photography

The Top Five–Food Photos of 2025

Time for a look back at my favorite food photos of the year!

First up is our favorite St. Patrick’s Day dessert…Guinness cake with Guinness mousse. I added a little extra decoration to the plate with chocolate syrup, and I was really happy with how it turned out!

Next is the cake I made for Ladybug’s high school graduation. Topped with a dusting of powdered sugar and some fresh raspberries, it looked very elegant!

Not all my favorite food photos are desserts…I thought this German potato salad looked especially tasty!

Back to desserts with a Sacher torte…I embellished this plate, too, with a bit of apricot jam and some chocolate whipped cream:

I don’t just think this potato-parsnip soup looks good (which it does), but I also like the area around it, with a candle and the pumpkins we picked this year:

And a bonus photo, because I’m not sure a beverage picture belongs in a group of food photos, but I really like how I staged our Christmas Eve wassail!

I’m looking forward to cooking and photographing new recipes in the new year!

The Top Five–Photos of 2025

Time for a look at my favorite photos of 2025!

This sentimental photo of Bunny and her grandfather wearing their Western Kentucky class rings graduation weekend is one of my favorite photos EVER!

Next up is my view from the top of a horse when Ladybug and I went horseback riding in May:

How could I not include Chicago? Here’s a look at a Parisian-style entrance to a Metra station:

I love photographing our town square in the small hours of the morning!

The development at Union Station in downtown St. Louis is colorful and fun!

And a late bonus entry from Garden Glow at the Missouri Botanical Garden:

As always, I’m looking forward to finding new subjects and angles for more fun photos!

The Top Five–Photos of 2024

Now my five favorite photos from 2024!

I took this picture of the frozen fountain in Tower Grove Park early in the year, but I knew as soon as I did, it would make the cut.

This photo was taken through the windshield of the car on our way to visit Bunny in February. That is a road ahead of us, but you really can’t tell!

I wish I had had more time to compose this picture, but I feel very lucky to have caught a bird in flight from such a close distance!

This photo of the Northwestern National Life Building in Minneapolis might be my favorite architecture shot I’ve ever taken!

And Pagoda Circle in Forest Park in the fall never disappoints.

I’m just going to add one more, because I really love this picture from Garden Glow at the Missouri Botanical Garden, and what is a “top five” list without a sixth entry, anyway?

I love looking back on the year through the photos I’ve taken!

The Top Five–Food Photos of 2024

The New Year is approaching, which means it’s time to take a look back at some of my favorite photos of the year. We’re starting with food photos, and the first one is the only main course on the “Top Five” list…burrito night! I love how colorful this plate is (and I also remember how delicious the meal was!).

Next up is a Black Forest cheesecake…this was one of the best cheesecakes I’ve ever made…Turkey liked it so much, I made it again for his birthday!

The cake I made for Donald Duck’s birthday didn’t turn out quite like I had planned, but that’s ok, because I like the way I actually made it even better!

This apple pie mocktail might be the prettiest drink photo I’ve ever taken!

And finally, the white chocolate-cranberry cupcakes I made for Santa Lucia Day, which might be the prettiest dessert photo I’ve ever taken!

Stay tuned for a look back at more of my favorites from 2024!

The Top Five–Photos of 2023

My final “Top Five” photos list for the year is my favorite photos I took in general…no food here, but there is a travel picture from our trip to Chicago in May. I love the fact that the sculptures outside the Art Institute have a lovely backdrop of skyscrapers!

I’m always looking for interesting ways to frame photos, and I think this picture of the Cabanne House in Forest Park was especially well done:

When we visited St. Charles in October for Legends and Lanterns, I got a shot of the fallen leaves on the brick street:

Another fall photo came in brilliant orange at Lafayette Park in St. Louis:

And finally, a photo from Garden Glow at the Missouri Botanical Garden. I’m not sure I’ve captured it this gold before!

I hope you’ve enjoyed a look back at some of my favorite pictures from 2023! I can’t wait to see what I come across in 2024!!!

The Top Five–Disneyland Vacation Photos of 2023

It’s time to start taking a look back at 2023, and I’m beginning with my top five favorite photos from the trip Turkey, Bunny, and I took to Disneyland this spring. My first picture isn’t the most fantastic composition or anything, but it makes me smile every time I see it…I love that Radiator Springs at Disney California Adventure warns you to “Mind your speed as you go. Sheriff’s old, but he’s not slow!”

Nighttime pictures are always some of my favorites, and I love this one that captures the lights and the water display at Pixar Pier in Disney California Adventure during the evening show:

Back in Radiator Springs, I knew I’d have to include a photo of the neon lit up at night, and I decided Flo’s V-8 Cafe was my favorite of the bunch I took:

You can’t go wrong with a castle photo, and I especially love this one of Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty Castle because the Disney 100 medallion and other decorations are so visible!

