Best Photos of 2024: My Favorites of the Year /  by Todd Henson

Now that 2024 is in the rearview mirror it’s time to take a moment and look back through all the photos created in the year and pick out my personal favorites. If you’ve been with me throughout the year then I hope you enjoy this look back. And if this is your first time here, welcome!

Included with the photos is a link back to the blog post where it first appeared, along with a link to my online store where you can purchase the photos as prints, puzzles and a number of other products. Thanks very much for your support.

 

Thank you again for your support, and all the best to you in 2025!

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My Favorite Books, Films and Anime in 2024 /  by Todd Henson

My favorite books, movies and anime in 2024.

Photography is the focus of my website and blog, but it’s not the only activity that brings me joy. I also love reading and watching great movies and series, and I enjoy sharing some of that with you in hopes you may find something you’d enjoy, or perhaps discover we both enjoyed the same thing. Take a look below to see which of the books, movies and series ended up my favorites in 2024.

Some of the links below are affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on these links. This is at no extra cost to you.

Favorite Photography Books

As with last year, I only read two photography books in 2024 so it made it easy to pick my two favorites. 😊 On a positive note, I did really enjoy them both, each about older buildings.

Backroads Buildings - In Search of the Vernacular by Steve Gross & Susan Daley

This was a great portfolio-type book on the theme of old buildings along the backroads of the eastern US. It’s a book for those who love traveling those backroads and finding all those old everyday buildings of yesteryear, often now in disrepair and frequently abandoned. I thoroughly enjoyed looking through the photographs in this book, one I checked out from the library.

Abandoned Virginia: The Forgotten Commonwealth by Joel Handwerk

Similar to the previous, this book also focuses on old abandoned buildings, this time focusing on those found in Virginia. It’s a short book but especially fascinating if you happen to be familiar with any of the featured locations. For me it was the remains of the Virginia Renaissance Faire, which I was fortunate to visit a couple times before it closed down.

Favorite Non-fiction Books

The Happiest Man on Earth - The Beautiful Life of an Auschwitz Survivor by Eddie Jaku

What an extraordinarily powerful book. In it Eddie Jaku introduces himself and tells of his life, how he was a captive of the Nazis and of the events he witnessed. What makes this book really stand out to me is how he came out of those experiences with such a positive outlook. He was determined to survive, and if he did he vowed to become the happiest man alive. And when he did survive he followed through on that vow, telling his story, sharing the power of family and friendship, and how choosing to be happy can help us get though so many hardships. Well worth the read.

Night by Elie Wiesel

This was another very powerful read, one that was difficult to get through, telling of Elie Wiesel’s experiences as a captive in multiple Nazi concentration camps, and what happened to his family. A heart wrenching story, but one worth reading. We can’t forget these events. We can’t let ourselves be lulled into allowing them to repeat. We need to keep learning our lessons, over and over again, for however long it takes.

A Middle-earth Traveler: Sketches From Bag End to Mordor by John Howe

And finally, a non-fiction book with a much lighter topic: the artwork of Middle-earth by John Howe. If you’re a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien and his works you may be familiar with John Howe’s work, even if you don’t recognize the name. He has created some of the very iconic artwork now associated with Tolkien’s Middle-earth, and I loved looking through all of it within this book.

Favorite Fiction Books

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

This classic may be one of the greatest books I’ve ever read. I wish it hadn’t taken me so long to get around to trying it, though perhaps it’s for the best. Perhaps it resonated more now than it might have when I was younger. Though a work of fiction, it incorporates so much history and shares so many valuable life lessons. I would like to reread this book one day.

The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell

For a long while I’d seen the many books by this author, and this year I decided to give one a read, and what a read it was. I loved this first in a series taking place in the time when England was a series of warring kingdoms, and when the Danes invaded and began taking over. Such a great story and so well told. I very much look forward to continuing the series and trying others by the author.

