2020 Year in Review

The year 2020 started out all well and good but went downhill fast.  While the world seemed to be in a tailspin there were still glimmers of joy.  While I may not have accomplished as much as I would have liked from a photography standpoint, I still accomplished a lot.  My biggest two accomplishments for the year were turning Munchkin Photos into a limited liability corporation (LLC) and completing my Master’s Degree.  I also made my very own parachute dress this year which I shot four times, which means I’ll be making an additional dress for 2021.  Finally, I was published six times this year.  So, while 2020 seemed bad on the outside, a few good things still were happening.

This year I shot 7796 frames, which is 10-percent increase from last year.  Though I only edited 4349 which is a 5-percent decrease from last year.  This means I’m becoming more discerning during the culling process.   My most used ISO was ISO 100 with 39-percent of my photos being shot at this ISO.  My most used aperture was F5.0 with approximately 30-percent of my photos using this F-stop.  My most used shutter speed was 1/250s with approximately 26-percent of my being shot at this shutter speed. This is not a big surprise since the max sync speed for my strobes and flashes is 1/250s unless I switch to highspeed sync. Finally, my most used focal length was 18mm with approximately 45-percent of my photos being shot at this focal length.  Again, this is not a surprise since that is the most common focal length for most of my shoots.  So now let’s talk about some photos.

Cosplay and Conventions

The year 2020 was bad for cosplay and conventions, with everything getting canceled starting in March.  I was only able to host two Dayton-Columbus-Cincinnati Cosplay Photoshoot Meet-up and was only able to attend Katsucon. So, it was not a great year for Cosplay Photography.

As usual the cosplays coming out of Katsucon were great as always, though I did have a couple more cancelations then usual.  However, due to one of those cancelations I was able to shoot the “Met Gala” runway walk,  which was fun but very close quarters.  I’m sure it close to how it feels like being in the “photographer pit” of an actual runway show.  Then there were the one-on-one shoots at Katsucon, while I shot with several amazing cosplayers the photos that stood out to me were of Sara go Brah as Regency Ray, Darling Cosplays as Roxie, and ChknFri as Valentine’s Day McCree.

This year due to all the gathering restrictions that went into place in March, due to COVID only two Dayton-Columbus-Cincinnati Cosplay Photoshoot Meet-up were held.  This really put a damper on my cosplay photography, because I enjoy the meet-ups and working with different cosplayers.  The images that stand out to me from the two shoots are of SalTea Cosplay and Apollo_Ven as characters from Demon slayer and Ashleynicole_Draws as Aerith from Final Fantasy VII.

I was also able to do a single one-on-one cosplay session with Eowinth Cosplay as Thranduil and Apollo Ven as Legolas from Lord of the Rings.  I feel I had two nice standout images from that session.

 Creative Portrait Work

I did a lot of creative portrait work this year, even though we were quarantined for a good portion of the year.   I did a total of 20 one-on-one creative portrait sessions this year, which is a significant increase from last year and one group portrait shoot with the Cincinnati Female Image Makers.  The shoots started out slow, paused then picked up over the summer, before slowing down again in late fall.  Do this many creative shoots gave me a good idea how many I can handle doing in a month while balancing other aspects of my life.  Since I did a lot of shoots this year, I’m not going to talk about every shoot in the wrap up.  However, if you want to read about every shoot go and read my past blog posts were, I cover each shoot in detail. 

The sessions that stick out in my mind are the four parachute dress sessions; I was not expecting the session to be that popular.  The first session was a test session of the dress, just to see how it would photograph and fit on an actual model. Pictures from the first session were published in INTRA Magazine.  The next two sessions were done outdoors at sunset (sunset I & sunset II), and had that Amazonian Queen vibe going.  Then the final session was done out at Carriage Hill park, and was more of a nice earth goddesses vibe.   The versatility of the dress is great, so I’ll be making a second parachute dress in 2021, using some lessons learned from the first dress.

This year I did a lot of double shoots, or using the same set up twice in a row.  I like doing this because it allows me to get more use out of the concept, sets, and props while getting totally different pictures and moods. I did two very pink Rocco inspired shoots.  What was nice about these shoots while they had the same basic concept behind them, they were both very different.  This was also true for the two water sessions I did were the them was water goddess with the same set, but both turned out completely different. I also did this with the armor I commissioned from Maker Fishmeal and did two warrior inspired sessions. (Session I & Session II) I have more plans for the armor in 2021.  However, the double shoot all started with the plexi glass box session, one prop led to a variety of pictures with two very different models.

Vacation

I was lucky enough to go on vacation this year. My husband and I went out to Olympic National Park for a week, great way to social distance hiking in the woods.  Happily, this year I did not break my camera, unlike last year.  My vacations are a chance for me to relax and focus on landscape photography instead of portraiture. Though occasionally, I do go “Dam, I wish I had a model to put in this setting”. This did happen at a few locations in Olympic NP.  

Overall, while this year was different then most I still accomplished a lot and am looking forward to an even better 2021.