I'm calling it the 2015 Shoebox of Prints. I took some time in December to select my 2-3 favorite frames from each and every photoshoot I conducted throughout 2015. This quick and dirty review resulted in 246 4x6" prints. Not a bad take for my first full year completely devoted to photography and my business. The collection is a fascinating birds eye view of what I did personally and professionally, where and how I improved, the genres and techniques I experimented with for the first time and hopefully, most importantly, what I need to work on in order to continue growing throughout 2016 and beyond.
Like any business, a thorough review of the years Profits and Losses, operational (in)efficiencies, true costs, market growth and overall productivity are a given (I do, after all, run a business) but I work in a visual realm. So my annual review also includes playing with pictures, too! Plus, I have some physical prints to hold onto and look back upon for years to come. There's no better way to survey a large collection of images than with digital prints. At least in my opinion anyway.
Portraiture will continue to be a major area of interest for me in the coming years and I think the results in my shoebox evaluation demonstrate considerable improvement in my portrait work and process. I still regard my collaboration with modern dancer Shae to be the penultimate combination of the planning, vision & execution of a shoot and I look forward to exploring similar illustrative style projects more frequently in 2016.
Food & Beverage techniques improved markedly throughout this past year, too, as my occupation with the service industry grew from the periphery to a major part of my business. I can now say without a doubt that I am completely obsessed with food photography. Odd seeing as I am far from a foodie (pizza all the time, please!) and I can only prepare breakfast foods, but the colors, textures, arrangement & presentation of foods of all sorts have pretty much taken over my imagination. Hopefully, someday, I will develop a unique style of my own and I can look back at this post and say "a thing like that."
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| Chef Andrew Chiou preps alongside a Table DC colleague |
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| The real reason why I do this. Bar Deco mac&cheese |
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| Interior of Red White + Basil |
Documentary style work continued to grow as well and although there will probably never (ever ever ever) be any money in it (who the hell gets paid for editorial work these days, anyway???), the practice of visual storytelling will continue to be a crucial part of who I am and what I photograph. My idea is to continue to chip away at one or two long-form photo projects a year, like The Keegan Theatre and The Runner, as means of scratching that editorial itch and telling the stories of others who have had an impact on me in some way.
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| Hatter Vincent Corvelli in his basement workshop |
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| Alexandria Seaport Foundation Apprentice |
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| On-set of "Live a Little" a feature film directed and produced by members of The Lookout |
Oh, and Print your work!