What a Great Year

Growth. That’s what 2010 was all about for me.

First and foremost, my family grew this year. Not only did I get to welcome a new nephew into the world, but I was also lucky enough to get engaged and married to the person I love most in the world. Like many other photographers out there, I have my amazingly supportive and patient wife to thank for helping me get to where I am today. So many evenings and weekends I abandoned you with the puppy to pursue this crazy obsession of mine. Not only did you allow me this indulgence, but sometimes you were the one pushing me out the door to make sure I always got the shots I wanted. And although your opinion is probably a little biased (okay, maybe more than a little), thanks for always being my first and most positive critic. I’ll always be grateful for your love and support.

Secondly, I grew immensely as a photographer this year…both behind the lens and in the digital darkroom. My knowledge of what my camera is capable of (and what it’s not) led me into the realm of HDR photography. Like many who are new to the genre, I began my journey with some (read: a lot) of images that were a bit over cooked. Those sliders in Photomatix were all maxed out to really make my point…look at me, I’m here, and I’m oversaturated! All kidding aside, I was able to learn from these early blunders, and through constant practice, took my processing skills to the next level. My knowledge of Lightroom and Photoshop and the various plugin suites I tried (and eventually bought) has increased exponentially. I still don’t consider myself even close to being an expert, but the growth is what’s important.

Last, but not least, the number of people who I can call ‘photographer’ and ‘friend’ grew substantially this year, and these new friends played an enormous role in my progression as a photographer in 2010. Most of these friends are people I’ve met through Twitter. I’ll be the first to admit it, when the Twitter phenomenon first hit a few years ago, I was skeptical about how a series of 140 character updates could be valuable to anybody. Here I am today, with just over 2,500 tweets sent and a healthy group of amazing followers/friends…and I couldn’t be more happy about it! The connections I’ve made through this amazing social network are ones that I hope I’ll keep for years to come, and the giving nature of the photography community I’m now a part of is really something to behold. Everyone is more than happy to share their personal photography secrets, and are always there to give an encouraging word or a friendly critique. There are too many people to name here, but I’d just like to send out a heartfelt thank you to all of these new friends…you know who you are.

There it is, my 2010 retrospective. I guess no blog post here would be complete without at least one image…so here are 7 faves from my 2010 collection (I know…7 is kinda random, but I started with 5 but needed a couple more):