As 2023 draws to a close I just wanted to look back at what has been a great year for me professionally. Since badly damaging my spine in 2017 and being diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2020 I have been spending as much time working as a photo editor as I have taking pictures but the latter half of 2022 and the whole of 2023 have changed all of that. I am fitter than I was and the cancer appears to have been soundly defeated and I have been able to take on way more work as a photographer than I have done for many years. On top of that, it has been nice work to do and so I’m a happy chap. I have no intention of ditching the editing work and so I am just a lot busier.

Back in December 2013 I wrote my last blog post of that year looking forward to a family Christmas and commenting on how my year had gone. I offered up my selections of “best of the year” for want of a better title. I’m not going to list the best of 2013 here but here’s a link if you want to go and have a look for yourself. Borrowing much the same categories, here is the best of 2023:

Best new piece of kit acquired: It’s a two-way tie this year and I couldn’t have the first one without the other. I have chosen the Canon ST-E10 flash transmitter/controller and the Canon EOS R6 MkII camera. The ST-E10 is tiny, relatively well priced and does an amazing job when I shoot with Canon flash units off-camera. The R6 MkIIs have been a constant presence since I upgraded earlier in the year and I am really enjoying working with them. There are lots of other candidates for the best bit of kit and an honourable mention goes to the Canon RF 14-35 f4L USM lens which replaced my old (and much loved) EF 16-35 f4L USM.

Best piece of old kit: First place goes to my Elinchrom ELB 400 flash kits for just being there on a daily basis doing a great job. Runner-up is my Apple Mac Studio computer which might be only 18 months old but has become such a core piece of kit and which continues to amaze me with its speed.

Favourite supplier: This one has to be a three-way split between Castle Cameras, Park Cameras and Fixation – all of whom have provided amazing customer service and looked after me when I needed items that were hard to get.

Favourite piece of software: For the twentieth consecutive year, I’m choosing Photo Mechanic for a whole variety of reasons the main one of which is that it provides the backbone to my workflow and any professional knows that having a solid workflow is vital. The runner up has to be Adobe Photoshop which got better this year (again) and still represents great value for money.

Favourite client: I have copied and pasted this from 2013: “Picking one out of the bunch would be unfair – I would like to say a public ‘thank you” to everyone who has used my services this year and it is heartening to be able to say that I haven’t suffered a single problem of non-paying during the year“. I’m happy to say that I picked up a few new clients during the year who don’t use me all that much but are great to deal with and I’d like to mention (you know who you are) the client whose verbal brief to me was “get in there and do what you do”. It wasn’t them being vague, it was a vote of confidence in me and my work which was greatly appreciated.

Unsung hero award: This is always a tough one and I am going outside of photography specific companies again. I spend an enormous amount of time slogging up and down a lot of motorways and driving through a long list of towns and cities. I almost always arrive feeling fresh and I always get home safely and that’s due in no small measure to my seven year old Volkswagen Passatt Estate and the garage that services it so thanks to VW for building the car and to Fit n’Fix Autos of Bournemouth for keeping it in good condition despite the 130,000+ miles it has covered.

Thanks to everyone who I’ve met, photographed, chatted to and generally interacted with this year. I have come home with a smile on my face more times than I can remember doing for many years and that’s why it has been such a good year. Merry Christmas and a happy new year to all.