pike. On this occasion it had been several months since my last visit and my fitness had taken a nosedive in the intervening time, so I wasn't entirely sure I could make it to the top. Taking my time I did eventually reach the summit and while wandering around up there looking for better angles on The Pigeon Tower, I noticed this shot of the Pike tower with a lone hiker sat on the benches, all silhouetted by the setting sun.
