I usually do a text post with my 2012 in review, but I figured a lot of pictures I shot this year would tell the story of how the past 366 days went.

As with any other year, it had its high points and low points. Let’s focus on the highs, shall we?

The year began with me accepting a digital media job for a television station in Springfield, Missouri; as such, I packed everything in my car and headed 2,000 miles east.

The sunrise is seen from the driver’s side of a car traveling down Interstate 84 eastbound near Burley, Idaho, in January 2012.

Once I arrived, I surveyed the landscape — remember, I had lived here from 2007-09 and I wanted to see what changed.

Park Central Square is seen from the west in Springfield, Missouri in February 2012.

Not much really happened early on in the year, which was nice to see. Once I settled into my job for a couple months, I began to do some pretty neat things like take photographs for our station’s website at some awesome events such as the Cardinals vs. Cardinals game at Hammons Field.

Matt Holliday of the St. Louis Cardinals signs items for fans at the St. Louis vs. Springfield Cardinals exhibition game at Hammons Field in March 2012.

Living in the Midwest presents itself with some pretty unique opportunities, and I snatched one out of the sky (so to speak) when our chief meteorologist and I joined a storm chaser and Skywarn radio operator for a chase into the Kansas prairie.

A slowly-rotating wall cloud readies to envelop the plains near Wellington, Kansas in April 2012.

Hold it there for a second. We encountered a tornado late at night and I got a shot of it from a distance, before we unwittingly drove into its path. We, and the most populated portions of Wichita, were spared. This storm, however, was no joke.

A long exposure reveals a tornado readying to touch the ground near Wellington, Kansas. This storm would eventually hit portions of the Wichita area.

I had the chance to join another tornado chase in Kansas in late April that ended up being a bust, but it allowed me to get a pretty good nature shot as the sun set over the prairie.

The sun breaks through the clouds in West Mineral, Kansas, in late April 2012.

I visited Joplin on the anniversary of the 2011 tornado and had the opportunity to meet a lot of great people. Seeing Joplin come back in just a year’s time in the manner it had from a tornado that absolutely devastated the southern residential and commercial portion of the city was inspiring.

A young woman holds a sign honoring her father on the one year anniversary of the 2011 Joplin tornado. Residents and volunteers came together to walk along the tornado’s path during the Walk of Unity.

Along the route of the Walk of Unity, I also met some homeowners and was able to take in some very poignant moments.

Three women hug each other on the porch of a rebuilt home along 15th Avenue in Joplin in May 2011, as people participating in the Walk of Unity proceed in the distance.

In the early summer, I had the opportunity to visit the Pacific Northwest (home!!!!) and do some hiking in the deep woods, and I mean DEEP woods, as in the Gifford Pinchot.

Lower Lewis River Falls is seen from a slight overlook in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, Washington, in June 2012.

Going to the Oregon Coast is a very religious experience as well.

Points of Cannon Beach, Oregon, are seen from a scenic overlook at Ecola State Park in July 2011.

That’s about it for the photos as I mostly just rode my bicycle and worked the second half of the year. The first half of the year was full of excitement; the second, about as boring as watching paint dry.