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I only photographed Erin Valakari from October, 2017 until November, 2018, yet we literally made more than 4,000 images during that time and I had some of the most creative shoots and the most fun photographing a model in a long time.

Shooting the AV-1: If you read my recent post, my wide gave me a set of Canon AV-1 and AL-1 bodies as a Christmas gift. Because the eponymous AV-1 was Canon first Aperture Preferred auto exposure camera I decided to shoot if first and make sure everything worked the way it should. As I also mentioned in the same post, I replaced the A-1’s Winder A with an A2 model and move it onto the AV-1.

If there’s any camera accessory that’s a necessity, not a luxury, it’s the camera strap. I still remember watching my friend Marcel supporting a Hasselblad 500CM on a thin railing over the Triberg Falls—the highest waterfall in Germany—with the camera strap flopped over the railing, not around his neck.

Whenever I’m asked to do a presentation about infrared photography to photographic organizations  I always kick it off with a questions that I was once asked: A reader once e-mailed asking “Why do you do infrared photography, when regular photography is already so hard?”

If you read my post The New Year in Film: Resolutions, you might remember that one of my resolutions was to shoot more video/vlogs in 2022. I also mentioned that I wanted to “keep exploring new, different ways and hopefully better ways to improve how these videos look and sound.” To that end, I plan to shoot more videos on location at the various places where I’m taking photo walks, for instance.

Most entrepreneurs start a business because they’re passionate about something. Book lovers launch e-publishing enterprises, shutterbugs start photo studios (that’s my story), and art lovers open galleries or design studios. But you need more than passion to become a success in the coming year, you’ll also need to set yourself apart from other businesses that offer similar services.