2019 has been quite the year and with 2020 just a few days away I found it appropriate to share my favourite photos from the last 12 months. I feel my photography has grown a lot this year and I feel more confident in photographing my travels. I think most of my pictures are no longer the obvious shots. I play with light and shadows more often and I focus more on the people and the smaller moments instead of the obvious scenes like sunsets or beautiful landscapes. I hope that in 2020 my photography can grow even more and that I can do the shoots I want to do (more cars, more street, more documentary). And of course a lot of traveling!
I’ll also try to write more blogposts on here, after experimenting with several types of posts in 2019 and I’ll maybe even try to do some videos too.
Make sure to subscribe if you are interested in seeing more of my work and behind the scenes. Enjoy the new year and before you go, watch my favourite photos from 2019 down below.
The first shoot this year was at the Seaking Farewell event in January. The weather was bizarre to say the least. It was freezing cold and windy. One moment the sun was shining, the other moment it was raining or hailing. There were dark clouds, there were blue skies and there were rainbows. Anyway, while everybody was protecting their gear during a hail shower, I decided to take a couple of quick shots. I still really like the mood in this one. It captures the event how I experienced it.In springtime I did this shoot with a friend and his vintage Norton motorcycle. I really enjoyed photographing him and his bike. I thought I would be doing more of this in 2019, but I only ended up doing this one shoot. I have a couple of things on my mind for 2020 so I’ll see what happens.It wasn’t easy picking a favourite photo from our trip to Lukla, but I like this one. I like the others too, but anyway, you get the point…Most pictures I take are planned, or at least you have something in mind. This is not one of those. I saw my wife walking up and wanted to take her picture. I didn’t expect it would come out like this. I really like how she’s walking up to this epic scenery.Not sure why I put this one in my year review. But it’s Lukla and I like the randomness of the people just standing there and looking at each other.I snapped this one out of the window of a moving car (which you can clearly see if you look at the way it is framed). But there’s so much happening in this photo. One of the regrets of 2019 is not getting out of the car and not visiting this fare.Not sure why this one is in this list, but maybe it’s because I was there and experienced it?That morning light, everyone waking up and the elephants going to work. Loved this moment; really like this photo.Didn’t expect to be photographing the Mount Everest this year. Didn’t think I would be able to frame it in an airplane window with my wife looking at it. Still like the scene and colours in this one.This is one of my favourite photos from Big Stupa in Kathmandu. The vibe in this photo reflects it so well.In July I did this shoot with a vintage Porsche and neon lights. One of my highlights and I thought I would do more of these in 2019. In the end I didn’t do any other car shoot… 2020 might bring some new interesting things! You can find a whole blogpost about this shoot on my site too.Shot a ton of air to air photos on this flight with several warbirds. In the end I liked this one the most. I like how you see both the Spitfire and our Skyvan. I like the way the clouds cast shadows on the ground.Not really my favourite photo, but I’m very happy with how it came out after working on it in Lightroom.Same as the one above. But this has a C-17 in it. So yeah, impossible to not put it in this list.Usually this would be categorized as a bad photo because of the Skyvan parts. But with the guy hanging out of the back it feels like a snapshot from an actual mission. Very happy with how this came out!A pair of Spanish Harriers. How could I not put this in my list?Where in Nepal I took my first steps in overcoming my fear of photographing people; I did shoot a lot more in Mexico. I’m still not used to framing these candid moments, but I am happy with how this came out.This is another one that is well framed in my opinion and with enough going on to be interesting.Not what I would call my best photo from Mexico, but I do like it. Maybe this is another one of those pictures where you had to be there to appreciate it.London was the first time I had a coherent series of pictures that wasn’t about the pretty places or the nice sunsets, but that involved photographing people on the street and playing with the light. A new world opened up. I have a separate blogpost about this trip if you’d be interested.I like the layers in this one.Again playing with light and shadows. London was one of my photography highlights this year.The London series did inspire me to take similar shots from airplanes. What better place to try this than Austria.I mean; look at that!Some will say it’s too much photoshop. I like it though.In Austria I had the chance to take some pictures of the crews on the ground. It has been a while since I did this and it was a great shoot.There’s so much going on during an air to air shoot, but this photo makes it look so tranquil. I really like the warm evening light hitting the Skyvan Interior and the fact the jet is doing a knife edge. It makes it all a little more dynamic and interesting.Probably my favourite air to air shot from this year. Make sure to check my blogpost about this flight.The London/Austria trick but then in Greece with two Hellenic Mirage 2000’s.We didn’t get the sunset we were hoping for. As you can see it was quite dark and very hazy, so I was very happy to be able to take this shot.My biggest regret is not getting the plane 100% sharp. Due to the backlight the camera had issues focussing through the dirty window. It has hundreds of small scratches on it. Anyway, still a nice shot.Basically the same as the Chinook photo. I would usually not edit this picture. But I like the way the Phantom is framed in the Skyvan window and it’s a Phantom which is the reason why it should be in this list anyway.Inspired by previous trips this year I went all the way in New York. Shooting people, playing with light, etc.Also shooting dogs.Nobody seems to be liking this picture. I for some reason do. I think it’s the colours and the two figures on the roof. It all feels so American to me.Talk about American.I liked this one because it captures New York so well.If I had taken this photo a couple of years ago it would have been a straightforward photo of the Statue of Liberty. I feel like I see more than before and manage to capture it too.
Giel Sweertvaegher 