A photographer’s luck: Favourite photos of 2025

By: Matt Goerzen Posted: 10:51 PM CST Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025

My days in the field as a photographer for the Sun are both rare and varied. I tend to pick up the camera when our newsroom staff get sick, go on vacation, or just get overwhelmed with a really busy day.

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Every once in a while, I find myself at the right place and at the right time for a little spot news. But for the most part, I’m the office desk jockey.

So, when I do find the time to get out from behind that desk and out into the community with a camera in hand, I find myself attaching little stories to each of the photos in my mind when I look them over.

A work crew with Select Shows unloads one of 30 carousel horses during an afternoon midway set up in September. This image has been selected by Brandon Sun editor Matt Goerzen as among the best he snapped in 2025. (Photos by Matt Goerzen/The Brandon Sun)

And my choices for my favourites of 2025 all evoke such memories — well, for me at least.

The porcupine in the tree came about as a bit of luck — driving down Grand Valley Road on a cold day in January after an unsatisfactory afternoon searching for subject matter, only to see a ball of spikes holding fast to a branch.

In fact, luck tends to be a photographer’s best friend. When you pass a large hawk perched on a post beside the highway and it allows you time to stop and grab the camera before it takes flight, that’s a good piece of luck.

In another example, I managed to snap a photo of an on-duty officer with the Brandon police while driving downtown in Brandon one evening. Amid the flashing lights of police vehicles I saw the Brandon Police Service armoured rescue vehicle parked outside a home, with its back door open and an officer checking something on his phone following a police operation.

Right place. Right time.

Red light baths a member of the Brandon Police Service’s Tactical Response Unit while looking at his cell phone in the back of the force’s “armoured rescue vehicle,” following what police termed a “critical incident” in the vicinity of Fourth Street and Princess Avenue in February.

Of course, some shots come about by design, even if not my own. Take the picture of Wab Kinew in front of the Canadian Flag at the Maple Leaf Plant back in April. That was a deliberate attempt by the NDP to give the premier that “Captain Canada” vibe by bringing a massive flag to a press conference here in Westman.

So, too, the Crocus Plains grads who crowded around me and my camera while I crouched on the floor just before their graduation ceremony — at my behest, of course.

Patience can be a virtue too. I waited for at least 10 minutes for the couple walking down the sidewalk under the autumn leaves to get close enough.

All of this said, finding the subject matter is one thing. Creating a serviceable photo is another. It really comes down to figuring out the right angle, and keeping watch for vibrant colours, interesting light, or strong emotions that help make a photograph sing.

I look forward to capturing more of Brandon and Westman’s stories in 2026.