Best of 2021

By Rebecca

December 31^st, 2021

Here are my top 10 photos of 2021 and the stories behind them! Check out previous best-of posts for my top 10s from 2020, 2019, 2018, and 2017.

Relatedly, I also do a compilation of #fromwhereistand shots each year. I started this tradition a bit more recently; check them out here: 2021, 2020, 2019.

March: Spike Island

In 2019 at the Pacita Abad exhibit at Spike Island, I introduced myself to Jane from the communications team and volunteered to take photographs of artists in their space if they were interested. A few artists were indeed interested, but I only got to photograph two before the pandemic hit. But they knew me, and thought of me this year when they asked if I would be interested in photographing 10+ artists for the campaign materials for their annual Open Studios event. Traditionally this is an opportunity for the public to come in and see the artists at work, but of course this year it was mostly virtual.

Over the course of two weekends, I photographed 12 artists and their art -- paintings, ceramics, embroidery, textiles, photography, pewter, molded plastics, found artifacts, plant roots, tapestries, welded teddy bears, wax-encrusted vibrators...you get the idea. Extraordinary stuff. It was a whirlwind, and one of the 3 shoot days began with me getting my first vaccine dose, marking what seems at once an incredibly short time and also an eternity from where things were last March when I photographed at Spike Island literally two days before lockdown began.

One picture of each of the artists was turned into a printed poster (bus stop-sized), which were put up all around Bristol, and Spike Island hosted an interactive map of their locations as a COVID-safe activity to get the public excited about Open Studios 2021. This is a photo of Carol and one of her clay “squeezes,” in a shaft of winter morning light, squatting amongst her fossils on the painted concrete floor. Carol is a writer and multimedia artist and her space was fascinating; I’m so glad we got to meet and make these photographs together.

May: Zack and Candace

I’ve known Zack for a while, as he and Kenny were in the same physics PhD cohort at UW Madison. We made a good pair on our MUFA rec D ultimate frisbee team; I remember a few times we surprised our opponents when as we received the “kickoff,” I’d immediately gun it for the end zone and Zack would make his first throw an attempted deep pass to me for the point. I think it worked at least once. Zack ended up at Epic, where he met Candace, and I was pleased when I found out they’d be relocating to Bristol.

Zack and Candace are now married (they took care of that when they were back in Madison for UGM in 2021). At this time, they were engaged. It turns out they’re not big on spectacle or ceremony, but they figured they should get some engagement photos if they could, to please some people’s moms. So in 2020 at our Bristol office silent auction, they bid on a photo shoot with me and then we proceeded to be like ships passing in the night, unable to find a time that worked for all of us (them, me, and COVID) for almost a year.

Finally, this may, a fortunate aligning of the stars: they were free, I was free, I had rented a camera and lens to try out (seriously, without this in mind!), and Claus was visiting. So we made an evening of it! We met up at Brandon Hill to shoot in outfit #1 (shown here), then went to their flat so they could change into outfit #2 and went up to clifton to get some classic Bristol shots. After hours of posing and goofing off, we grabbed some drinks and snacks and sat in a park to enjoy the lovely weather.

I love this particular photo of the pair emerging from a path surrounded by shrubbery at the foot of Cabot Tower; it definitely felt like a genuine moment.

May: Bluebells

All spring I was obsessed with the idea of capturing some perfect bluebell photos. Starting waaaaay too early in the season, I planned walks, bike rides, and drives all over the southwest trying to capture these f%#$ers at their peak, and for weeks I was not only disappointed in the light, the setting, and the lack of blooms, but also at the fact that actually I don’t think I like the look of bluebells very much (you live and you learn, I guess).

Then, on the same weekend as the previous photo, Claus and I headed to Wales for a mini break to finish out the bank holiday weekend. We saw castles and beaches and chickens and rolling green hills and blah blah blah. It was all lovely of course.

