It’s that time of year again where I pause briefly to mark the inexorable passage of time, reflect on the year gone, and look forwards to the year ahead. I know most people normally do that right at the start of the year but I like to do it a couple of weeks in, on the anniversary of me setting up this site. Some years – this one included – I have also done a separate review of the year, so I’m not going to dwell too long on the year just gone, but to be honest there’s a few things I probably forgot to mention in that last post.
As has already been documented, 2024 was a pretty good year for this site. I kept up posting every two weeks without fail from the end of February onwards and am still on that streak. I’ll admit that such a rigid posting schedule is somewhat antithetical for a site based on the idea of ‘splurges’, but I have justified it in my mind by accepting it’s the shooting projects that are the – as it were – creative splurges, which then join a very orderly and precise posting queue. In 2024 those posts included an assortment of subjects taken at a variety of times, from aquariums to coastlines to an abandoned building. The big reoccurring theme of the year though was steam, as I posted multiple sets of steam train posts from my multiple visits over the year. Hopefully you’re still enjoying them because I’m planning on more visits in 2025, not least to feed my train-specific Instagram account. This also means that for the first time in a while I beat my August curse, where that month has been the month in previous years where I ran out of energy and stopped posting.
I’ve also done some housekeeping in 2024. The emails you probably get in your inbox whenever I post something are no longer truncated, so in theory you can read it in your inbox without forcing you over to my page. I’ve also added a ‘Kit List’ to the top of every post, to make it clear what equipment I used without trying to find a convoluted way to include it in the narrative. More recently, I’ve started trying to keep my posts a little shorter and include a more comprehensive gallery of images at the end, in the style more akin to my earlier posts, hopefully making it a bit easier to digest. Hopefully these changes were welcomed – or even noticed.
I also set up a couple of new Instagram accounts and revived the Daily Photo – the latter mostly to feed one of the former if I’m honest. This has been part of me exploring other ways of getting my work in front of more people. As I’ve already spoken about, the most success I’ve had in that regard is the account I’ve set up to share train photos on Instagram, which at time of writing has 580 followers. There is probably a lesson there to be learned about trying to appeal to a niche, rather than my longstanding tradition of tipping my toes into a bit of everything.
Ultimately, I am very happy with my output in 2024. So what, then, are my plans for 2025?
My primary goal is to, at a minimum, keep the momentum from 2024 into 2025, and make sure I continue posting every two weeks and keep getting out and shooting. I have a bunch of posts still in the pipeline, ranging from sets shot a couple of weeks ago to ones now quite a few years old.
I aim to at least sustain the momentum of 2024, keeping up with regular posting and getting out often to take photos.
I have a few things I’d like to get out and shoot too. More specifically, there are two things I’ve realised I’ve not photographed for over a decade, and could probably do a much better job of now, with my improved skills and better equipment. The first is a Red Arrows display, which I haven’t seen since 2011. I’ll have to see what my options are for that one once their 2025 display schedule is out. The second is a fireworks display, which I haven’t seen since 2012. That’s also a bit dependent on where displays are near us that we can reasonably get to. For bonfire night last year there were no local displays that weren’t a drive away, so we’ll have to see if that changes for 2025.
I also need to do some site admin, chief along which is my site categories, which are a bit random and disorganised. I’ve been meaning to do it for at least a year, but it’s potentially quite a bit of work – not in changing the categories itself, but in then recategorising over 350 posts to make sure they’re organised properly.
I’ve also signed up to renew my lineside photography permit for the Bluebell Railway into 2025. I have found photographing steam trains to be the most rewarding thing I’ve done this year, as well as being the most successful in terms of sharing.
There might well be some kit changes. Firstly, I got a drone for Christmas, so I’ve opened up a whole new type of photography to play about with in 2025. I still need to get a bit more confident in flying it, but my first batch of photos from it will form my next post.
As I alluded to in the post from my last trip to the Bluebell Railway, I also can’t rule out a new lens in the coming year, as a wide zoom – probably either the EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L III or its RF equivalent – would make for a useful addition to my arsenal. If I do go that route, I may well sell my RF 16mm lens to help take the edge off. It does seem that every time I decide I’ve rounded off my kit list, I find some justification to add another one. I never used to be that bad, but in the last 12 months I’ve added three lenses and a drone to my kit bag and I’m still finding reasons to add more. Maybe that’s part of having a rejuvenated hobby.
It is also tradition that I post a selfie in my annual post. In my earlier years I suggested it was showing my development as a photographer. Nowadays I think it mostly just shows me growing older. But I do like to try to use one that’s a bit representative of the year just gone or where I am now. So this year’s image is of me in my happy place for 2024, lineside on the Bluebell Railway, from my trip down there on New Year’s Day (which is why I’m looking a bit beleaguered, it wasn’t great weather).
Clearly multiple layers of warmth and weatherproofing topped off with a high visibility jacket is not the most flattering look, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
And with that, all that’s left is for me to thank you for reading this site and, if it’s not too late, to wish you a happy 2025.
Creative Splurges 