And finally, a nighttime photo of the castle, which focuses on one of the lamps in the foreground. I can’t tell you exactly why I like this picture so much, but it’s one of my favorites of all the ones I took!

Stay tuned for a look at some of my other favorite photos from 2023!

The Top Five–Photos of 2022

Since all of my other 2022 in Review “Top Five” photo lists have six photos, this one had to also, right? Right?!? I’ve already looked at food, drinks, desserts, and our trip…these are my favorite photos from the past year that aren’t food or vacation related.

I’ve taken hundreds (thousands?) of photos at the Missouri Botanical Garden over the years, but there was something special about this one featuring Henry Shaw’s final resting place in front of his country house:

This photo taken in downtown St. Louis in May reminded me how much I love an urban environment:

Speaking of urban environments, this spring was the first time I’ve visited the Chicago Water Tower in many, many years, and I discovered just how photogenic it is!

That’s a quality shared by the entire city of Chicago…I loved having a bird’s eye view of the city from the Centennial Wheel!

A little closer to home, I really like the beautiful gingko tree outside of our town library, especially in the fall:

Our town is also especially pretty at Christmas:

That wraps up what ended up being my top 30 photos of the year. In light of all of the fun things we did in 2022, I think I should get at least some credit for keeping the number that low!

The Top Five–Vacation Photos of 2022

I took so many photos on our vacation this summer, and so many of them turned out better than I hoped, so it was almost impossible to choose a selection for this “Top Five” list. Yes, there are six photos, and no, I’m not sorry…the fact that there is only one bonus photo is a miracle, and I refuse to apologize for it!

We’ll start at the beginning of our trip with this photo of the Washington Monument as seen from the German-American Friendship Garden. It’s probably not my best photo of the landmark, but I love the lighting, I love the fountains, and of course I love the monument standing tall in the background:

This photo captures that boardwalk feeling in Myrtle Beach, SC perfectly!

Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge is such an immersive experience…you actually feel like you’re in one of the movies when you’re there! Also, this may be the best picture I took on our trip.

I took many, many (MANY) photos of the castle at the Magic Kingdom, but there’s something special about seeing it lit up at night:

I know it’s kind of silly, but this picture I took at Disney Springs just looks so good! It has a real Rodeo Drive vibe:

On our final day at the parks, Bunny and I did a speed run through EPCOT looking to add 50th anniversary pressed pennies to our collection. We did pause to admire the view here, though, and it was a perfect moment, with the puffy clouds against the bright blue sky reflecting in the water and the colorful flowers in the foreground. The only thing that could have made it better would have been a monorail going by on the bridge!

Tomorrow I’ll wrap up my “Top Five” photos lists from 2022 with a look at everything else!

The Top Five–Drink Photos of 2022

Between our Disney Dinners and other special events this year, I’ve made a lot of speciality drinks, and some of them were really pretty! Here’s a look at my my favorite (and prettiest!) creations from 2022, starting off with a concoction I created for Kirby Day:

I think the pink salt rim is what really sells this Kyyyalstaad Fizz (lemon and lime juice with sparkling water) we had on May the Fourth:

I created a nonalcoholic version of the Monorail Yellow…I love how summery it looked!

If the Monorail Yellow looked like summer in a glass, the Lava Smoothie looked (and tasted) like the tropics in a glass!

The Witches Cauldron Brew from The Nightmare Before Christmas cookbook was the perfect drink for fall:

Keeping up with the theme of six photos in my “Top Five,” here’s one that’s definitely not like the others…hot chocolate from our first snowfall of the year in November!

Tomorrow I’ll be taking a look at my favorite vacation photos…let me tell you, that was a hard list to narrow down!

The Top Five–Dessert Photos of 2022

As promised, here are my top five dessert photos from this year, starting with a King Cake I made for Mardi Gras…I just love the vibrant colors, and the fact that I was able to come up with enough beads from around the house to make it a little extra fancy!

This cupcake photo just came out perfectly…I don’t think I could have staged it better!

These Easter cannoli tasted as good as they look!

I really like how I embellished this chocolate malt cheesecake:

And finally, a cake from The Nightmare Before Christmas cookbook that was decorated by Ladybug and photographed by yours truly:

Also, because I’m not me if I’m not trying to sneak a sixth item into a “Top Five” list, a bonus photo of a Rainbow Cone at the lakefront in Chicago, which is honestly more about the setting than the food itself:

Stay tuned for my top drink photos from this year!