I have been debating for weeks about how to post this year's list of favorite photos. 2017 had so much weight behind it that I don't feel like I can just say "here's my favorites" and move on. It seems like this year has been an intense year for everyone but for me, it was the most intense year I have ever had both personally and professionally. The year started out normal but then took a dark turn with the death of my father in law, who I have known since I was 14 years old. Although he had been sick for years, we had thought he was getting better so his death took us by surprise. Due to that and many other life changing events that followed, I was unable to attend as many shows as I normally do this year. The hardest lesson I learned from that is it doesn't matter how many photo shoots I do. What matters is that I am shooting for the love of photography. The blood, sweat and tears that I put into every photo I take is what matters most, not the opinions of outside sources. I feel like this is something every artist struggles to remember because you have many people telling you their opinions about your work -- whether good or bad, it affects how you see your art. The most important thing you can do as an artist is stay true to yourself and do what you want and nothing else.
Every photo I was able to take this year holds a very special place in my heart because each shoot needed to be thoroughly thought out and talked about with my partner on whether or not I was going to be able to make the time to do them. I have had the best year photography-wise I have ever had partly because I was forced to be extremely strategic about how I used my time and partly because opportunities I could have never dreamed of presented themselves at the perfect time. I don't consider myself a religious person but I do consider myself a spiritual person and I believe that the universe really had my back this year.
Choosing my top photos was hard because every shoot I did feels important and special but below is a list as slim as I could make it. Hope you enjoy!
I want to thank all of my friends that supported myself and Guy during the hardest time of our adult life, a lot of people came out of the woodwork and reached out to us. Please know that made a huge impact. Thank you to everyone who helped me blossom professionally -- specifically Chris and Katey, Sara and Rynne Stump, Todd Crosby, Liz, Invisible Oranges, Billy Goate, Connie and Mike and Kris.
We are very lucky to have the people we do around us and we love all of you. Here's to spreading to more love and joy in 2018!