As year 6 draws to a close for this photography website it creates thoughts of what we’ve been through the past twelve months. And,  what plans lay ahead for 2021. To say that 2020 was a challenge for all of us, is an understatement of epic proportions.

NOTE: Click on images to enlarge.

Something that surprised the heck out of me when I was putting this year end piece together, was coming to the realization that this posting is the 229th article that I created in 2020. I had no idea until I did an article count. The number of photographs published here during 2020 would be in the thousands.

I guess when travel is restricted and we’re staying home most of the time, things just sort of happen. More often than not I wouldn’t be actively thinking about writing an article when an idea would come out of left field and hit me.

So I’d go to my office, fire up my computer, and just let that spark of an idea take flight and wander off to wherever it wanted to go. Like most of you, I had many months where I was unable to get out with my camera as often as I would have liked. So, I ended up digging through my photography archives trying to find images. On the positive side, it helped me clean up at least a little bit of my 50 TB of hard drive space!

As could be expected, the business conditions we faced in 2020 were the worst we’ve had to deal with in the 20 years since I left corporate life. This dramatically affected the company’s financial performance. We don’t expect some aspects of our business, such as client video work, to even begin to come back until well into 2021. The ebb and flow of business is all just a part of life. Often driven by macro conditions and some factors beyond our direct control. The important thing is to keep moving forward as best we can.

Finding new directions is what keeps each of us growing. We’re looking at some potential alternative revenue streams but haven’t made any firm decisions yet. So, there’s nothing we can definitively share with you at this point in time. You can rest assured that this photography blog will remain, and I’ll continue to create new content despite the conditions we may face next year.

Sometimes we need to just put our line in the water to see if an idea gets any bites. If it doesn’t… then its time to try something else. Perhaps different bait. Or a different pond. I’m sure most of us have  faced these types of situations in the past. And, will continue to face them in the years to come.

One thing is certain. Those of us who are creative spirits will always find a way to let those creative energies take shape. The original commitment we made to our readers when we started this website remains. This photography blog will never carry advertising or paid commercial messages of any kind.

We will be publishing a new eBook early in 2021. It will feature a wide selection of photographs captured on the Emerald Isle during our 2019 photography tour. It is a project that got put on hold given the severe travel restrictions that were in place during 2020.

My wife and I debated about when to publish this eBook. We ultimately decided that early in 2021 made the most sense. We anticipate international travel resuming to at least a moderate degree.

We have a number of other eBooks that are in various stages of development. Given my inability to do sufficient field work in 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions, some of these projects will need to be pushed off into 2022 and perhaps beyond. At this point we are focused on producing at least one, and potentially two new eBooks in 2021. These will be in addition to our travel photography eBook on Ireland mentioned earlier.

Barring something catastrophic happening to me in 2021, we’ll reach a major milestone next year. It is something that was only a faint glimmer in my imagination back in January 2015 when we launched this website. Now, as we are on the cusp of entering 2021… it is inching ever closer. Don’t worry… all of you will be the first to know when we reach it! 🙂

We would like to thank each and every one of you for your support during 2020… and for the past 6 years. Without your words of encouragement, and your financial support through eBook purchases and donations, we would not be here with you today. We plan on following along our path with this website for many years to come. Hopefully you will continue to choose to join us on a regular basis as our creative journey unfolds in the months and years ahead.

Technical Note

Photographs were captured hand-held using camera gear as noted in the EXIF data. Images were produced from RAW files using my standard process.

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