On the drive back to Bristol, we found ourselves on a detour due to road closures or a traffic incident or maybe both. Definitely unplanned, and a bit risky taking some very narrow and very extreme inclines in my 19-year-old vehicle (she’s a champ, but she’s getting old, folks). Suddenly we crested the hill and found ourselves in a wood surrounded by soft flight and, improbably, enough bluebells in bloom to actually sort of turn the forest floor a light shade of periwinkle, when seen from the correct angle. Of course we were on a single lane road in the middle of nowhere, branches pressing in on us from all sides, and stopping to capture it seemed impossible. Luckily we soon passed what can charitably be called a driveway, at a very acute angle to the road. This is when old cars come in handy because you don’t care about the body work! I backed up this poor person’s drive and we got out to explore for as long as we dared. I only had to sacrifice one leg to scratches from thorns to capture this shot. What a bargain.

June: Cornwall

This past spring/summer, we were allowed to work remotely from our country of residence for a time, to allow people to visit family they hadn’t seen for a while or shake things up during the monotony of work from home. I made the decision to take advantage of this policy and get down to Cornwall, hoping I’d be able to tear myself away from work enough to enjoy it (I had taken on a new role at work in January and was still feeling quite green and occasionally very stressed by it, so it wasn’t a sure thing, but I love Cornwall and wanted a change). I have yet to post the pictures (film or digital) from this sojourn, but they’re coming soon!

I spent the first week in Mevagissey and the second in Mousehole. I had been to Mousehole once for a few hours back in September 2019, but never to Meva. Both were delightful; Meva was much bigger and had more going on in terms of restaurants, shops, tourist activities, and general after-dark bustle, but both were chock-full of tourists eating ice creams on sunny days, and most of the days I spent there were sunny days.

This photograph is from the Mevagissey harbor wall, looking back at the town, during one of my sunset walks. There were men fishing just beside me and angry seagulls swooping overhead, but it was warm and almost as peaceful as it looks.

July: Oxford

Laurel, Mary, and I (we were in Oxford, so an Oxford comma feels obligatory) spent our Fourth of July doing a decidedly un-American activity: punting in Oxford. You might be asking, “what is punting?” The answer is: sitting in a long, shallow boat and with difficulty steering yourself about an artificial waterway using only a very long hollow metal pole. It’s harder than it looks, folks.

Laurel was in Oxford already, having traveled there for an ultimate frisbee tournament, so Mary and I drove up to join her. The weather did not look promising, so both of us wore layers and were not optimistic about the day’s plans. We were also running late because we are both partial to a cafe in Bristol and had decided to grab coffee and pastries there before leaving, without properly taking into account how long that would take. By the time we got to Oxford, it was sunny and gorgeous but we were a bit out of sorts because it was practically impossible to find parking. So we did something relatively American (actually pretty English too) and parked illegally and crossed our fingers, then hurried to the boathouse to meet Laurel.

She didn’t give us a hard time, which was very nice of her, and we were able to claim our reservation without issue. So we boarded our boat, received scant instruction, and were off. Laurel had purchased a feast from Tesco, so we lazed the afternoon away taking turns piloting the boat, drinking summery drinks, and snacking on veggies, berries, crackers, cheese, and other delicacies. For my part, I brought several cameras, and used my phone to take this shot of each of them with one in hand.

July: Fanø

To this point, I had traveled a bit in pandemic times but only once by plane, to Copenhagen for the weekend for Karina’s wedding. My big planned trip to Iceland in July 2020 had been foiled by my not having my BRP in hand; I was denied boarding at the gate and though it might sound really trivial, that experience, and the disappointment of it, haunted me.

This summer Claus’ family had booked a big house on Fanø, a vacation island off the west coast of Jutland, accessible via ferry from Esbjerg. They invited me to join and I decided to go for it, turning my planned 3 days off into a full week to enjoy it with some time in Copenhagen on either end. As the trip approached, I was riddled with anxiety. Somehow Denmark didn’t have any entry testing requirements, which I was very skeptical was correct up until the point I was issued a boarding pass. I was physically shaking as I approached the check-in counter and for the first time did the dance I’ve done many times since of showing my passport, showing my vaccination proof, answering several questions, and then waiting in angst as the airline agent consulted a tablet for the latest travel guidance to determine if I met the requirements. Then suddenly I had a boarding pass and was through!

