Year in Review | 2019

I capped off my 2019 with a Christmas visit to Yosemite National Park.

It’s that time of the year again—the end of the year. It is also the end of the decade! Overall, I would say 2019 has been a very successful year for me when it comes to photography. I continued a bit more into wedding photography and also picked up a couple more wonderful clients for event photography. I hiked a lot less this year and woke up for less sunrises compared to 2017 and 2018. I tried to get a few more sunrises in but most of the good ones happened during the work week as opposed to the weekends. With this post I will recap some of my best images from the past year, talk about my new experiences, and review some lessons learned from the year.

New Experiences

2019 was more of a continuation of professional growth kind of year for me. I continued to build up more commercial event photography clients and picked up a couple more wedding photography jobs. I took a lot more photos this past year compared to previous years.  2019 yielded 22,657 photos while I took 12,247 photos and 13,700 photos in 2018 and 2017 respectively. This is a stark increase from 2016 when I only took 4,419 photos.

• This past year I’ve increased my commercial photography jobs by a lot. Event photography, wedding photography, and architectural photography have all seen a significant increase while family portraits had a slight dip.

• I photographed my first wedding as a solo shooter. I was fortunate that it was a very intimate backyard wedding.

• I experienced crucial gear failures for the first time.

• I licensed out a couple of my photographs to be used as artwork inside a multi-family housing project.

Lessons Learned

There are always lessons to be learned. It’s important to note and document these lessons so I can continue to grow as a photographer.

• With the increase of photography jobs, one of the main things I need to constantly work on is managing my time and these projects—knowing what my limits are and knowing when to say no to projects will be crucial for my sanity going forward. (This is a carryover lesson from last year but I think is still applicable)

• Always prepare my gear for a photoshoot and test all equipment the day before if possible.

• Make sure to have backup equipment in case of gear failures.

• Don’t be afraid to reach out to people.

• Set aside a third of all incoming money from side gigs in a separate account for taxes.

• Final lesson learned is to always carry around some business cards. There have been a few occasions where I find myself without my photography business cards where it could have been useful.

Looking Ahead

Looking ahead to 2020, I have a few manageable goals I would like to set for myself.

• Some goals I would like to achieve for 2020 include heading back out to do more landscapes again—specifically sunrises. Hopefully the weather will cooperate with me this year.

• Develop and maintain a more efficient way of organizing my photos now that I have a more robust backup system in place.

• Write at least one blog post a month.

Selected Images

And without further ado, here are some selected images from the past year that I really enjoyed.

Winter Light Festival

One of my favorite photos from when I volunteered to photograph the Winter Light Festival. It was a typical dreary and wet Portland evening but people still showed up for the event and incorporated the spirit of the event into their umbrellas.

Rummer House

This was one of my first published architectural photographs in the Oregonian. I helped Restore Oregon photograph this Rummer house for their Mid-Century Modern Homes Tour.

Thunder Island Wedding

Super chill couple, chill wedding, awesome location. Couldn’t have asked for a better experience photographing their wedding.

Crater Lake National Park

Hiking up to Crater Lake was quite a breathtaking experience. Nature is beautiful.

Crater Lake

Bucket list item of visiting a snowy Crater Lake checked off. Simply amazing.

Red for Ed

First time intentionally joining a protest march. It’s important that public education gets the funding that they need to properly function.

AIA Conference in Las Vegas

First photography assignment that required traveling out of the PNW.

Dog Mountain

Hiked Dog Mountain on a risky weather day. Began the hike in extreme overcast and fog and by the time we reached the summit of the grueling hike, the skies cleared and the fog lifted. This was the moment of physical exhaustion from the hike mixed with relief that we will be able to witness a spectacular view.

Young Architect Conference

This was one of the most rewarding photo assignment from the past year. The YAC has already established itself as one of the best conferences geared towards the architecture profession in just its first year. I’m glad I have the opportunity to be a part of its journey.

CONSTRUCT

The Portland chapter of the CSI collecting all the awards at their annual national conference.

Portland Skyline Dusk

It’s been a while since I’ve photographed the Portland skyline. I was having a frustrating afternoon and had decided to walk a good portion of my way back home and decided to spend a little time to photograph this dusk shot. Photography as therapy can be effective.

The HIVE

There was a specific look that this photo was trying to achieve that required me to experiment with some new techniques. Overall I think that it was a very successful photo.

Tunnel View at Yosemite

Simply amazing.