Dec 30, 2025 8 min read

2025 in Photos

By Philip Cardella

Introduction

In 2025, thanks to a lot of support from my family, I really dove into the photography. It was a lot of fun, a great challenge, a learning experience and an opportunity to document history while snapping up some amazing creatures. So, to send off 2025 for TWIFL I'm going to post some of my favorite photos that I took this year.

Thank you for reading. You're the wind in my sails in this adventure and I couldn't have done it without you.

Bear the History Hound Finds

Vigils

Beginning in August weekly Sunday prayer vigils across from the South Florida Detention Center, usually known by its racist nickname Alligator Alcatraz began. I was in California when the first two were held, missed one in October and missed this past week's vigil. Otherwise, I attended 18 of 22 of the vigils. Here are a few of my favorite images from them.

Protests

In a year of "No Kings" and "Tesla Takedown" there were a lot of protests, even in South Florida. Here are a few of my favorite images from the various protests I covered in 2025.

Animals

The real reason I wanted the camera gear was to capture animals. Few places have a greater abundance and variety of wildlife combined with relative ease of access than South Florida. Trips to the Everglades, Biscayne National Park, Big Cypress National Preserve and more fill me with peace. Here are a few of my favorite images captured this year.

Landscapes

While the wildlife of South Florida is inspiring, so are the landscapes and abundance of ecosystems despite the staggering flatness of the landscape. Here are some of my favorite landscape photos from 2025.

Published

Several of my photos were published in major news organizations' websites this year. All were from the weekly Sunday prayer vigils across from the South Florida Detention Center, commonly known by its racist nickname Alligator Alcatraz.

Celebration

There were a lot of challenges in 2025 and a lot of people felt the need to protest. But there were also celebrations in South Florida I was able to cover. Here are a sampling of my favorite images from various parades and celebrations in 2025.

Bear

The History Hound Finds

I was inspired to do this photographic retrospective by the same sorts of people that inspired me to take a lot of photos of events, protests and stuff, the incredible photographers that work for groups like Getty Photos, the Associated Press and The Guardian. Here are some of there best of collections of 2025. Warning: a number of these photos are from warzones and the horrors therein.

The last of the photo links is AP's "moments of joy" photo montage. All of the rest are a mix, but if you just want happy, skip to the end.