Busy Days & My Insane Year

It's been a while since my last update, but in short it's probably been the busiest year of my professional life. Between the handful of contract video and photograph projects that I took on this fall (and am now in the process of editing), the full-time work with Weddingstar, an end of year video project with Stream Media, and a few last minute art projects/contracts on the back of my Around the Hat series - I've essentially been in a blur since late August. 

My latest video with Medalta and their artists in residence is in its final stages, and I just finished a new web promo for another client last week, but after a meeting at city hall on Friday it seems I'll have even more on my plate leading up to Christmas. I often have to remind people that I'm also working full-time with Weddingstar through all of this, doing their in-house media and working with digital publishers for their new magazine. I really haven't had any downtime since I got back from my road trip around the Pacific Northwest this summer. It's actually worked out well because my photo series of that trip has carried much of my blog's content through this time and will wrap up in mid-December.

All things considered, this is a good kind of busy. It's a privilege to make my living doing work that matters to me. I think I've found a nice balance between corporate gigs and creative opportunities, and have found some unique ways of showcasing my work and getting my name out there. Perhaps most of all, I'm thankful for the variety. Between photography and video this year, I've had some amazing projects on both sides.

Everything kind of exploded for me in 2013. From my presence in social media to the photo sets I shared and the videos I worked on, there have been plenty of weeks where I haven't been able to keep up with the correspondence. Last month Editing Luke had its highest number of visitors in its 6.5 year lifespan - just shy of 12,000 people visited and viewed nearly 17,000 pages. That's crazy! Especially for a non-sponsored site like mine where I just share what I've been working on.

In addition to all of my big projects, it's been the unexpected ones that have been especially exciting. I'll save some of those announcements until I have a bit more info, but there are some really cool things in the works. I should have updates in the next few weeks.

Who knows what the new year holds, but I know I'll have to be more selective about what I take on. I can't continue to work 12 hour days, although I am incredibly proud of what I've accomplished and been able to be a part of this year - lots of promotional work, my images on covers, stationery, postcards, artwork, magazines, tourism materials, websites, a phone book, and even as a sponsored exhibition. It's all been great, but at this point I'm counting the days until Christmas. Frankly, I'm looking forward to some well deserved time off.