2022 | A Year in Review

Commercial and Travel Photography

It surely can’t just be me that thinks that time is honestly just flying by at the moment? Now that 2023 is here, I feel that the only way I can try and process what happened in 2022 is to sit down and try summarise the last year. For me, 2022 was a huge year - the first full year that I was going to have been full-time as a freelance photographer, a very busy summer schedule of commercial project and weddings, and the first year that overseas travel became an option again. Don’t get me wrong, it was definitely very daunting to think about in the early stages of the year, however I couldn’t have imagined how different the year went, and how lucky I was to have all the oppoutunities presented to me.

2022 was definitely the busiest year of my life. Over the course of 12 months, I had 26 commercial shoots and 23 weddings. Whilst trying to also fit in personal projects and life, this meant that I spent quite a lot of time on the road (more specifically in Scotland), and whole bunch more time working through the endless backlog of images and video. Whilst this may indeed seem like a lot, I can’t begin to tell you just how much I enjoyed having this hectic schedule, as it allowed me to see so much more through the work I was doing. I built up close relationships with a number of clients, who in-turn gave me the creative responsibility to produce some of the best work of my career. One project worth noting would definitely have to be with the Visit Faroe Island tourism board, where I spent the best part of a week in this incredible country, photographing everything that makes this place so unique. The landscape here was breathtaking around every corner, making you feel like you had just stepped out on to a movie set.

I think the next thing that was pretty big for me in 2022, was reaching 100,000 followers on Instagram. Even now that does seem a little crazy to write. I started the year off with roughly 12,000 followers, so having a growth of nearly 10x was something that I would have never expected in the space of 12 months. I don’t think that there was any secret strategy that I followed through the year, however after a couple of trips to Scotland in the early months of the year, I found myself with a bunch of video content to share, and roughly around the same time, Instagram had decided to double-down on reels on their platform. So, I just began to post these videos of the Scottish Highlands, and people began to connect with them. I had people from many different parts of the world commenting and messaging me about how they were planning a trip to Scotland, and wanted to have conversations about the best places to see whilst they were there. Fast forward a few months, and I began to see a massive, consistent growth in my followers, not just through one or two viral reels, but more through a consistent mix of drone and camera clips. I feel like I will more than likely do a full blog on my thoughts about Instagram reels, and about my growth on the platform through 2022, but as a whole, it has just been the most rewarding year so far on my social page. I’m incredibly grateful for all of the people that have stopped by my profile, and clicked the follow button, which has in turn allowed me to continue pursuing the best job in the world.

Releasing my first digital and physical products. In the summer of 2022, after quite a few messages regarding my editing process and whether or not I sold presets, I decided to take the time to release my Original Preset Pack. This was a massive thing for me, not only as it came with a whole wave of anxiety about whether it would have been a waste of time and that no one would actually be interested in buying them, but it also taught me a lot about creating a digital product like that, something that I had never done before. Then, later in the year, I had decided that I wanted to finally publish a calendar - something that I had thought about so many times in the past, but always never followed through on. This time though, I focused on the idea of Scotland. For the majority of the year, my work had been showcasing the vast amount of stunning locations that this country has to offer, and so it only felt right to put this altogether for a calendar. Now, I must firstly admit, the logistical nightmare of producing and shipping a calendar is something that I did not anticipate when I first had the thought, however I decided that I wanted to get this all in order before I would make my calendars live. I was honestly blown away by the response that I had to the calendars, having so many orders from different parts of the world, all sharing the same obsession and interest of Scotland, just like myself.

Finally, I think one of my favourite moments of 2022 was finally purchasing a camera solely with the purpose of using it as a personal camera. I know that might seem strange when I already have my Sony set up, however I never found myself wanting to use my ‘work’ cameras for any personal moments or events. So, after having my interest sparked by a friend and doing quite a lot of research, I decided to buy myself a Fuji X100V. This small little camera was the perfect choice for me - it’s light, capable of taking some stunning photos and more importantly, it fits in my pocket. After around 12 months of being full time with photography, I felt like this was something that I definitely needed - an opportunity to care less about the settings of a camera and worrying about sharpness, and just being bale to photograph aspects of my personal life that I might have otherwise just missed due to not wanting to have my ‘work’ camera with me. Family birthdays, dog walks close to home and even a short summer break to a stunning Croatian village, this camera has definitely helped me to focus more on capturing moments that are special to me this year, and therefore having memories to look back on for years to come.

I hope that you have enjoyed reading this little review of my 2022. I’m definitely hoping to try and post a little more on this website, so keep an eye on my Instagram to see when I post a new blog. Thanks.