My mood leapt wildly at several inflection points over the following few hours: when I scanned my ticket and was allowed to board. When the plane lifted off. When we landed and learned that this was the first day where we wouldn’t have to undergo on-arrival testing before entering the airport in Copenhagen. By the time I got through baggage claim at Kastrup I was ecstatic.

And Fanø was wonderful. Claus’ family had come here for vacation for many years when he was a young child, as he had family who lived there at the time, so he was full of stories -- there was the archway with the strangely de-armed bust of a man in a blue coat that he remembered as being the sign that they were finally there; the old sea mine painted with a Danish flag and converted into a piggy bank that he would try to climb up on top of at the age of 6 and therefore remembered as being twice his size, that seemed so small now; the tale of the time his dad had to break into their own car on the ferry because they locked the keys in side. On our first night there, we ate a delicious dinner at the inn across the street from his grandparents’ former home. I’ve seen home video of Claus’ family car parked in that very street (though you can’t drive there anymore).

This photo is just a random street in the old town Sønderho, but the yellow and red of the houses, the Dannebrog (yes, Denmark’s flag has a name) pennant waving in the light breeze, the blue sky...all of it conjures in my mind the happy warmth of that week of perfect summer in Denmark.

August: Outer Banks

I am relatively precious about my electronics. Even when I’m alone, there are no exceptions to the rule of “no liquids on the same table as computers or hard drives.” This extends to phones and cameras at the beach. It’s a real inner struggle for me between the impulse to capture pictures of everything and not risk ruining my stuff.

On Fanø I had brought my little Fujifilm X100F onto the beach and even into the water -- VERY CAREFULLY -- and was pleased with the photos I got as a result. So I decided to take it farther and get a waterproof housing for it before going to the Outer Banks with my family for the first time in years.

The X100F is a relatively small camera; we’re talking 5” x 3” x 2” (130 x 75 x 50 mm). In its new waterproof home, it’s basically the size of a basketball. No joke; it’s hilarious. But it’s also waterproof to the point that you can take it scuba diving with you.

I think I still have a lot of work to do to learn how to make the most of this setup; for instance, there are certain settings (like, my favorite ones) that are inaccessible once the housing is shut, so you have to pick a setting or set them to auto. And of course focusing isn’t quite the same and will take some practice, especially when underwater. But it was great to be able to use this camera with no worries about sand or salt. You can see more from the days I brought the camera here. If you’re wondering why it gets hazy-ish there in the middle, that’s another lesson learned: if you leave the camera on for too long, in the sun, in the housing, it gets hot and condensation forms inside the housing. So pro tip: turn off the camera when not in use.

I ended up taking it in the ocean only a few times, but one of those times yielded a few amazing photos, including this one of my brother. I hope to make many more like this in the future.

September: Iceland

Iceland travel attempts:

1 July 2020: the first day travel was allowed in many parts of Europe. Showed up at the airport without my BRP as I was foolish enough to mail it to the DVLA a few weeks prior to attempt to secure my provisional drivers license. Was denied boarding at the gate.
22 August 2020: entry restrictions to Iceland changed 1 week prior from test on arrival to test on arrival + 5 days mandatory quarantine. Changed our plans and went to Scotland instead.
11 Sept 2021: we actually made it; third time’s the charm as they say. I only started getting really excited once we got our pre-departure COVID test results back, and only really believed it once we landed.

So obviously I’ve been eager to get to Iceland and see the scenery throughout COVID. Interestingly, it was not a place I was especially keen to visit before; I’d heard about other people’s fabulous trips, knew several discount airlines existed solely to get people to and from Iceland, and knew Icelandair offered long layovers to allow people to get a taste of the place on their way to and from North America. But none of that really tempted me until Claus suggested we try to go there as our first attempt to see each other since COVID had struck. Then the idea got lodged in my brain and refused to loosen its hold, and only strengthened its grip with each foiled attempt.

