My Non-Bench Photos of 2024 + Ordinary BenchMarks releases NEXT WEEK!

If you are reading this in your email, you’ll need to click through on the header for the full post - one of those “too long for email” messages…

First off, I’m super excited that it looks like Ordinary BenchMarks will be available late next week. It is actually in review with Amazon right now but there was one pretty major omission I discovered literally 30 minutes after clicking submit so I will have to submit a revised and then it will be ready to go.

The paperback will be $34.99 and the ebook will be $14.99. You will be able to purchase the ebook direct for Kindle from Amazon or you can also purchase a PDF of it direct from me. Same price either way but less $ in Jeff Bezos’ pocket if you go direct with me. :-). The print one will only be available through Amazon.

Here’s the cover wrap (again, Michele, you did amazing work!). Because it will be released so close to the first “daily” entry (January 10), I’ll have a downloadable sample of the introduction and the first few days. I’ll share that next week along with the links when it is live and ready to go.

So obviously there are a lot of bench photos I could share from 2024, but 115+ of them are in the book and a bunch have been shared over the course of the year. So here are my favorite non-bench photos of the year along with my favorite Scout pics. I probably could just pull all of the photos from our time in Acadia, but you can find a lot of them already posted here from back in October.

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Ice and Bubbles

These were both in Janaury 2024 - one at Montreat, NC and the other on our back deck playing with frozen soap bubbles.

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Lightsaber in the Fog

This isn’t one of my photos but one that one of my son’s photographed of him with his lightsaber in the fog at college. So awesome

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Stars in the Grass

One of those right-place-right-time moments catching frozen droplets reflecting the morning light just right. It looked like the night sky shining up from the grass

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Eagle at Sharon Woods

This eagle was so much fun to watch. S/he was just circling around one little cove area clearly hunting for something. There were many photos but this one was the best of the lot

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2024 Solar Eclipse

Photographed from just about the same spot as the lightsaber photo, we were lucky to be able to make it to one of the places of full totality for the 2024 solar eclipse in April. My second one (and hopefully not my last - I just saw that there’s a full solar eclipse over Iceland in 2026!!!). And yes that is a donut on the left.

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Herons, the Enneagram 5 of Birds

The Enneagram 5 reference will make sense as you make your way through Ordinary Benchmarks but there were quite a few moments with herons this year, including this first one which is one of my favorite nature moments I’ve ever photographed.

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This Butterfly

Goodness, the color on this butterfly that I saw in June

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Fireworks

Sometimes a photo just comes out as perfect as can be - color, focus, contrast. Loved this.

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Acadia

Ok I couldn’t do a photos of the year without including something from Acadia...To get to Acadia and have the incredible Aurora display our very first night. Just amazing. And then this beautiful leaf that I saw on the side of the Jessup Trail...Again, lots more Acadia if you look back to October.

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Scout

Scout had a rough year - cancer removal, two surgeries, too much cone time, and several weeks in a body-suit. But she’s been amazing through it all and hopefully 2025 will be a lot smoother (and less expensive!). But the first two photos are the most significant for me - that moment of her just putting her paw on my arm one night and the day she was the guardian of the labyrinth while I walked and prayed.

Thank you for being a part of this photographic journey and for seeing something in my photography that connects with your life as well.

Grace, Peace, Love, and Joy,
Ed

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