A Year in Photographs 2023 — A Journey's End

A Year in Photographs

365 Days, 12 Themes, 1 Creative Journey

Museo Soumaya — Day 98

I started writing this entry with some grand idea that there was a lot to say, stories to tell, and great insight I learned. While I do have many stories, evolved creatively, pushed myself hard to achieve this tremendous goal, and want to share so much of my journey, I didn’t find that I could completely convey what #AYearinPhotographs has meant to me nor engage it all in just a few paragraphs.

Instead, I intend to keep this short because, perhaps, minimalism is a certain type of valor. A photograph every day for a year is an undertaking. One sets out, like every journey, with the first footstep and from there, the Universe leads one on. Simply put, it is a lot of work. Sometimes hours spent crafting one photo—it is easy, and it is hard. One is excited to do it and one will be tired.

Then it is all over and there is pride, sadness, love, and even bewilderment. And it is absolutely something that I recommend everyone should do—whether it be photography, writing, music, art, cooking, fitness, or whatever your passion may be. Do it. Journal it. Blog it. Share it.

It is a wave that washes over you and you’ll either ride it great distances or it will stay your feet, and you will be left behind. It is a commitment that if you hesitate for merely a day, you can never draw level. But when you reach the end of every day, every week, month, and the year, you have an accomplishment that only those who have traveled this path can truly appreciate.

Over 11,000 photos, 365 days, 12 themes, thousands of kilometers, two continents, four countries, and one singularly fantastic camera later, #AYearinPhotographs comes to close.

Here’s to the journey’s beginning, the path, the light, the shadow, and to the journey’s end.

Until next time.

A Year in Photographs 2023

“Go out and shoot!”

— Adrian’s Life Rule #56

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Shot on FujiFilm X-T5

December — A Year in Photographs — Details

Boots — Day 337

I love details. Details are what makes things great—a heaping a small things come together to make the big things. So often there are small details around us that we dismiss or overlook—the mundane around us that makes the world but are still beautiful in their own right.

I’d argue that a photographer, or cinematographer, makes it their job, or even their duty, to see the world differently. My grandfather once said to me while looking as a photo of mine, “I don’t know how you see it. I see nothing, you see a photography.”

Letting my eyes wander is part of how I made it through #AYearinPhotographs. Seeing things that otherwise I would have overlooked and saying “that’s my photograph for today.” Creativity is intuitive, instinctual, visceral, but also architectural, madness, and cognitive.

“Creativity: Madman, Architect, Carpenter, Judge. In that order.”

— Adrian’s Life Rule #40

Many of these photos “took themselves” as I saw it and said in my mind, “take the photo.” And that’s perhaps the one thing that stands out to me. If you’re instincts tell you to photography something do it. It is the small voice that booms inside that if ignored, one will regret it.

November — A Year in Photographs — Night

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Night 20 — Day 324

Photography is, elementally, capturing light. Night is generally the lack thereof so finding light is a challenge. High ISO, wide apertures, long shutters make a challenging situation harder.

Building on prior months of People, Light and Shadow, and Long Exposure, it came naturally to make Night and November about bringing several ideas together.

While other months have been about styles and inspiration I’ve drawn on before, November I found a new and exciting style I’d had not ever photographed. I usually prefer sharp subjects, “proper” exposure, and other technical details being refined. In this instance, I embraced motion blur of the people in the photographs—sometimes ghostly and eerie additions to what would have been rather average scenes.

“A camera alone only captures light. Through skillful manipulation does that light become cinematography.”

— Adrian’s Life Rule #69

These average scenes became unique—places one has seen or past by a thousand time are an altered reality, frozen in time. I would contend that such a philosophy is one of the creative fundamentals of photography—to make the unremarkable, remarkable.