The Top 9 Photos of the Year

What a year it’s been.

Near the end of 2014, I was exhilarated. It had been an incredible year, both personally and professionally. I had quit my part time job and made the jump to become a photographer. My Instagram had 450 likes, and my business twitter didn’t exist yet.

Things have changed. My social media has 15,000 followers combined. www.drahtphotography.com is the top hit on Google if you search for local photographers. This couldn’t have been possible without support from this wonderful community. I can’t count the amount of times I’ve heard someone say, “Hey…my friend recommended you. Do you have xx date free?”

Every time I hear that, it warms my heart. I love being a photographer, but more importantly, I want to be YOUR photographer. When people ask if they should tip me, I alway say the same thing – the greatest tip I could get is your recommendation to others.

Enough of all this. Let’s break down this amazing year’s top photos and show you some galleries I hope you’ll love

This was an amazing shoot. To be honest, I was a little nervous for it – the clouds were coming in, and the sunset went a little faster than I thought it would. Garnering 592 likes, though, this has been my highest rated photo of the year.

This entire family was amazing, though. Sometimes people can be challenge to work with, but everyone here was gung ho on every idea I had. They pulled together to make this group effort as good as it could possibly be. Photo shoots like this are never just the effort of one person, they are somewhere in between a lot of planning a little bit of luck. Check out the gallery here.

2. 

I don’t know which I like better – the photo, or the story behind it.

This was in Victoria. The ceremony took place in a beautiful orchard. Everything was perfect. However, halfway through the day, it starting raining. Then it started raining hard.

My equipment worried me a little – my lens isn’t waterproof, and neither are my flashes. Fortunately, everything dried out in time for the next day’s wedding in Vancouver. As with every wedding, I was determined to give it my all.

I suggest we head to the end of the breakwater – nearly half a mile in the freezing rain. Although the bride and groom were freezing and soaked (even the best man, holding the light behind this wonderful couple!), they gave this shoot everything they had. We ended up with my most liked FB post of all time (636 likes).  On Instagram, 536 likes.

To see the rest of the gallery, click here.

3.

An old tilt-shift image of the eiffel tower. This was immediately after the terrorist attacks, and so I deemed it appropriate. It is from my 2011 collection.

4. 

This image caught me by surprise. I put it up on a whim – although I wasn’t a fan of the dying raspberries, I did like the unique placement. I guess this just goes to show that it’s impossible to know what’s going to catch on and what won’t. You can see the rest of this vancouver wedding here.

5. 

One of my favorite ring shots. The father of the bride is a dentist, he had spent the morning polishing the rings at his practice. It showed, as all of the ring shots were truly fantastic.

This is a concept I’m experimenting with. It is called simplify the scene. Although generally black and white means poor color theory, I think I’m justified in posting a few every now and then if it suits the scene so darn well. This is a simple and beautiful photo.

To see the rest of the gallery, head to: http://goo.gl/y7gT83

6. 

To be honest, this whole wedding was simply stunning. That fellow you see to the left is also an extremely talented photographer, and just a passionate and wonderful human in general. Check out the rest of this wedding here.

7.

Fun fact: this is one of those weddings I actually managed to take a photo of me taking this photo!

The above photo, for some reason unbeknownst to me, did not get especially high ratings.

The below photo, though, did.

It did very well. 431 likes. This is one of those weddings every photographer wishes for – a lot of enthusiasm, a good looking young couple. A lot of energy and some good friends mixed in between. The dress is truly unique as well. Check out the rest of the gallery here.

7.

This was an incredible wedding. One of those weddings where I might have been more excited than the bride for the special day to finally occur! It was (what I thought at the time) would be my last wedding of the year. This young couple was so heartfelt and genuine I felt myself wanting to cry at the end of the day.

Even this bouquet is something special – 6,000 hours worth of handmade paper flowers from the pages of old books. I still find myself paging through these photos and reliving the amazement of the day. Check out the rest of the gallery here.

9.

And there we have it, the final image. If you look carefully in the album, you can see the bridesmaids cleaning all the umbrellas one by one. At 425 likes, this scores in the top 9.

This is where we’re left, then.

There were many, many amazing photos that weren’t in the top nine. If I had unlimited time, I’d make a top 50. And even then I’d feel bad for leaving certain photos out. There were a lot of unbelievable photos that deserved so much attention. Part of the reason I let instagram choose the subject and content of this blog for me.

I consider myself beyond fortunate to have the job that I do. All I can do is the absolute best I can – refining my technique, my equipment, and myself in an effort to improve incrementally every year.

Who even knows what next years post will look like?

Feel free to follow my facebook, google plus, twitter, or send me a message. Thank you so much for reading this far!