You know…it’s almost as if there was something that happened this year that just sucked all of the joy and energy out of the air, but I just can’t put my finger on it.
Normally I’m pretty excited about these roundup posts. I typically like going back and remembering all of the fun times on set, and reviewing old images that had been delivered, and picking out the forgotten gems that didn’t make the original cut. But this year I have struggled with making this roundup and have put it off about as long as I could possibly justify.
I still think that there were some great memories this year, even if I have to force myself to find the positivity in the process.
The year started off with an immediate trip to Europe. I had just started a new job and spent the first weeks of the year training and getting into the swing of what my days would be filled with.
Having worked for an EU based company for the last several years, I’m no stranger to flying for business. However Copenhagen was its own experience all together. I am so not used to the idea of a Nordic winter where things start to get dark around 3pm and by the time you are done for the day there is almost no daylight left.
I think this was one of the first times I got to get out and really use the Sony A7RIV I bought at the end of 2019. Shooting at extremely high resolution at night is not as easy as you would think! But I still was able to capture some of my “traditional” images of Europe’s various bikes and street art.
When it came time to start shooting portraits again, I had the end of 2019 fresh in my mind and wanted to continue a trend of very minimalist photos that I had been working on.
On my birthday I had the chance to work again with the wonderful Nina La Voix during a trip to New York City. I had planned on being in NY a lot this year (Ha), but even if that didn’t happen I always enjoy my time with Nina and hope to be able to work with her and her circle again soon.
My “home studio” also got a good bit of work at the beginning of the year when I had sessions with Ruby Marx, Gideon Hodge, Jack Calico, and Magenta Marie in what felt like back to back to back bookings
And then, “IT” happened. We had heard rumblings of some sort of illness that was circulating abroad, but it never seemed to be THAT bad. I personally didn’t know what to think or believe until I was in the Atlanta airport and saw the breaking news that the US/Canada border was closed until further notice.
To be honest I think I was more frustrated that my trip to Canada the next week would need to be rescheduled, but then I noticed how empty the Atlanta airport was, and thats when things got a little scary.
I’ve made the joke several times this year, but I’ll say it again. It’s very hard to be a portrait photographer when it’s not a responsible choice to be around other people. So I quickly found out I needed to buckle down and find other ways to get my creativity into the world, and take the time to add some new tools to my photographer’s tool kit.
I hope that in 2021 I’ll be able to actually show the many hours of work that went into this project. But until then enjoy these recreations of some comic book logos.
Additionally I did some work creating some other vector art pieces for myself and for friends of the blog The Fandom Nerdlesque.
(Psssst, If you want to see the photos we originally created for this show you can find them here).
Additionally to learning vector art, I wanted to get into some other arts as well. I managed to snatch up a decent microphone setup before COVID made them almost impossible to purchase:
I’ll be honest that this particular project didn’t exactly take off as much as I’d like for it to have, but I wouldn’t consider this to be dead just yet.
It wasn’t all bad though. I started a new project “The Cats Who Live with my Friends” where I bother my friends to let me take photos of their cats…
I need to re-visit this project with some vigor next year and get some more entries lined up and in the can.
Ruby Marx asked me to photograph some non-traditional graduation photos of herself:
And my friends Cody and Tegan asked me to capture one of their most important days:
Devyn was recommended to me by her sister (and no stranger to this blog CharLee):
And now for some photos I’ve been holding on to specifically for this entry, the two sisters demanded that I took some photos of the two of them just being sisters and having a completely un-staged pillow fight. Really…this wasn’t staged at all…nope…not at all ;).
I also want to give a big shout out to Tom and Michelle from Apocalypse in Review for finding me interesting enough to have me on twice this year!
Also please be on the lookout next year as Michelle and I are in the beginning phases of having some episodes of Let Me Take Your Picture where we discuss the art of portrait photography from both a beginner and professional POV.
I think it’s only fitting that I end this entry with a photo of a plague doctor. All things considered I guess I came out ok. I still have my health (mostly) and have been extremely fortunate to keep stable employment through this rollercoaster of a year. I can hope that next year will slowly begin to get more and more “normal” again and maybe by 2022 we will enter a new renaissance of the arts (a boy can dream anyway).
I’m trying not to get too ahead of myself because there is still a lot of bridges to cross, but I have some plans of what I’d like to accomplish in 2021. I want to do what I can to get some more content in the can before I launch it though. I hope to reconnect with some former regulars here on the blog, and continue to create content that is enjoyable (for both me and all of you) and back a little closer to my “roots”.
We’ll get the band back together in due time ;).
Until then, have a wonderful (and safe) new year. Wash your hands, Wear your mask, Get Vaccinated, and don’t gather in large crowds. We’ll get through this together. See you on the other side!