January 2024 In Review
Welcome to the first edition of In Review for 2024! Who would have thought that we’d be hearing something like that already?
January may have come and gone in the blink of an eye, but I’m excited to share this look back at the first month of the year with you all. It was an exciting month with a lot going on, and it really helped set the tone for a great year ahead. With that, let’s get into it!
For starters, I was INCREDIBLY busy with real estate photography work. This meant getting out to capture landscapes and wildlife was difficult, and in total I ended up going out to shoot just three or four times all of January. I have a plan to do a blog post about making the most of every time you go shoot in the future about how I handle limited shooting opportunities, so keep an eye out for that!
With the real estate photography work, though, I have found myself well on my way to reaching some of the goals I set for my business this year. It is my second calendar year doing photography full-time, and I am excited to work on growing it now that I’ve gotten myself pretty well established over the course of 2023.
When I was able to get out and shoot, I stayed close to home as opposed to wandering too far. This is partly due to fatigue I think - in total, when I counted the other day, I had maybe 7 days in all of January where I didn’t have some sort of appointment! But, going out and creating landscape and wildlife images is what helps really put my mind at ease so I told myself this month I need to do a better job of actually setting aside time to do so.
In January, managed to get to the beach at Gordon’s Pond and the trail itself, The Point, and Indian River Inlet to create some photos. There were a few other quick stops mixed in as well, like Chief Little Owl in Bethany Beach, but those three were the primary sources of photos I captured in January.
The morning I spent at Indian River Inlet was the first I had been down there to shoot in quite some time. In fact, I don’t think I could even tell you the last time I went to the inlet to shoot before January!
When I stopped, I was on my way to Ocean View for an appointment to photograph a rental home. It was pretty early in the morning, which made me happy - I was able to get some gorgeous blues, pinks and purples during blue hour. Plus, I can’t forget about the last few stars in the sky.
During that morning, I made a few stops - one at the inlet itself, where I grabbed a few shots of the jetty marker on the southside, and then I headed over to a nearby location outside the state park, as I wanted to get a few shots of the bridge with my drone. Once I had the drone shots I wanted, I went over by the South Shore community and took a few long exposures looking east toward the bridge, capturing some truly gorgeous reflections off the Indian River Bay.
It was the time I spent at Indian River Inlet that produced my favorite photo of the month of January - the drone photo you see above of the bridge! The water of the bay was just calm enough to get a little bit of reflection, which was great since I opted to keep my camera settings on auto instead of going manual for a long exposure (I often forget that my drone came with ND Filters, which would make that more doable). But what I love even more is that it shows the inlet as a true gateway to the ocean, connecting the Indian River Bay with the vastness of the Atlantic.
Looking ahead, February is already shaping up to be another busy month with real estate photography - I’ve done two shoots already, and have a full week coming up as well! I’m hoping to carve out some time to get out and create for myself like I did this morning, but only time will tell if that becomes a reality.
I’ve got a few new matted prints that will be coming available in the shop soon - the first of my 2024 limited edition series (5x7 images printed on metallic photo paper, matted to fit an 8x10 frame) and also some 8x10 images that are matted to fit an 11x14 frame. I’m also slowly but surely chipping away at the book to culminate the Birds of Delmarva project from last year with an eye to release it by the end of March.
No big adventures currently await on the horizon, but that could change at a moment’s notice as I’ve learned over the last year plus - stay tuned, and I’ll keep you updated should that change!
Thanks for taking the time to check out this blog post, and here’s to the next adventure!
- Tyler
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