A Look Back, A Look Ahead

Looking Back at 2024, and Looking Ahead to 2025

At the end of each year, I like to look back and sort of summarize how the year went. I used to do a “top photos of the year” sort of thing, but honestly 2024 was a bit weird in that regard. I didn’t travel for photography very much at all. In fact, I just had one big photo trip all year - Madeira, as a guide on the Luminar Adventure. You can find some of my favorite shots from that trip in this gallery.

However, it was a pretty amazing trip and I captured a LOT of what I consider top notch images. Of course I got out and shot some other places as well, but overall I didn’t take that many photos in 2024. I am hoping to change that in 2025, because I (obviously) love to go out and shoot. It’s like therapy to me! 😀

Despite not taking a lot of photos, I feel like this past year was one that taught me quite a lot about photography and my overall photography business, my approach to content creation, and more. Here are a few things that I did, learned, or improved upon this year, as well as some of my plans for 2025:

• My editing style

• Youtube

• Newsletter growth

• Digital products 

• Webinars

• Focus/pace

Let’s break these down, shall we?

Editing Style

This year I really refined how I edit an image, and much of this change/development came mid-year and later (in other words, it’s fairly recent). This is not specific to Luminar, but is equally applicable in Lightroom or On1. Bottom line is that I went pretty deep with masking. In the past, I used masks on every image. However, I did some basic things, and maybe a few advanced things, but then I was done. Now I really dial in my edits with masks, more than ever before. And I use a LOT of masks when editing. It’s common for me to add 10+ masks to an image before I am done with it. What has been the result? I feel like my edits are much better overall, but of course I will continue to learn and push myself to find my true style. It’s constantly evolving. 

YouTube

I love making videos, I love being on YouTube, and I love interacting with everyone there. YouTube has propelled my photography to new heights in multiple ways and I am eternally grateful for that. I have no plans to quit YouTube. I simply love it too much. 

But - it’s a grind. You may have noticed that I am down to about one video a week these days. During the height of the pandemic, I was making 3-5 videos per week. I have a million topics I want to cover, but honestly they don’t always make for compelling videos. I am trying to make videos that deliver a lot of value, and it’s not always easy to make those, or to make a lot of them. In other words, it’s about value, not volume.

I spend several hours on every video, from conceptualizing it, to finding and preparing a photo, to filming and editing, then making a thumbnail (which is usually several iterations) and working on a title (several iterations), and then answering comments and more. It is honestly a LOT of work. And I don’t get paid for it directly (yes, I do earn affiliate commissions, some ad money, etc but you’d be surprised at how that works out in terms of an hourly wage).

My focus these days is to deliver one valuable video each week. Some weeks I do that, and some weeks I don’t. It’s impossible to predict if a video will do well or flop. But I’m there grinding it out each week because I love it, and I love the interactions. I love to talk about photography, and I love to share my experiences and knowledge in hopes that someone else can benefit from it and accelerate their own development.

Bottom line is that I am trying to be intentional, and dare I say strategic, about what I am posting on YouTube. I want to grow my channel but I don’t want to wear myself out, or stress myself out, in the process. I’m trying to find balance, because I felt out of balance in regards to YouTube for a long time.

Newsletter

I’ve had a newsletter for years, but never took it too seriously. I honestly always felt stupid when I sent one out. It was kind of like “look at me, look at my pictures” and it never felt that genuine or valuable, and I didn’t really enjoy writing them. But earlier this year I decided to take it more seriously and put a lot of focus on it. And of course, I spend more time in the newsletter trying to add something of value for my readers - not just “here’s a photo that I took”. In doing so, it grew about 50% this year, which is great.

I subscribe to a lot of newsletters, and if they add value I keep subscribing. If they don’t, I unsubscribe. Well that’s the same for you, I imagine. So my goal is to write a valuable newsletter each week that delivers useful content around photography, to help you improve your own images. It’s actually become quite fun for me and I get excited when I send it out. Sure, I have people unsubscribe each week, but the trend is up so I’m gaining more than losing. And I hear from a lot of you, and get great feedback, which I love. So thank you for that.

