2024 in Photographs

Every January, for the past 15 years, I've been putting up a selection of my favourite images from the previous 12 months.

I don't know how many people actually view them, but it doesn't matter. What I've come to realise is these posts offer me a rather lovely snapshot of my life with my camera - a sort of condensed diary and a gateway to memories.

My selection is not based on social media likes (see my last post for my thoughts about that), but on the images or shoots that I got something out of.

If you're interested in seeing previous annual summaries, then you can find earlier collections here: 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, Decade Review, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009

As always, there's a varied selection below, so hopefully something for everyone. I'm always interested in feedback, so if you'd care to leave a comment about which one(s) are your favourite, or any personal observations, it would be warmly appreciated.

You can click on the images to see larger versions.

Hope London at the Piano

Hope London is an artist and musician - a full on energetic creative. At the tail end of 2023, I did a series of photos with her, restaging a few images from her childhood. One of them was Hope sitting at a piano looking directly into the camera. The version of the image I edited for her was a 5x7 ratio in a sepia colouring to match the original. However, I later came back to the photo I took and decided to do a more cinematic edit, playing with the crop ratio, deepening the shadows, and subtly adjusting the colour grading.

Callum and Charlotte

My niece and nephew when we spread the ashes of my brother at Sharkham point in Brixham. I'd intended to take plenty of photos of the gathering, but only fired off a small handful in the end. In fact I barely remember taking any, and only really discovered them on the camera afterwards. However this one seemed to completely encapsulate the emotions of the day.

Cluedo - a Family Photo Shoot

One of the highlights of my photographic year was a Cluedo themed shoot created for Jean (Miss Scarlet) and her family. We'd begun planning it the previous year, but a severe attack of sciatica that lasted several months, meant it got pushed into 2024. They had completely gone to town creating their outfits and sourcing props - and even had a body in a trunk (see 2nd image). 

When most family photos are so samey and (to my mind at least) boring - how much more fun can it be than to create a set of unique images based around the theme of a movie, book or game?

Although all the photos were designed in colour, this shot just worked so much better in black and white, with a real Film Noir vibe!

If you would like to read the blog post I wrote about the shoot (or see the podcast where I talk about it) then follow this link:
https://kimayres.blogspot.com/2024/10/cluedo-family-photo-shoot.html

Cup in the Sink

Since the beginning of the Covid Lockdown in 2020, I've been doing a weekly podcast called Understanding Photography with Kim Ayres on YouTube. 

One of my repeating mantras is that it's not all about the camera, a beautiful landscape or a photogenic model. If you have an understanding of light, composition, and narrative, then you can make anything look interesting. To try and prove the point, I did an episode on the humble, everyday cup or mug. If you'd like to watch it, then click on this link:
https://www.youtube.com/live/sBIs4jo9pdo

Artist Kate Anderson

Something I have started developing over the past couple of years is the idea of a sort of "embedded" photography. A bit like documentary, I will photograph a person, or group, as they go about their work or life. 

But not from the perspective of the outsider looking in. The people I'm doing this with are ones with whom I have already built a relationship. They trust me. 

I use the camera hand-held in whatever light there is, and look for lines, angles, shapes and forms. It is more creative, it is more intimate. 

Kate Anderson is an artist I've known for many years who works in a variety of media, and we spent an enjoyable day together. And this is part of the fun of this kind of photography - chatting, having coffee, lunch, long conversations about art and processes, while also wandering off on tangents about, well, pretty much anything.

I decided I wanted to get a shot looking down over Kate's shoulder. Then I noticed our reflections in a mirror we had set up for an earlier shot and I couldn't resist taking a quick frame-within-a-frame selfie

Steampunk

I've always had a fondness for the Steampunk genre, so when Andrea at Dumfries and Galloway Life magazine said she'd come across a couple who she wanted photographed for an article, and that Ben had also created a smoke-breathing blue leather dragon, I jumped at the chance.

I wanted to do something cinematic, and while we were exploring ideas of where we might do a photo shoot, it turned out that they were based practically next door to Solway Spirits, a gin distillery, which had some nice brass stills that would make suitable backdrop, who were generous enough to let us use their space on a day they weren't distilling.

If you would like to read the blog post I wrote about the shoot (or see the podcast where I talk about it) then follow this link:
https://kimayres.blogspot.com/2024/07/a-steampunk-fire-breathing-blue-leather.html

Julie Langlands at Auldgirth Bridge

The two things that leap to mind when you think of Julie are “a sense of fun” and “colourful”. She also  owns and runs “The Bust Stop” in Dumfries – a boutique shop with a specialist bra-fitting service - which is where I first met her, on another assignment for Dumfries and Galloway Life. 