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa

A beautiful story taking place in Japan about a girl who seems to have lost her way in life, so she goes to stay with her uncle who runs the Morisaki Bookshop, a used bookstore. He’s able to slowly bring her back to life as she begins helping around the store, meeting new people, building a new life for herself. And all that time she unknowingly also helps him with his life, dealing with his ties to the past. A wonderful book. I hope to read the next in this series.

Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao

I won an advance reader copy of this book through a goodreads giveaway, and I couldn’t be happier that I did. I loved this story, full of magic, whimsical landscapes and experiences, characters drawn together and pulled apart, a quickly growing love story weaved into the other plot lines as the two mains characters run from creatures that could mean their end if ever caught. A story about the choices we make, and about destiny and what kind of control over our lives we give that idea. Perhaps this fits into the cozy fantasy category so popular today. A beautiful story.

Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien

This children’s book was a reread for me. I first read it in grade school and I’ve always remembered it fondly, so when I found the audiobook on sale I grabbed it, and I’m glad I did. The story held the same adventure, wonder, loss, hope, happiness and mystery that it did when I was much younger, telling the story of Mrs. Frisby trying to survive in the farmers field, but also telling the story of the incredible rats of NIMH. A wonderful read for a child or an adult.

Favorite Graphic Novels & Comics

Saga Volume 3 by Brian Vaughan & Fiona Staples

I don’t have a lot of commentary on this one, other than to say I continue to love this comic series. This one is squarely aimed at adults, tackling topics like trying to raise a young child in a violent and out of control world (or universe), hatred between different groups of people, friendship and loyalty, romance in many forms, and just the general topics of life. In this case, though, that life is lived in a fantastic universe with interesting races so often at conflict with one another. Great series and I look forward to the next volume.

Hokusai: A Graphic Biography by Guiseppe Latanza & Francesco Matteuzzi

This was a fascinating biography of the great Japanese artist, Hokusai, who created that famous woodblock print of The Great Wave off Kanagawa. Look it up, you may recognize it. This biography is told graphically, so it may appeal to a wider audience. And I loved the explanations at the end of how the graphic novel came to be and the challenges of sorting through all the stories about Hokusai, some which may be true and some false, though we’ve no way to know which are which these days.

Favorite Movies

The Lord of the Rings

What can I say? Anytime I rewatch the Lord of the Rings movies they will be favorites that year, just as anytime I reread the books. At this point most folks probably have at least heard of them, even if they haven’t seen or read them. But if you haven’t yet tried them, maybe consider it. The story is so very good, and for me it keeps giving me something new each time I watch or read them. There’s such richness to it, such history and backstory.

Dune Part Two

I watched part two of Dune, finishing up the retelling of the first book, and what a retelling it was. As with The Lord of the Rings, this ranks as one of the best movie adaptations of a science fiction / fantasy book or series. It included all the political and religious undertones and took full advantage of todays state of the art special effects to bring the world of Dune to life. A fantastic set of movies.

The Creator

I thoroughly enjoyed this science fiction movie, far more than I expected to. It tackles the topic of advanced robotic artificial intelligence and such issues as sentience, what rights an artificial intelligence should have, biases and prejudices, and conflicts that could surface between various groups. I thought the movie handled these topics really well and told an engaging story full of emotion and excitement.

Stranger Things Season 1+2

I am very much a latecomer to this series. I’ve heard about it for years but never had access to it so I largely ignored it. Then I discovered my library had the first two seasons on DVD so I checked them out. And now I’m hooked. Just as with the book, Ready Player One, I seem to be perfectly within the target market for this series having grown up in the ‘80s playing Dungeons & Dragons, hanging out with friends, and imagining all sorts of crazy things. But of course, in my life it was all just imagination, whereas in this series it’s real. I loved it.

Favorite Anime & Animated Movies

Suzume

I think it was almost a foregone conclusion that Suzume would end up my favorite anime watched in the year. I tend to love anything Makoto Shinkai creates, with each new movie a masterpiece. This one is about doors that open to another location, and the people who can see through them, and a young girl who gets caught up in all of this.