Summer is the best time to see Iceland as the weather is warmer, it’s drier, and driving is easier, but given other travel and obligations throughout the summer, Claus and I didn’t have time we could mutually take off of work until September. But damnit I wanted to go to Iceland and didn’t want to wait until 2022 or later. So we made it work.

It was so wet during our first few days that I despaired that we had made the wrong choice, but it got steadily better throughout the week and by the end, I had no regrets, only plans to return and see and do more. We even made several last-minute plans that resulted in us seeing amazing things; one was booking a whale-watching tour the night before, and the other yielded this picture of the volcano Fagradalsfjall. We lucked out -- the weather was fabulous, the location was super convenient to the airport for our flight that afternoon, and the walk was pretty short. I captured this shot from the air above one of the long fingers of silvery gray lava field, sharp against the red dirt. The small brightly-colored specs with long shadows standing around its perimeter are people; I’m the one in red at the very top, about a quarter of the distance from the left side. And none of that rock was there before March of 2021 when this eruption began.

October: Mandy & Sam

I’ve known and worked here and there with Mandy and Sam (ok, more Sam) for a few years now since being abroad, but hadn’t really hung out with them outside of work or gotten to know them as a couple at all. Then they won one of my photo shoots in this year’s silent auction and wanted to use it for an engagement shoot, which was the perfect opportunity to remedy the situation.

We decided to start at their place and attempt to get some photos of them with their cat Pippa. Pippa was...let’s face it, mostly non-cooperative. We got a few but otherwise just hung out, chatted, and listened to some vinyl before heading out. Our plan was to walk to Harbourside and back for some classic Bristol shots. We had no idea that the October day would be so warm, or that the sunset would be so perfect, but both were true. As an added bonus, I convinced them to have their first Mr. Whippy, which for those of you who have not had the fortune to partake of this British delicacy, is a ubiquitous ice cream-adjacent treat sold from trucks throughout Britain in the summer. It tastes like frozen whipped cream and is traditionally served with a stick of Flake chocolate in it, but of course you can get all sorts of toppings instead or in addition.

It was lovely getting to chill with Sam and Mandy, and a bit of a fun challenge photography-wise because they’re of equal height (both 6 ft tall - that’s 182 cm!). A lot of the couples-type poses I had in mind assume a bit of a height difference between the members of the couple. So we let them be themselves, and it was great; for instance, this pose, where Sam sticks his chin on Mandy’s nose, is one they do in the absence of being able to lay a head on the other’s shoulder or chest. So cute :)

November: Xmas card

Connor also bid on and won a photo shoot from the 2020 silent auction, and also didn’t cash in on it until late in 2021, but for a very different reason: he wanted to do an x-rated Christmas shoot to make Christmas cards from and was a bit embarrassed to reveal to me the full scope of the idea.

Luckily, the truth will out and I was TOTALLY down, so we made it happen. I rented studio space from a photographer based just outside of Bristol, and we made an afternoon of it; we put on some tunes, got some drinks, and reviewed Connor’s prop and costume purchases as we discussed pose ideas. Connor had warned me a few days before that the others were not up for the level of nudity that he had had in mind (hilarious text to receive on a Thursday afternoon btw), so we worked that into the concept, coming up with plenty of ideas for all three clothed, and then for two clothed and Connor...less so.

There were many high points during the day, such as the break we took in the middle for individual portraits. I asked each of them to do some research (read; google image searches) into 80s and 90s school photo poses and choose one to make their own, which ended up being super fun. And of course, the reveal (and the road to get there) will always be among my favorites. But the moment shown here was special and helped set the tone for the afternoon; the guys had just put on the shirts and begun to channel the concept of the silly 80s family photo vibe, and Connor suddenly crouched to this stool to do a campy pose with his chin in his hands. I think it started as a joke. Then he was all like, “wait get me a cigarette” and of course Ashwin (or was it Bendik? Guys don’t @ me) stuffed three in his mouth, and Connor immediately mugged for the camera, yielding this absolute gem.