A year ago I wrote about saying “good riddance” to 2020, and vaguely hoped for a better 2021.

Sorry about that not working out.

2021 was, for me, a year in which not much happened, at least photographically. The studio was shuttered for a large chunk of time, and commissions were few and far between, as I pursued non-photographic work as a way of making sure that the business stayed healthy and that I was able to pay the rent.

Of course the knock-on to that is that it left me feeling like not-a-proper-photographer, but when did I ever feel like I was a proper photographer, anyway?

On top of that there was COVID (which I finally stopped managing to avoid just before Christmas; thankfully my case was very mild, though I’m still trepidatious about the coming weeks will bring, knowing that Long COVID is no joke) and various personal stressors, including but not limited to owning a horse who seems to want to spend her life causing drama at inopportune moments.

Towards the end of the year, though, I did start to do more things: the studio re-opened, and I’ve started work on a separate brand for headshots (for reasons I’ll discuss another time). I started work, too, on a long-term project with a frequent collaborator of mine, which will hopefully at least start to come to fruition in the first quarter of 2022.

Oh, and I shot a lot of photos on film, and conceived of a short film that I want to shoot, using powered flight as a metaphor for creativity…

So maybe stuff did happen in 2021 after all. Maybe I just didn’t talk about it to myself very much.

Here’s to your 2022, whoever you are. I hope it’s a safe, happy, healthy and creative one.