And that's my 2024 in a nutshell. I expect to have a lot of photos for both work and personal projects in 2025 as well. I expect mostly to post news stuff on here. Personal projects usually go to Instagram. Once or twice a year I do a big mega thread with all of it. See y'all around ✌️

And last, but certainly not least, I've got to post this beauty. It took months of planning, hundreds of miles of travel, several spreadsheets and thousands of shots. I almost cried when I exported this. Truly a once-in-a-lifetime image.

Of course, I have to mention the self portraits. I'm still the subject of nearly all my studio work. (Who doesn't love a cheap model?) I started exploring this style in 2023 but got much better in 2024. My lighting skills have improved a lot.

Switching gears a little, I started experimenting more with architectural + cityscape photos, sometimes for work and sometimes because I live in a beautiful city.

Of course people aren't always available. For those moments, I'm grateful I live in a city with great animal life.

Outside of work, people are my favorite subject to shoot. Sometimes a friend needs a portrait, sometimes I wander street fairs. There's something fantastic about the little moments that show how people express themselves.

Other times, I'm out on assignment and I get a shot that isn't relevant to the story. These shots are often my favorite things that are left on the cutting room floor.

One of the quirks of my work portfolio is that sometimes I'll get a shot and it's not quite useful for a news story. Sometimes it's technique or editing that I experiment with, but it doesn't turn out "journalistic" enough.

(I published two full photo galleries from the conventions at capitolnewsillinois.com, so if you want more of my work there, it's available!)

And just for good measure, a few more convention shots:

But there were plenty of other shots that I really liked, from inside and outside the conventions halls.

Of course the headline news shots this year were from the DNC and RNC. I know you probably saw a million shots of the prime time speakers, but I'm particularly proud of what I was able to do, having never done something like this before.

Because of the nature of my job, I take a lot of photos of politicians, but I've enjoyed capturing the moments with these folks that help make a story feel more real.

Most of the photos I took this year (about two thirds) were for work. I cover politics and had the chance to witness some incredible moments and help tell some incredible stories.

First up, the series I'm most proud of from this year. They're intimate and anonymous. They're personal and distant. I got them while killing time in a city I'd never been to.

(Fair warning: this is a lightly edited cross post from Twitter, so if you follow me there, you may have seen this already.)