Planetes

Planetes was a great series about a serious topic, that of orbital debris and the great risks it poses to any who venture into orbit around our planet. The series takes place a little ways in the future when debris has become a much bigger problem with permanent manned stations, and so some of those people have the job of cleaning up that debris to prevent any catastrophic and deadly mishaps.

So what did you read or watch in 2024? Did any of your favorites match my own? And if not, what were your favorites? Let me know in the comments below.

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Quarterly Look Back - 4th Quarter 2024 /  by Todd Henson

Looking back at the fourth quarter of 2024

And here we are at the end of the 4th quarter of 2024 and thus the end of the year, as well. My first thought is to say I hope you’re ready and in the mood for a brief look back at the quarter, but let’s be honest, these quarterly look backs are rarely brief. Regardless, I do hope you enjoy taking a look back at some of what’s happened this quarter, from photography to reading, music, movies and life, in general. If so, please keep reading.

Photography

Last quarter I tried to share a range of content, and I’ve attempted to continue that this quarter. Granted, I am photographing more buildings and less nature than in the past, but I still retain all the same interests which keep growing over time so I’m hopeful I’ll fit it all in over the course of the quarter and of the year.

Below are the blog posts I published this quarter so please check them out if you missed any or just want to take another look.

Architecture

Winston Memorial Chapel, Culpepper, Virginia

Todd’s Tavern Market

Fleetwood Chapel, Brandy Station

Schoolhouse Number 18 - Marshall, Virginia

Grace Memorial Church, Port Republic, Virginia

Field Notes Updates

Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk Cooling Off

Juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Heron

Holidays

Merry Christmas - 2024

Inverted Worlds

Obscura

Random Thoughts

What Still Lies Ahead

Trip Report

Green Hill Cemetery - Martinsburg, WV

Route 11 Potato Chip Factory

Reading

This was another great quarter for reading, full of stories I enjoyed, and non-fiction that taught me something new or useful. I read a mix of older books as well as brand new ones, with my re-read of A Christmas Carol from 1843 being the oldest, and Water Moon being the most recent, which is due for release sometime in January of next year. They ranged in length from 120 pages (How to Relax) to 640 (Black River Orchard). The majority of them were consumed in audiobook form, though I did also read several as ebooks and some on paper. I find audiobooks the most convenient, and yet my favorite format is still paper.

The books I consumed this quarter (paper, ebook, and audio).

Here’s the full list of books: The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa (2017), Murder is Easy by Agatha Christie (1939), Saga Volume 3 by Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples (2014), Mirrored Heavens (Between Earth & Sky 3) by Rebecca Roanhorse (2024), Black River Orchard by Chuck Wendig (2023), 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke (1968), The Twilight Garden by Sara Nisha Adams (2023), Dracula’s Guest & Other Weird Tales by Bram Stoker (1914), Flying in the Shadows by Thomas N. Hauser (2023), How to Relax by Thich Nhat Hanh (2015), Needle (Inverted Frontier 3) by Linda Nagata (2022), A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (1843), Water Moon by Samantha Soto Yambao (2025).

And of those, my favorites were:

Water Moon by Samantha Soto Yambao

I received an advanced copy of this book through a goodreads giveaway. This was a wonderful story, whimsical, beautiful, lively, lyrical, romantic. When I was younger I would write scenes that I thought were part of longer stories, though I rarely finished them. The feelings I felt when reading this book reminded me of some of those I felt when writing my scenes. I think this is the sort of story I was trying to tell.

2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke

I watched the movie long ago so it was good to finally try reading the book. Though they tell the same story they do it in different ways and it was fascinating comparing them. It was also interesting to learn it wasn’t a movie based on a book but was originally conceived as a movie under the collaboration of Clarke and Kubrick, and Clarke wasn’t good with scripts so decided to write the book as his way of conveying his ideas. So we ended up with two creative works born of that collaboration.

