Every year I try to do a lookback at the previous calendar year and how my photography went.  It gives me a chance to reflect on what I managed to do, and get my plans together for the next year.  Since I normally get these out around February/March, it really is an intended path for the next 10-11 months.  For previous years posts, see the Year in Review category.

As it is now 2023 and the previous year was 2022.  In 2022, I barely used my cameras.  A lot of this comes down to me buying a house at the end of 2021 and moving to the Carolinas, as well as getting a dog half way through 2022.  There just wasn’t time to do much else.

The Technical Stuff

In 2022, I created 2495 photos and videos  However, 395 of these videos were dash cam videos.  This makes 2022 my lowest year since 2008 (again).  It is unlikely I’ll have a year under the 514 images from 2008 for a long time.  2022 is now my 16th most prolific year.

I’ve managed to use this same screenshot 3 years in a row.  Hoping that 2023 is a big enough year to add a new screenshot.

Paying to maintain my Adobe CC license starts to be a ‘why am I doing this’ when I barely use it at all.

In comparison, 2004 (which barely remains my my 15th most prolific year), I went on a family trip, and scanned 1200 old photos, so it is only my 15th highest year by a hundred or so images.  In 2008 (one of my lowest years ever), not much occurred.

2022 was a busy year personally.  Photographically, my cameras were in a box most of the year.

Normally, this image has more than one camera used.  This is quite unusual that I’ve only really used my D850.

For the fourth year in a row, the D850 was my most used camera.  It was also my only used camera this year.

My unused in 2022 D750 is now 7 years old, and my unused in 2022 D800 is 9 years old.  While in normal situations I start to look to replace a camera body at 5 years old, I now have all 4 of my camera bodies at 5+ years old.  I haven’t even used my D300 since 2019.  At this point, I think it is time to start selling the old camera bodies or converting them to IR.

The Good Stuff – Completed Goals of 2022

Back in early 2022, I set out some goals.

I made money off of stock sales!  Awesome.  Here is the image.  It was downloaded once.  I made 25cents.  After 3 years, I have a whole $1.25 in my account.

Well, I guess it is better than nothing?  You can’t request a payout at Adobe Stock until you hit $25.  So, it may as well have been nothing.  Not sure if this is goal met or goal missed.  I’m considering moving to a new stock photo site.

I did set a goal of adding more posts.  I had 8 in 2020 and another 8 in 2021.  I had 2 in 2022.  Ugh that is less than I’d expected.  I still have a lot of half-written posts, some more than 7 years old, which may be more applicable today than they were when new.

The Bad Stuff – Missed Goals for 2022

Goal: Actually make money with photography.  I plan to look into and try out NFTs.  I have an account at OpenSea (https://opensea.io/bradleymolnar) and have some images for sale.  While it may not make much, more than 25cents would be an improvement over Adobe Stock.
– Yep, none of this happened.  The whole NFT market collapsed and no one wants my images, even for a price that is only around $50.  As for Adobe Stock, another 25cents for the year!

Goal: Even more posts!  I’m starting off fairly well with getting the year in review out before Valentine’s Day.
– Oops

Goal: Continue to improve the website.  I have a new theme and I like it.  But there is a lot to do, including add more galleries and make them work better.  I submitted feedback to the developers of this theme to add in better Gallery support.
– Aside from security updates, I feel like I completely neglected the site in 2022

Goal: Travel and take photos when possible.  I have no idea what will happen with travel, the virus, or anything else.  I’m hoping this year starts to get back to normal.  However, I did just buy a house, so, this will not be a high-travel year.
– Yeah this goal is quite the miss.

 

I hope 2023 will be better.  It is off to an OK start due to some airplane photos.  But who know what will happen this year.  I, for one, am simply hoping for good things.

To the future-

-Brad