My 2012

Well, we’re still here. 2012 has come and gone. I’m nearly a year and a half into my position as a photographer at the Naples Daily News and this past year has been filled with many ups and downs, strikes and gutters.

We all go through these instances in life where we don’t think our work is up to par. The pressure level begins to rise and despite the pressure I felt from myself to do better, I still didn’t feel like I was making anything I was proud of. Eventually, I let go. Letting go and opening up worked wonders for me. I started thinking differently, throwing out my pressure mounting goals and started to take things in more as they came. By doing that, I take a lot more pride in my work and I feel like it shows.

2013 has started and life feels great. I am proud of a lot of the work I produced over 2012. I made photographs I love, I made an essay that I am proud of (It’s not all seen here, I’m still working on the edit), and have a couple projects going that I’m enjoying. That’s what it’s about though, right? Enjoying the life you’re in. I think photographers stress themselves out too much (myself included). Where does that stress lead? Nowhere.

One of my main goals for this year is to relax about my work. I’m not saying I want to slow down, that’s not it at all. I’m going to work my ass off and make pictures. Pictures that I am proud of. I’m going to work on relaxing my brain from stressing about things that are out of my control. While I work on my other goals for 2013, why don’t you scroll down and look at some of my favorite photos from 2012. Like I said, they’re not ALL there. A large portion of them are in an edit from political work over the year. So sit back, relax and happy new year.