Reflecting on 2024, looking ahead to 2025

Happy (belated) new year!

We’ve been hanging out at home for the past week, and it’s been blissful: hosting my sister and her partner for our annual New Year’s traditions of indie movies and vision boarding, lots of reading, cuddling under fuzzy blankets, and morning walks for cups of tea and coffee.

This past year was… complicated. Lots of high highs, some scary moments, and a few low lows lent more of a rollercoaster feel to our lives than I would have liked. But here we are! We made it through, learned how to handle hard better, and I’m looking forward to what 2025 may bring.

But first, a recap!

✨ Highlights

1. My first Philadelphia shoot got published
   Okay, technically the shoot was in Cape May, NJ, but it was the first job I got through Philadelphia connections, which felt pretty major! We traveled to Beach Plum Farm, where I photographed their director of agriculture, Christina Albert, for a new publication called The Rooted Journal. (Bonus: the reporter who got me the gig is now a good friend!)

2. Built up my gear list and baby studio
   When I lived in a New York City apartment, there was only so much equipment I could purchase and make room for, so I often rented gear if I needed something beyond my camera. Now, in our Philly townhouse, I have a little more room to play! Between Craigslist, B&H Photo, and other photographers’ studio sales, I was able to invest in some great lighting, grip, backdrops, and props. I now have a little studio in my basement office, which has been great for clients and for my own creative projects.

3. Earnings reality > earnings expectations
   In 2023, after just having moved to Philly, my husband and I planned out our 2024 budget. Part of that plan was me earning very little, because I expected this to be a year of planting seeds and cultivating relationships that would eventually lead to work. Fast-forward to now: because of referrals, friends, and incredible clients, 2024 was my highest earnings year yet!

I am so very grateful to the various circumstances we’ve encountered and built that have allowed me to pursue photography full-time. I feel so lucky to create work that I find interesting and creatively fulfilling, and to make photographs of and with fascinating, intelligent, delightful people.

🤔 Lessons Learned

1. Intentionality is key
   I spent a lot of time traveling last year: 8 flights, 13 trips up to NYC, and countless hours in our trusty hybrid, Phoebe. For some people, that’s the dream! For me, a person who thrives on a set routine, it was a struggle. I’m grateful for the trips I got to take, but I learned that I need to be much more intentional about traveling in order to show up at my destination the way I want to: rested, content, and ready to hit the ground running!

2. Networking can be fun
   I’d never been to any kind of creative event by myself before this year. I always felt too intimidated! But I decided to stretch myself a little this year…and I’m so glad I did. I met great people and landed wonderful opportunities through attending my Creative Mornings chapter, going to a freelancers’ breakfast club, and sending cold emails to talented artists. A little stretch can go a long way!

3. Recharging in the right ways
   Because of the aforementioned travel, my time at home was often spent figuring out how to best recharge before the next thing I had to tackle. I realized that there wasn’t one tried-and-true hack that worked for me every time: sometimes I needed to give myself a day for resting and reading, other times I needed to move my body in new ways or places. It took experimenting and exploration, but I’ve now found the things that work best for me.

🥰 Life Updates

Here are three exciting things that happened outside of my business:

1. Michael and I celebrated one year of living in Philadelphia
   Coming to Philadelphia was truly the right move for us. We love our neighborhood, we love hosting our friends and family in our townhouse, and we can’t wait to see what the upcoming years will bring.

2. I saw so much inspiring art this year
   Some highlights include: seeing The Scream and other Edvard Munch works at Nasjonalmuseet in Oslo, the beautiful Mary Cassatt exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Fotografiska’s amazing retrospective of Vivian Maier, and visiting the Getty in LA and the Barnes Foundation in Philly for the first time.

3. We (finally!) witnessed the Northern Lights
   My sister and I have gone on two aurora borealis-seeking trips—one to northwest Canada, one to Norway—and struck out on seeing the lights both times. Mother Nature must have had a good laugh when we got to see them this October…in New Jersey 😂

Looking forward to

• Working on creative personal projects ✨

• Reading the books we already own (we have a sticker chart and everything, lol) 📚

• Hosting game/craft nights with friends 🎨

• Launching a quarterly newsletter (you can sign up here!)

What are your hopes and dreams for 2025? What are you working on? If one of the things on your new year to-do list is getting new photos… go ahead and schedule a chat with me!

Thanks to Chie Tamada for this “year in review” format!