Unlike other year-end posts, I give you my best work up front; here is my best photograph of 2022:
January, February, March
The hectic pace of 2022 meant that I never had time to look back at my work. Between finding and quitting jobs, self-publishing a photo book and a set of postcards, finishing my degree, applying for my next degree, and surviving a big city in a punishing economy, I could only move forward. Yet somehow I feel I grew as an observer and sharpened my technique. It is perhaps the first instance in my life where, for lack of guidance or authority, I applied myself to a particular discipline, even when it felt fruitless and stupid.
April, May, June
There have been many times in 2022 where the only thing that kept me in photography was the fact I had dug myself in too deep. I’d go for long bouts of feeling like I was being starved for scenery. Or the owners of the digital services where I’d share my work would just straight-up go to war with the people who make the images their services exist to share. But in rare form I did not give-up or turn to gimmicks. To be fair I did try buying new cameras, always a favourite strategy of the frustrated photographer. Well I sold most of the cameras I bought (goodbye Fujifilm X-T20, goodbye Ricoh GR II) and learned that perhaps the most important piece of photographic equipment is whatever gets you to someplace different (or a car.)
July, August, September
What I loved about working on my photography in 2022 was my push towards photographing people. I worked with a number of volunteers on portraits, and I pushed myself to focus on street photography that centered around people (this is a clue, perhaps, to my next photo book.) I do my best to be ethical about my work, and so far I haven’t had any objections or caused any scenes. I did get to know a team of construction workers building condos near my dayjob who would stop me and ask how the photos were going that day. Photography is a humanistic medium while humans are difficult to photograph well.
October, November, December
As I wriggle through the hoops of getting into an MFA in creative writing, I have noticed that writing about writing has reminded me that almost everything I learned about poetry is applicable to photography. Anyone who is “creative” draws from the same well of sensibilities and impulses in any medium. If I can offer an insight, it’s important to set the scene for the audience to bring in their own emotions rather than telegraphing the artist’s feelings to the audience.
Thank you for following along. Stay strong in 2023, OK?