Needle (Inverted Frontier 3) by Linda Nagata

I loved the first two books in this science fiction series and it was so easy to get back into that universe with this one. The story continues, with a group of advanced humans heading to a specific destination in search of what happened to the humans who lived there. And along the way they try to solve the puzzle of the needle, a mysterious object obtained from an even more advanced entity at the end of the previous book.

Movies, Shows & Anime

Favorite, or notable, films I watched this quarter.

As with last quarter, the selection of video content I watched was a mixed bag. My least favorite of the batch was Darkness Falls (2003), which wasn’t bad, per se, it just wasn’t all that great, either. A very typical horror movie that just didn’t resonate with me.

I loved finishing the anime series Planetes (2003) about the near future (approaching faster and faster) where there’s so much debris in orbit that it begins posing a far too significant risk to the people working or at leisure in orbit. And so there are groups whose job it is to clean up the debris. I loved the real world topics handled in reasonably realistic ways while still mixing in some great storylines.

I had an even better time watching the first two seasons of Stranger Things (2016), which for some reason I couldn’t find listed on letterboxd, the site I made the graphical list in. This series felt similar to Ready Player One (book and movie) in that it seemed written specifically for me, that I was squarely in their target audience: younger kids growing up in the ‘80s playing Dungeons & Dragons, riding around on their bikes, imagining themselves doing great things (of course, in the show they really do). Such a fantastic series.

And naturally enough, my favorite movie was part two of Dune (2024). This was such a fantastic interpretation of the book. It had that moodiness, it captured the conflict and discomfort of the political and religious maneuverings, the curiosity and distrust of differing cultures, and I thought they did a great job casting the characters. Of course, the special effects were absolutely tremendous, such that they didn’t seem to be special effects, but instead took me straight into that world, letting me experience the harshness of the planet. The two movies increased my desire to read further into the book series.

The rest of the movies were good, mostly enjoyable, just not overly memorable.

Music

This quarter I discovered some older music that was completely new to me, as well as hearing new music by artists I’ve been a fan of for some time. And as always, there were so many other songs I thoroughly enjoyed but I’m trying to keep this quarterly list manageably small, so I’ve narrowed in on just three.

The Stranglers - Golden Brown

I don’t know how this group or song came to my attention. I don’t believe I’d ever heard of them before. But this song from 1981 has a very intriguing sound perhaps largely due to the interesting time signature(s).

Patty Gurdy - Peg Leg Silly-Billy (featuring Christopher Bowes)

This song is just plain fun. I’ve listened to Patty Gurdy and her hurdy gurdy before but Christopher Bowes is new to me, as is Peg Leg Silly-Billy.

Avantasia - Creepshow

I always look forward to new work by Avantasia, the albums, the stories they share within them, and the music videos that take us one step deeper into those stories. As is often the case, this one has a catchy chorus. 

 

Life

So last quarter I mentioned wanting to get back into some kind of regular practice with my acoustic guitar. I’m not quite there yet in that my practice isn’t exactly regular, but I did restring it to freshen the sound and I have pulled it out more often than I did last quarter, so I’m moving in the right direction. Still can’t play an actual song, though. One step at a time. 😀

Overall it feels like a good quarter and one worthy of capping off the year. There were things I had planned to get done this year but didn’t manage to (such as a refresh of my website) and so I’ll carry those on into the new year. But life, for me, is more than just a list of accomplishments. At some point a more ephemeral but general sense of well-being factors in, and I’m feeling ok right now on that front. Still room for improvement all around, but isn’t that always the case? It gives us something to keep striving for. And strive, I shall.

Thanks so much for sharing your time with me, reading through some of my words, viewing a few of my photographs. I hope you get something of value from it all, and I will work to continue to be worthy of your time.

I wish you a Happy New Year!

Do you enjoy these posts?

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