Reflecting on 2012

iphone Instagram Photos from 2012

At the end of each year, I like to reflect on what I accomplished throughout the year and then set intentions for the year to come.  One of the good things about blogging is you can look back at posts and remember what you did.  There was a lot of "oh yeah's" as I reviewed posts from the year.

Resolutions have never been successful for me.  It seems like too much pressure to change something about yourself at the beginning of the year just because the calendar changes.  However, I like to set goals and intentions for the year to come.  It's a good practice to look back and remember the things you've done and appreciate those accomplishments instead of beating yourself up if you didn't complete something you set out to do.  I admit that I can do a better job of writing down things I want to do and review it every now and then, rather than expecting a major change to happen overnight.  I plan to write a list of goals for 2013 and once I do, I will share it with you.  

Ralph Lewis getting kisses in Maine

Beating myself up is a "not-so-favorite" pastime of mine.  I admit that I am hard on myself instead of looking at a situation in a different, positive light.  Pushing myself is a good thing, but dwelling on something I didn't do (or didn't do perfect) is not particulary a good thing.  At first thought, I would consider my year of traveling a failure in respect to photography and doing what I set out to do.  In my mind, I didn't take enough "big camera" shots and instead, took hundreds of iphone photographs (collage above includes photos from the road taken with my iphone) and posted them on instagram or facebook.  Was that a failure?  Maybe so in my mind in some respects, but what I did do instead was enjoying where I went and what I saw.  I suppose you could argue the fact that the iphone had a camera and it's still a tool to capture a moment in time even though the quality is poor and the only control you have is holding it steady and pointing in the direction you want to capture.  Did I mention my not so favorite pastime?

To focus on the positive, here are some of my personal favorite accomplishments and moments of 2012:

-Juror Henry Horenstein chose "Brothers" as Juror's Choice at the Kiernan Gallery

-Max and I took another trip to Bombay Beach on the Salton Sea

-Started a new project of taking portraits of my neighbors that I came across by chance.

-Todd Hido selected "The Wedding Guest" for Onward Compe� in Philadelphia 

-PDN (Photo District News) selected me as the emerging photographer of the month

-F8magazine featured my series, "Bingo Culture" 

-I got out of my comfort zone of photographing American strangers on the street to photographing beautiful models in a studio setting

-Took a trip to Big Sur to be on the other side of the lens (which is a challenge in itself for me) to be photographed and featured with my friend, Kristiana for the August edition of the French version of Marie Claire magazine.

-Took Portraits of strangers and trailers at the Palm Springs Modernism Week Vintage Trailer Show

-Featured in the MOPLA (Month of Photography, Los Angeles) group show.

-Selected for the 3rd Annual Julia Margaret Cameron Award by the Worldwide Photography Gala Awards to be shown in Paris this year.

-Photographed Alumapalooza for the 3rd year in a row for Airstream and Airstream Life Magazine

-Headed out to live on the road for the fourth year. This was the third year with my dog, Max

-Went to Yosemite the first day on the road

-Selected for shows at the Center for Fine Art Photography, Center for Photographic Arts, The Kiernan Gallery, Photo Place Gallery, Black Box Gallery and the Guatamala Photo Festival in Guatamala.

-Wrote a Feature Article for Women's Adventure Magazine about living in a Van for the Winter Issue

-Was artist of the week for Resource Magazine and Visual Overture Magazine

-Featured on fototazo, Feature Shoot, F Stop Magazine, 591 Photography Blog, Lenscratch and Photographer's Forum "Best of 2012" book

-Spent the day at the Topsfield Fair

-Wrote about Being Lonely on the road

-Talked my way into spending a day on a Lobster Boat in Maine

-Finally traveled to Marfa, Texas.  Love it there.

-Drove along the coast of Oregon

-Visited my all time favorite National Park, Yellowstone

...just to name a few

I am so fortunate to be able to travel with my dog in any direction I decide to go.  Even though I didn't take as many photographs of strangers as I had hoped for or blogged about my experiences as much as I thought I would...I consider 2012 to be a good year.  I am healthy, have loving friends and family, and the best traveling partner, Max.  

Most of all, I am thankful for another year of sobriety.  Without that, all of the activities and accomplishments listed above wouldn't have been possible. 

I look forward to writing intentions for 2013 and am hoping that it will be even better than 2012, as I'm sure most of us hope for the same.  Thank you for following Max and I on this journey through this blog, facebook and instagram.  I wish you all of the best in the new year and I hope you too are reflecting on the good things in 2012 in order to set goals and intentions for the new year. Happy 2013!