Normally I would be doing a best of the year blog post, consisting of al the best photos from my year of photographing weddings. 2020 obviously threw a wrench in that tradition. Since this year was so different I ‘m also going to do something a little different. Instead of a best of my work of the year post, this is going to be more of a year in review and will contain a lot more words and a lot more personal photos.

2021 is not magically going to make everything all better, but it is a symbolic beginning of a new chapter, and there are seemingly lights at the end of some very long and dark tunnels. So for that, I am hopeful. I hope that a year from now when I’m doing a 2021 retrospect that I have a lot of positive things to say about the year and the way it worked out for our world.

So, let’s get into this!

Started the year with a trip to Vegas for WPPI, a wedding and portrait photography conference, things were progressing as normal, got to hang out with some friends, see the convention and trade show. Skipped most of the parties, went to the Valley of Fire and shot portraits and landscapes. About this time, Covid was starting to be talked about, but it hadn’t really impacted anything yet.

From Vegas, I went to Hawaii for a few days, I figured that since I was most of the way across the country, I might as well go a little farther to one of my favorite places. My Friend Andy Stenz lives in Honolulu and gave me an open invitation to come visit, so I 100% took him up on that. Besides putting me up for days, he also took me up on a helicopter ride for some aerial photography round Oahu, which was both terrifying and magical.

Once I returned from Hawaii, I had two weddings very quickly. By the time the 2nd wedding happened we were just starting to hear about “Social Distancing” Little did I know those would be the last normal weddings I would shoot for a long time! So keep in mind looking at these that masks weren’t even really a thing yet. This is the old times, the way way back..

This is the time where everything shut down. Toilet paper, rubber gloves, and disinfectant were being horded. No one knew what the hell was going on. I spent 9 weeks home alone, my only human contact being zoom/ facetime / phone calls. This was not exactly an easy time for anyone, certainly not me. All my work was being postponed, I couldn’t see family or friends. You were there, you know how hard it was. During that time the only person I really had to photograph was myself. I did some random self portraits. I did a series called “Not how I expected to spend the apocalypse” which consisted of me doing the most mundane things I could think of around my apartment while the world came to a halt.

During the summer, I started to see my family, as they had been in a bubble, and I hadn’t seen anyone in two months. I was also able to start doing some socially distant, very masked engagement shoots. It felt amazing to be around people again. The first hug I received was from my niece and nephew! I also picked up a promo photoshoot for Maryland beach rock band Ballyhoo! with small groups like that it was really easy to keep things distant and safe. Being able to shoot photos of other people again felt absolutely amazing.

Things in NJ and NY quieted down a fair bit and micro-weddings started happening, along with a few engagement shoots. It was incredibly meaningful to be a part of such small, intimate ceremonies. I was getting Covid tests before and after everything I shot, it was the best way that I could be responsible but still do my job. I felt very much like a photographer again, which did a lot for my mental health.

My sister is a teacher, and her school district went back to in person teaching in September, her husband had been back at work in person since August. This left very little time for their new puppy who started having some behavioral & separation issues. I had always bonded with Dresden and certainly had a more dog friendly schedule. So it was decided that it would be better for all parties if Dresden came to live with me full time. I must say, I could not be happier with that decision. He is 100% the Chewy to my Han and he has been fantastic to have during such weird times. But seriously, look how cute he is!!!!!

Mountain biking is one of my biggest passions outside of photography. It’s how I stay in shape, it’s how I spend a lot of my time and money, it’s how I adjust the default arrangement of my skeleton. A few weeks ago to culminate the year, I decided to start photographing it as well. When photographing sports, it’s important to be really knowledgeable about them so you can represent them in an accurate way, it’s why I waited so long to start shooting mountain biking. Shortly before the first snow of December I was in contact with local professionals Laura Slavin & Jeff Lenosky about doing a shoot. Laura invited me along to a snowy jump session with her and Jeff, I brought out some lights, they jumped the shit out of their bikes in a snow storm, Jeff made a youtube video of it that I highly reccomend you check out. And in the end we made some of my favorite photos of the year!

I don’t exactly have a good conclusion for all of this. I truly hope that 2021 is not the dumpster fire that 2020 has been. I am grateful for the positives that came out of all this for me both personally and professionally, but also very sad at the state of the world.