Being outdoors and capturing wildlife is my happiest place with a camera in hand. The worst weather conditions and most painful injuries can fade into the background when I’m locked in on an animal with my zoom lens.
Then I return home with the camera, and go through the sometimes tedious process of sifting through what I got (and much more of what I didn’t get) to select the best frames. I painstakingly make tiny, detailed light, color and shadow adjustments to bring out the most interesting attributes. I sift through conversations, interviews, research and personal reflections to write the stories that accompany them.
In 2024, I took more than 6,000 photographs in 8 countries in all 4 hemispheres. From over 6,000 images, I’ve curated 24 favorites—just 0.004%—to share with you. Some of them have never been shared before. They are a mix of the most remarkable captures, my most technically sound photos, and the images that I personally love simply because they make me feel something, whether or not they’re “good photos.” I hope they make you feel something, too.
And with that, I wish you and yours a happy, fulfilling and prosperous new year. Enjoy the photos.
– Heather
The Beauty of Bali
Some of my favorite images of the year happened on this island just a few weeks ago. Traveling door to door took nearly 40 hours. I have never traveled so far in such a short time. Gratitude for arriving in such a special place aids in a speedy recovery from the suffering of travel.
I was immediately wowed by the abundance of temples and tropical life in an entirely different environment than I had seen before. The adventure took me from a shaded botanical forest to the open, winding rice terraces where families harvested their crops.
The Bali Bird Sanctuary allowed me to observe and photograph species like the incredible blue and gold Indonesian knobbed hornbill and the snakeneck Oriental darter at a comfortable range. Then, a short stop on Nusa Penida island enabled me to interview and photograph at the FNPF organization working to preserve wildlife habitat and rehabilitate endemic Bali starling populations. A pair of the rare starlings landed in the canopy just beyond the facility, right as I sat down to interview my sources.
Hindu temples abound in Bali with shrines at nearly every family’s home. One special site is Mandala Suci Wenara Wana, or the Sacred Monkey Forest in Ubud, where caretakers tend to nearly 1,200 macaques in several troupes, in exchange for the monkeys’ guardianship over the temple grounds.
Pictures of Home in Kansas City
One need not travel to the other side of the world to appreciate being outdoors. From the epic clouds over my neighborhood before a thunderstorm, to reflections of a terrapin staying toasty in the winter sun at Loess Bluffs Wildlife Refuge, to the spooky and mysterious Quixotic Dark Forest performers at Powell Gardens – these are all photographs taken near my home.
Samalayuca Splendor
A trip to the Outdoor Writers Association of America conference in El Paso (from which I returned home with 3 awards in the Action, Outdoor Adventure & Humor categories) took me on a two-hour bus ride across the border, through Customs, and into Mexico’s state of Chihuahua. From there, a fast and rugged buggy ride carried me into the Samalayuca desert to the top of the dunes, where I could photograph the evening light in the dunes before a group meditation on the sand.
Scenes from Slovenia on the Istrian Peninsula
Coastal Slovenian town Portorož was once a bustling center for the local fishing fleets dating back to the ancient Roman era. Remnants of seafaring traditions are all around the Istrian Peninsula, paying homage to its history of shipbuilding, fishing, and salt-making from the salt pans. In the Venetian Gothic style, buildings in Piran’s old town are painted in soft, pastel shades like terracotta, peach, pale blue and yellow. Weathered buildings exposing the stucco and colors past create an inviting atmosphere in the narrow streets and squares.
Lipica is a village less than an hour’s drive from Portorož in the Karst region, near the Italian border. The largest Lipizzan stud farm in the world farm was forced to relocate here after the Napoleonic Wars and both World Wars, the breed having nearly been wiped out by the end of World War II. Today the UNESCO World Heritage Site houses more than 300 of the white horses, and the farm’s stated mission is to continue preserving the breed’s more than 400 years of cultural and natural heritage.
Unforgettable Scenes in the Sacred Valley
I have dreamed of returning to Peru since I first visited Lima and Cusco in 2015. I wanted to trek on foot back to Machu Picchu, learn more about local history and art, and immerse myself in Quechua culture. This year I finally returned on a solo trip to Peru for two weeks, trekking all over the Sacred Valley of the Incas with a guide team by van, by horse, and on foot.
This adventure took me to colorful sunsets in mountain valleys to the ruins of ancient Incan grain silos and temples perched high in the mountains above modern towns, to remote mountainsides full of alpaca herds – some with matching brightly colored tassels or markings – with Andean condors overhead.
After visiting with some children in a schoolyard at a local primary school over juice and cookies, and hiking a few hours high in the Andes with local community members and a small herd of alpaca, the family of local chef Nemecio Avilés and fellow community members welcomed me into their home with traditional dance and allowed me and my crew to set up camp for the night.
They demonstrated their pachamanca cooking method — originating from “pacha” (Earth) and “manka” (pot) — burying meat, potatoes, and vegetables underground with hot stones. This ancient Andean culinary technique has been practiced since the time of the Inca Empire, and remains an important part of Peruvian culture for special occasions and social events. Then, they taught me about their traditional methods for harvesting, cleaning, dyeing and weaving different textures of sheep, llama, alpaca and vicuña wools.
I was constantly aware of my elevation, and experienced altitude sickness early in the trip. In a short time, I left from Kansas City (elevation 900 feet) to the city of Cusco (11,150′), to sleep in a tent near Lares Hot Springs (10,660’) and then again in Patacancha (15,300’).
I added mileage and meters hiking the 8-mile home stretch of the Inca Trail (maximum elevation 13,380’) to Machu Picchu (8,000’). And I reached new highs on the Vinicunca Rainbow Mountain hike (16,522’) and the Ausangate trek (16,800’) – more than half the elevation to Mount Everest’s 29,000 feet.
Curating these 24 images and capturing these stories was a rewarding challenge. I’m thankful for the opportunity to reflect on a very full, exciting, and far-traveled year to every hemisphere of the world. It gave me a chance to reflect on everything the experiences taught me.
I’m also thankful to you for engaging with and supporting supporting my photography and writing – it means a lot to me, genuinely. I’m hopeful these stories will resonate with editors at related publications this year, too. 😉
Happy 2025, everyone.