Farewell, 2023
It’s been a good year for creative and personal growth
Prismatic, 11/4/23
The Big Stuff
Happy New Year, friends!
Here we are at the end of 2023 and I’ve noticed many photographers and other artists posting online about their year. As it pertains to photography and creativity, I haven’t been too big on taking stock of my last twelve months, preferring to stay more focused on the here and now. That said, I do think it can be useful to look back from time to time, consider the big wins and learn from things that could have been done better.
Today, I opted to stay home rather than put on my boots. It’s a beautiful Sunday with ample sun and blue skies, but I am more motivated to stay home and work on a new print than go for a hike. To me, it would feel a little like trying to squeeze in one more image or take one last look at a natural space I love. This mentality just doesn’t feel right, because nature doesn’t start or stop and neither does my relationship with it.
Plus, my partner and I have been going hard since Thanksgiving, visiting family and friends, and we somehow managed to get sick for a few weeks. The result is a brain that is both overstimulated and exhausted.
It feels good to just sit still with my coffee today. I’ll get back out there when the time is right. Despite what social media and corporate culture would have me believe, there simply is no rush.
Winter’s Edge, 11/4/23
2023 has been a good year for my photography and creative growth. It hasn’t been without its missteps and struggles - both at home and at work, mentally and physically, and out in the field - but struggle-free creativity isn’t what I’m after.
Predictably, many photographers have posted their end-of-year favorite images to social media - their “most liked”, popular photos in some cases - but I don’t feel compelled to follow suit. All of the photographs I published to my website in 2023 are my favorites. I enjoy looking at them, not in an ego-stroking way, or to compare them to other peoples’, but mostly just because I like how they look and they bring me peace.
They also transport me back to the time and place I felt connected to the natural world. My images remind me of myself when I took them - the mood I was in, and the thoughts (or lack of thoughts) that were running through my head. They bring back to mind the temperatures, textures, smells and sounds of the forests whose stories I become more a part of with every new visit.
When I look at my photographs, I recall the love I feel for the natural world and the meaning I hope to imbue in each frame so that others might connect with it in a similar way (even if a little imagination is required to get there).
I am beyond fortunate to be able to do what I love, whenever I want, without distraction for most any desired span of time. I have arrived at a good place in my creative journey, and for that I am grateful. To feel satisfied, I don’t need to make a big deal out of any of this on social media. The process has been good to me and that is enough.
All Who Came Before, 10/24/23
One of my biggest triumphs this year has been how I did life, and photography by extension, at my own pace. I’m proud of the fact that I did things how I wanted, with less external direction (and distraction) than I allowed in previous years. I’m not saying it was a perfect, failure- or anxiety-free experience, but some big insecurities from the past felt less intrusive. Imposter syndrome, for example, felt much easier to bypass so I could dig into the deep creative work that truly sustains me.
I consider all of the above to be my main “accomplishments”. They are the big pieces - the important, philosophical milestones that will play a roll in my creative process for years to come. They will prop me up rather than cause me to quit photography after a short spell of capturing “jaw-dropping” postcard sunset vistas (i.e. photographing the same compositions, in the same conditions, over and over again for internet popularity). I want this creative life to smolder rather than burn brightly for a short time.
It’s the long game stuff that feeds my soul. The Why.
Rift, 8/17/23
The Smaller But Still Important Stuff
Numbers and small wins can be fun to look at, too, though I spend most of my time ignoring them. Here are those things I also believe to be worth noting from my third full year of doing photography and trying to live creatively. I honestly don’t believe anyone out there will really care about this stuff but if you are still reading, please know I do appreciate you following along.
According to my Lightroom catalog, I exposed 1,341 frames (not unique compositions) and used my main cameras on 57 different days. That’s 15% of the full year, but does not include days I took my camera with me but left it in my bag. It also does not account for time spent in nature with no camera in sight.
I taught my first photography workshop, “Framing Nature” at Outdoor Chattanooga. Talk about stepping outside of my comfort zone! I never thought I would find myself standing in front of a class talking about this stuff but I managed to go for a full hour before we went outside to make photographs together.
4 of my photographs were published in OnLandscape, the web’s longest-running nature/landscape magazine. This was a pretty big deal for me and I am still so very grateful to the publishers.
I posted images to Instagram 20 times which is an absolutely sluggish rate I’m satisfied to know the almighty algorithm dislikes. I also posted a slew of Stories but I don’t know how to find that metric (nor do I honestly care), and 0 Reels.
4 personally meaningful venues showed my prints to the public, none of which are art galleries:
The Woodshop Listening Room - Our neighborhood watering hole and music venue. A cozy place where good friends gather for a pint and live tunes.
Erlanger Health System - The hospital where I was born.
Philip Grymes Outdoor Chattanooga Center - A place where good friends have worked on and off over the years, and a fantastic resource for anyone looking to learn about nature and outdoor recreation.
Knoxville Coffee Company - My brother Alex’s roasting business, the best in the world in my humble opinion.
I entered 0 competitions as a step toward eliminating external judgement and influence from the back of my mind while out photographing. I needed my images to continue to be more and more "me”.
I posted 18 Notes on my website.
I started using a small notebook to jot down things down in the field. This was to keep track of subjects, conditions, lighting, weather, and other details at first, but has had the net result of strengthening my relationship with places I’m fond of. It’s also served as a form of quiet reflection and supplemental meditation.
I took a 10 day solo trip with my camera to the Wichita Mountains. The visit was full of meaningful reflection, creative focus, and bittersweet connection to place and family. During my visit I made 12 images that I was felt communicated my experiences.
Some things I’d like to see happen in 2024 include:
Continuing to push myself creatively. This includes
Reading and learning all I can about other types of art, art history, the science of creativity, etc.
Trying new photographic techniques like ICM and multiple exposure.
Carrying less gear. I tend to pack far more gear than I end up needing on a given outing. I enjoy the creative constraints afforded by simply having less to work with.
Digging deeper into printing and framing my work - a piece of the photographic process that still intimidates me at times.
Finding new ways to share my work. Perhaps actually “marketing” my website (i.e. mentioning it on social media for a change); offering a newsletter; considering some type of outreach or networking. Working on printing and framing may contribute to this - the idea of getting my physical photographs into more peoples’ hands.
Putting my photography to use for the greater good, though I’m still not sure what this really means or what form it might take.
That’s enough bullet points for one year. I think I can be proud of how things have gone, particularly since I still consider myself new to photography. Obviously, I still have so much to learn. The thought of it is overwhelming at times.
Time now for a coffee refill, and I think I’ll start making loose plans for an exploratory (they’re all exploratory) hike tomorrow morning to bring in the New Year.
Thanks for reading and I wish you a happy, safe, prosperous 2024!