I can't remember exactly where the idea came from, but it wasn't long before we decided to do a shoot at the old Auldgirth bridge

The Olive Retreat

Food photography isn't something I advertise on my website, but for a few years now I've been periodically called in to do it for The Olive Retreat (formally Nikos) whenever they do a significant menu update. It's a Mediterranean restaurant in Castle Douglas and we've developed a "house style" for the images.

It's usually a long day - they cook everything fresh for me to photograph, which means the smells are amazing. They feed me lunch and keep me topped with good coffee. 

Not wanting the food to go to complete waste, the owner, Sam, will put out a call on social media for anyone to come in and help themselves to the food for free once I've photographed each item - so there's a steady stream available across the day.

Hovering Sparrow

"No-Mow-May" had turned into no-mow-June (and would eventually go on to be I'd-better-mow-it-now-it's-September) and the grasses were getting much higher. One morning I noticed a sparrow hovering above the them and then darting down - in the same way you see a bird of prey hovering in the air before diving down to catch some wee animal. 

I'd never seen this behaviour before, so I grabbed my camera, stuck on the zoom lens and shot from the back window. I'm not a natural wildlife photographer - practically every attempt ends in a blurry photo of the back of the animal disappearing into the trees or over the horizon. 

So to say I was delighted with this capture would be an understatement. It wouldn't win awards, but for personal satisfaction it rates very highly - it is by far and away the most successful bird-in-action shot I have ever managed.

Wheelchair Stories

Susan is writing a PhD Thesis on the relationship many people with disabilities have with their equipment, and how it can often be used in ways other than what it was designed for. She says that her own wheelchair, for example, is frequently employed for several functions beyond purely assisting her to move from one place to another – it can often end up as anything from a shopping cart to a towel rack to an extra space to place her laptop when she works from her bed.

Collaborating with her on the ideas and concepts, I took a series of photos of Susan’s wheelchair in and around her house where she is absent from the images but her presence is implied by the extra items on it (washing basket, shopping etc.). One of the aims was to challenge the ableist gaze, which can seek to render Susan either as invisible or as distinctly “other”, this photo series intended to provoke different layers of thoughts in the viewer, by removing her from the picture while still showing very human activity.

The Northern Lights

The Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights, very occasionally can be seen from this corner of Scotland - although never at the levels you see in the Norway or Alaska. However, I've lost count of the number of near-misses I've had despite the fact we live on the doorstep of a recognised "Dark Skies" region, where light pollution is very low.

But finally I managed to get a good shoot in just about perfect conditions. With no wind I was also able to make use of the near mirror-like reflections from Loch Ken. For a while it was mostly just greens, and after taking as many shots as I could, I set the camera on a 10 second delay so I could do a sort of selfie of myself silhouetted against the sky, while simultaneously photographing the aurora with my phone.

I was just at the point of thinking I should pack up and go home, when everything started getting a  little brighter and suddenly the pinks appeared, so I stuck around for a while longer.

If you would like to read the blog post I wrote about this experience, then follow this link:
https://kimayres.blogspot.com/2024/09/aurora-finally.html

ImMerse

I was asked to take some images of the ImMerse Festival in Annan - a series of events centred around the salt marshes on the Solway Firth. It was a grey, overcast day and I was really not sure how I was going to do justice to the environment. I knew I could create some good compositions, but the light was just so dull.

So when it came to editing the photos I realised I was going to have to spilt the process and tackle the sky on a separate layer to the landscape. This way I could bring out the texture in each, in a way that the camera wasn't able to do on its own.

Jan Hogarth doing a sketching workshop

A group gathered around ranger, Elizabeth Tindall, who was showing some of the unique saltmarsh plants

Observational Photography - with my phone

Despite being a professional photographer with a big professional camera, I use my phone for taking photos almost every day, usually when I'm out for a walk. 

The images are not made into prints, or sold, or used commercially - instead it's a process of observational exercises. Much like a musician will play scales, or an artist will do quick sketches, it helps to hone my eye and my skills by looking for anything that might be slightly interesting - particularly in the mundane of the everyday. We are used to filtering out what we see all the time, so it takes a certain level of effort to try and notice familiar things in a new way.

As mentioned in the 2nd half of my last blog post, I decided to start a 2nd Instagram account - https://www.instagram.com/kimayresphonepics/ - and stick up a photo a day (or at least a few times a week) as a motivation to keep doing it. And every now and then I capture something I feel quite pleased with.

I hope you've enjoyed my selection - please leave a comment below with any thoughts or observations, and let me know your favourite(s)!

Wishing you a bolder and more fun year ahead.