Digital Products

Part of my photo business is selling digital products like courses and presets. I love to make these, and again I try very hard to focus on value. With each product I intend to create something useful and valuable, without making it too pricey. I hope that I achieve that. This year I released several new products, but my favorite was my recent Lighting the Landscape course. Courses are my favorites to make because they are truly educational and video-based, which I love. But they require a lot of time and work to create and launch. I think I will release another 1-2 courses in 2025 but I am not yet sure about that. 

I also released some preset packs, both paid and free ones. I will do more of that in 2025 as well. As I have said repeatedly, I like to focus on value and as such I want to give back with free stuff as much as I can afford to. It’s one way I like to say “thank you” for the support. Admittedly though it is hard to find the right balance of giving away things for free and making a living. It’s always a work in process.

Webinars

I had thought about doing webinars for years before I finally pulled the trigger on it late this year. Thus far I have done two webinars, and I plan to do more in 2025. Like making a course, it requires a lot of planning and prep work, even though it’s just an hour long event. But it’s a lot of fun for me, and hopefully valuable for you. The two I did in 2024 were both free/donation-based webinars. I will do more like that in 2025 and may experiment with paid webinars as well. The paid ones would be a bit different and I would go deep on a topic. More on that later. But webinars are a format that I enjoy and it’s nice to have a like-minded audience willing to engage with me about photography.

Focus/Pace

It’s easy to feel like you have to do everything when you are a one-man business. In photography, it feels like each week you have to do all of the following, and more:

• Take photos

• Edit photos

• Post daily on every social media site: Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Twitter/X, etc

• Create YouTube videos

• Create Reels/Shorts videos daily

• Create Stories (Instagram) daily

• Write a newsletter

• Write on your blog

• Plan new products

• Create new products

• Website maintenance

• Market your business

• Constant attention to email

• I’m sure there’s plenty more I’ve forgotten LOL (admin work, bookkeeping, pay taxes, etc)

Honestly, it’s way too much for one person to do, unless they give up sleep. So I’ve cut down on trying to be everywhere and trying to do everything, and am just focused on a few key things in 2025:

• One YouTube video per week - I feel like this is enough and my focus is on value, not volume.

• One newsletter per week - this is essential to me, and again the focus is on value.

• 2-3 blog articles per month - I started as a blogger years ago and got away from it, but I love to write about this stuff so I am trying to get back into it in 2025. Plus I can write about things on the blog that wouldn’t make sense to make a video about, or put in a newsletter, etc.

• As far as social media goes, I’m obviously going to post but I’m not doing it daily. I’ll share on FB about twice per week, and on IG maybe 1-3x per week (a mix of photos, Stories and Reels). I’m been experimenting with Threads but it’s not a focus for me. I quit using Twitter a year or so ago (though I still have an account for now). I post on Flickr a few times per week, but otherwise don’t really interact there. I’m not trying new/different social media sites at all (BlueSky, Vero, etc). Bottom line is that I don’t want to spend all my time on social media.

• Marketing - I run a few ads here and there but otherwise don’t market my business. I need to learn this though, as I do feel it’s important. And I need to do some outreach to expand my network in the photo industry. 

• Take and edit photos whenever possible. This is key as I want to continue to develop my skills, improve my vision for a photo, and enhance my ability to create a compelling photograph. I feel like creativity is a muscle, and it needs to be worked in order to grow. But of course I consider this a lifelong pursuit.

I think that’s enough to focus on in a year. Honestly, it feels like a lot now that I have written it all down LOL. But this shorter list feels on target for what I want to do, and it feels mostly achievable. 

Bottom line is this: I want to have fun with my photography business and content creation. I want to interact with those who follow along, and I want to add value to your creative process by sharing things I have learned while developing mine.

Here’s to a great year in 2025 and wishing you the best! Thank you for following along!