2025 Year in Review and Looking Forward to 2026

This year was a bit interesting especially since during the day, I’m a government employee, which resulted in a lot of stress and a 42-day furlough.  I didn’t attend as many cosplay events with the D.C Cosplay group, now Costume and Camera, as I normally would have, due to schedule conflicts.  However, I traveled up to Poughkeepsie, New York for two photo events, one of which I was a featured photographer.  I attended two conventions, one of which didn’t turn out as expected and the other just confirmed my decision to take a break from it.  Though happily I did a lot of studio work this year, which I enjoyed.  But on the other hand, I lost my dear “studio supervisor”, my dog Teddy.  He liked to great clients and then “supervise” while lying/sleeping in his bed. I also started to work on the business side of my photography work, by investing in a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) site to manage bookings, schedules, and payments. No more trying to juggle IG and Facebook messages.  Finally, my computer died in November, which made me realize I need to back things up a little more often.  Thankfully, my husband was able to recover everything off my old computer for me.  He is wonderful.  So, the year has been full of ups and downs, which have caused me to reflect and improve.  So here is where we have been and where we will be going.

Cosplay and Conventions

I attended two conventions this year, Katsucon and Once Upon a Con (individual reviews linked). Katsucon was as expected, way too crowded and not a lot of sessions booked; this reinforced my decision not to attend Katsucon 2026. But I did get a chance to work with a Breathless Air Designs and her lovely Queen of Hearts group.  I usually don’t work with large groups, but they were such a fun and amazing group, even pulled out the fisheye lens for them. The other convention, Once Upon a Con, was supposed to be amazing but flopped on execution.  Though it provided me with a good testing ground to see if I could use a hotel room as a studio (I can, if it is a suite). Plus, I was able to use my new client booking software which made booking, organizing session times, talking with clients, and delivering photos so much easier.  So that was a win in my book. 

I was only able to attend four Costume and Camera (formally D.C. Cosplay Photoshoots) events, and one event with CosMeetDMV (you can read about that experience here.)  I would have liked to have attended more events, but the schedule seemed to always conflict with another thing, or I was just too tired to attend.  I did ten one-on-one cosplay sessions outside of the standard convention circuit and meat ups. I so enjoyed doing the one-on-one sessions, they really let me work with the cosplayer and take my time.  It also gives me a chance to experiment just a little bit, with new techniques that would not be possible in a convention or meet-up environment.

Creative Portrait Work

I did six creative and two standard/branding portrait sessions in my home studio.   This year I experimented with using mylar for some sessions, which I now call dry water sessions. I also built my own rain room, unfortunately I can only use it during the summer since I turn my back porch into the rain room.  I hope to do more of both these session in the future. 

I also had the opportunity to go up to Poughkeepsie, New York for two themed photography events, hosted by Everlore Events. I first attended there Whispers of Waterhouse Event as a roaming photographer and then was asked back for there Eleven Autumn event as a paid photographer and had the opportunity to work with horses.  Both events were great and a nice change of pace.  I’ll probably attend one or two of their events in 2026 as well. I want to try to attend one of their studio events in New York City, which would be an easy train ride for me from Union Station in DC.

Vacation

This year’s vacation was a one week trip down to the Florida Keys. We went with a simple resort like vacation this year due to my day job. Because of all the craziness at the beginning of the year, it was hard to plan something big. Plus, I had no idea if I would have a job or not with how many cuts they were making initially.  So, we went with something simple and stayed at a resort and spent time in a cabana by the pool.  It was relaxing.  In 2026 I plan on going back to a large, longer vacation, we are thinking about Portugal.

Looking Forward

Since this year was so crazy and stressful due to my day job, I really didn’t feel like I accomplished a lot on the creative side.  But looking back at the photos and blog posts, I really did do some amazing work this year.   For 2026, I have decided to provide studio sessions during MagFest, at a studio located about 5 minutes down the road.  We will see how that works out.  I also do not plan on attending Katsucon 2026, we will see if this makes me sad or not.  I plan on attending AnimeUSA 2026 as it is going to be about 20 minutes from my house.  I’m going to try to attend some more cosplay and non-cosplay meet up events. I’m toying with the idea of hosting a photography meet up event of my own, but I might need a co-host.

My main goal for 2026 is to focus a bit more on the business side of my photography business. Yes, Munchkin Photos is a fully licensed LLC.  I think I need to work on marketing to expand my reach.  I also may revamp my website a little and hide some older work.   But in general, I’m looking forward to being a little more deliberate in trying to grow Munchkin Photos.

Hopefully 2026 will be less stressful and chaotic than 2025.