Waypoints was an ongoing photo project whose purpose is to document the most important images during my first 10 years as a photographer.
Every year, after some time for reflection, I selected six images that represented personal milestones in some way. Selections were based on their impact on my growth as a photographer, which means that they were not necessarily my best images from the corresponding year, nor were they necessarily my favorites. Over time, my hope was to see trends emerge as I matured as a photographer: growth and exploration; refinement and discovery.
For me, self-reflection is a delicate process. While I think there is value recollecting past moments that shaped who we are, I think that value comes from contextualizing the present and learning how to shape further growth in the future. In other words, the goal of this project was not to dwell on the past, but to mark the waypoints of my early journey in photography.
2023#
Added on 12 September, 2024
Things slowed down for me in 2023. I made much fewer images than in years past, so this year’s selections come from a much smaller pool than usual. Every image I chose represents a moment of creative connection during this long period of incubation.
Like most of the other installments of Waypoints, this year’s collection is a bit eclectic in terms of how, when, and under what circumstances they were made:
- Two images were made with my digital camera, two were made with my cell phone, and two were made with my pinhole camera on film.
- The first two images were made during a spring trip to Badlands National Park, a place that I fell in love with when I first visited five years ago.
- The rest were made locally, under various circumstances: dayhiking in the fall, backpacking through rugged Missouri backcountry, pinholing with my daughter on my back, and celebrating an important day.
Even though 2023 was a slow year for me creatively, I find that I can still look back at these images with fondness and feel a twinge of excitement and hopefulness about what this long period of incubation will lead to.
2022#
Added on 20 July, 2023
Even though it’s taken me over seven months to get around to my 2022 installment of Waypoints, selecting images was relatively straightforward because I made roughly half as many images as I did in 2021. There were a few other things going on in my life in 2022!
Reflecting on the images I chose, one theme is abundantly clear to me: acceptance.
The first two images are cold, intimate, and quiet. In these images, I see an acceptance of themes that I find myself more and more drawn to each year.
The next two are dark, monochromatic images of flowers in my backyard, one just beginning to unfurl and the other near the end of its lifespan. Both of these images serve as reminders to accept nearby beauty, no matter how small or unconventional.
The final two images were made using my 120 pinhole camera. The first of these was the first pinhole photograph that someone asked me to print for them, while the second one takes me back to a vivid memory of standing in a sun-drenched autumn forest, utterly at peace. These images both represent further acceptance of simplicity in my artistic approach.
2021#
Added on 12 June, 2022
There’s a reason that it’s taken me almost half of 2022 to select images for the 2021 installment of Waypoints: it was really difficult!
The main purpose of this project is to reflect on the previous year’s work and consider not which images are my favorites, but which images resulted in the most growth. This process is challenging, as I am naturally drawn to my favorite images when I’m reviewing them. And my favorite images aren’t always the ones that drove my growth.
As I pored over my images from 2021, I constantly reminded myself to watch out for this trap in an attempt to be more objective about the process. In the end, I found that my selection was a sample of images from last year that I remember spending the most time on. The ones I struggled with, both externally and internally. It makes sense to me that these were the images that marked milestones in my growth as a photographer.
Sometimes the images reflect the challenge of working with a new medium, or overcoming a creative rut. Sometimes the challenge was not just accepting imperfection, but embracing it.
For more about this year’s selections, take a look at my article Waypoints 2021: Behind the Images.
2020#
I don’t have anything to say about the wild ride that was 2020 that hasn’t already been said, but I will say that I had a lot to be grateful for.
Attending my first workshop in February helped kickstart a lot of growth for me. Over the course of the year, I was able to finally give myself permission to pursue my own vision; to create for myself. I learned how to trust my creative instincts and embrace imperfection.
I also found a way to use Instagram and Nature Photographer’s Network that let me build new connections and make new friends across the world, from my home state to the other side of the world.
Note: Since this project was created in 2020, I tried to put myself in the perspective of my past self to reflect on images from previous years and “catch up” to the present. While my reflections on those years may be biased by my current perspectives, subsequent reflections are not able to benefit from the same hindsight.
2019#
Hindsight from 2020: In 2019, I finally began began to embrace the kind of imagery that spoke to me, even if I still felt pressure to shoot a certain way in particular environments or locations.
2018#
Hindsight from 2020: 2018 saw further refinement of an artistic vision that I was beginning to consciously understand, which meant more small scenes and expressive imagery, even if I wasn’t using that terminology back then. I recall that during this year, I became less concerned about seeking out dramatic light or conditions and tried to evoke mood and tell stories even in mundane settings.
2017#
Hindsight from 2020: Building on lessons from the previous year, 2017 was momentous for me as I began to gain the conceptual vocabulary to express myself through photography. I took my first deliberate small scene this year (the first one in the sequence below), and started to explore more intentional self-expression than I had pursued up to this point.
2017 was also the year I lightened my kit by switching from Canon to Fuji as I started to do more hiking and backpacking with my photography gear.
2016#
Hindsight from 2020: 2016 was a challenging year for me personally, and I think that fact is reflected in my most important images from that year. In fact, every one of the images below was created during a single trip to Colorado with some good friends of mine.
I had just made the difficult decision to stop pursuing a career I had long imagined for myself. I was disillusioned and discouraged, but I found comfort in photography. I started to realize that it could be more than trying to create beautiful images. My camera enabled me to focus on my immediate surroundings, to be present in the moment and focus on what is rather than what could be. It was an important realization, but only the beginning of something bigger.
2015#
Hindsight from 2020: My selections from 2015 aren’t drastically different from those of 2014. Thematically and compositionally, there is a lot of overlap, if a bit more variation. As I was reviewing my collection of images to choose from, I did notice a few more wider scenes, but interestingly enough, the majority of my most impactful images were still small scenes.
2014#
Hindsight from 2020: One thing that immediately stood out to me after selecting images for my first year of photography was my clear early preference for small scenes, including macrophotography. I also favored bolder colors and more dramatic light and contrast than I would later on.
