2012: Our favorite images of the year

Different year, same old challenge. Picking just a few favorite images is still not easy, especially when two people have to agree on the choices…

Our favorite images of 2012 in no particular order:
(please click on thumbnail for enlargement and short description)

We’ve had a pretty busy year and not always as much time for photography as we might have wished. Steffen and I started a new project in Saxon & Bohemian Switzerland this fall, but due to our travel guide books the Western U.S. remained our main focus in 2012. We enjoyed a couple of weeks in May/June at the Pacific Northwest doing some research and shooting the coast, waterfalls and rainforests. During fall season we revisited a lot of the iconic places in our beloved Southwest and as usual we also did some exploratory hikes there and tried to find some new locations – among them a remote and very unknown crazy sandstone area that we truly felt in love with. We will publish a report about it on Steffen’s website (in German language) and here on our blog (in English) in early 2013.
Besides that there will be many more new images from 2012 coming up soon and we also hope to finally find enough time to release a couple of more ‘A Closer Look At’ eGUIDES during the next months.

Thank you so much for looking and have a wonderful New Year!
Isabel & Steffen

June 2012 Dolphin Encounter on Shi Shi Beach – Not among our best images, but for sure one of those moments in 2012 we will definitely never forget!

While shooting sunset I noticed there was something at the far end of Shi Shi Beach that did not quite belong there. I checked it out and all suddenly I saw a dolphin swept ashore just in front of my feet. First I was so happy seeing this marine mammal from such a close range and could hardly believe my eyes and took some quick handheld images. But soon I realized that the poor animal was not able to rescue itself. Each time the dolphin tried to swim back to the ocean, the waves swept him ashore. A few times I thought he almost made it, but than again there he was twisting and splashing like mad in the shallow water and I felt terribly helpless, not knowing how to hold and help him…

I called Steffen for help who was shooting the beach a little bit further away and did not notice what was going on until then. He came and tried to pull the dolphin into deeper water. After a few attempts the animal really managed to swim through a channel towards the second bay, where the water is much deeper. And it didn’t take long then, until we finally saw him way out in the ocean, where he belongs! We felt incredibly happy for him! One of those moments in life we will definitely never forget…

• More images from Shi Shi Beach and the longer version of the dolphin encounter
• Here is an excellent video showing how 30 dolphins were washed ashore on a Brazilian Beach in March 2012 and how they were all saved (just the way Steffen pulled our dolphin back into the ocean on Shi Shi Beach)