Best of 2009

BlueHouseRedPoppies, originally uploaded by carolsLittleWorld.

It’s that time again. Time to take stock of our year, add up all of the pluses and minuses, figure out what we did right, what went wrong, and how things are shaping up for next year. Time for all of those annual “top 10” lists we always see this time of year too.

According to Flickr, this is my most popular image from 2009. Now, I don’t think it’s my best work, but I’m happy with it. It’s not bad. At the end of the day though, wow, 2009 was really a stellar year for me.

I almost always start off my New Year’s resolutions by saying, “*This* year is going to be the year I get a 1-person show.” Well, *this* year I had one. I had a long-running show at a lovely gallery in New Orleans, one of my favorite cities. I could not ask for more.

This year was so much more than that though. I started working with encaustics and I love the excitement and energy a new medium brings. It was also a busy show year, I had exhibitions in several states and across every month of 2009. I participated in many shows over at the fantastic Studio 2, my favorite Austin gallery. I had a lot of fun there. I got published (again) and attended some great workshops.

So, to sum it up, 2009 was a fantastic year for me. I really could not have fit in more photographically. And, the best part? I really looking forward to 2010. Really. Even though the economy is in the dumps, and probably will be for the entire year, there’s an artistic resurgence taking shape. People are doing things, interesting thing, artistically. You can feel it in the air, artists are experimenting. The great “digital revolution” in photography is here to stay, we’ve gotten over the “why do we need a professional photography?” funk that we were in, and it’s starting to go back to normal-with great artists producing compelling, gripping work, making the most of those new tools to take the media in new directions. There’s lots of people doing lots of stuff and I’m happy to be a small part of that.

So, this is my “best of 2009” for you and, I have to say it, I can’t wait to see what 2010 brings. It’s an exciting time to be a photographer.

Until next time…