What a weird year it’s been. This time last year we were all delighted to see the back of a crappy 2020 and optimistic that the following year would be better. In some ways it was, but in others, not so much. I had hoped to see a return to some kind of normality in 2021 but instead we started the year in another strict lockdown, and from then on it was a rollercoaster of ups and downs.

I don’t want this post to be too depressing though, so I’ll try and focus on the positives, and less on the challenges. Either way, I’ll be glad to see the back of this year, and hopefully next year will see a return to some kind of normality.

Hmm, now where have I heard that before?

Changing my computer and setup

Earlier this year, I decided to upgrade my laptop to an Apple M1 MacBook Pro. Originally this was just to see what the new machines were like, and to replace my ageing portable of old. However, the results were so good that I ended up replacing my whole desktop computer with it too.

I have been using a Mac Pro for the last 8 years or so as my main workstation, and switching this to a “laptop first” setup required quite a bit of change in my workflow. It’s something that I’m still getting used to, and it took a bit of time to find solutions to all of the issues such a shift presented. It was only ever supposed to be a temporary setup, but the performance improvements were so great it became my primary solution.

At least for now.

When the M1 Max MacBook Pros came out I was sort of half regretting not waiting, but with the extra work that I was able to do this year with the newer computer, it had already paid for itself, so no regrets. Next year I may get a new M1 Max iMac or Mac mini if they release ones with the newer high end processors. Or depending on how things go I may hold off for an Apple Silicon based Mac Pro.

Either way, upgrading to Apple Silicon was the best computer related decision I ever made.

I should probably do a whole post or video on switching to a laptop based setup at some point. Would that be something that you’re interested in? Let me know in the comments.

Photography software developments

This was a good year for photography software in my opinion. Both Lightroom and Capture One released major new versions. On top of that we saw a new release of the Nik software collection, and a DXO Photo Lab update finally brought Fujifilm support. Photoshop also gained some interesting new features, especially with the company’s neural filters.

I think the biggest development for me was the new version of Lightroom (and the various applications in the Lightroom family). The new masking functionality in Lightroom 11 is a game changer and really made using the software fun again. The addition of AI based masks for the sky and subject are so useful that it changes the way you use the software. I am really glad that the Lightroom team (and I guess the camera raw team) at Adobe seem to be on flying form again. I hope they continue to push this hard into the future.

As for Capture One, the year saw a continuous stream of updates with some interesting features. However, it was the big Capture One 22 release that deserves the most attention, addressing some of the biggest limitations of the software. For the longest time people have complained about the lack of Panorama Stitching and HDR merging in Capture One. Both features have now been added. As I wrote in my review though, they’re not without issues, and so hopefully those will be addressed in future versions.

On the downside, Capture One ended the companies affiliate programme, of which I had been a member. While this did provide a source of revenue for me and helped cover the costs of running this website, the primary advantage was that I got notices of new announcements and upcoming changes, so I could have content ready to go when the embargo lifted. Unfortunately, without this going forward, I won’t get the level of detail that I used to get from the company which is a real shame. From a business point of view, I can understand as it has been a challenging time for everyone this year, but it’s a pain for me. Anyway, I’ll still cover the software, but I just won’t have the timely releases as before.

DXO labs finally decided to add Fujifilm support to their flagship “Photo Lab” software, and while it is still in beta, the results are really impressive. It provides a new avenue for Fujifilm shooters looking for alternative ways to get good results from their cameras. I’m hoping that they will add Fujifilm support to Pure Raw at some point next year too.

The other software that deserves mention is Luminar Neo. Skylum announced that they were coming out with another “new” application in the Luminar family, and this once again led to some people not too happy with how the company develops and releases software. Personally I’m on the fence about this. I’m deliberately not covering it until the final version is out, as I don’t agree with the drip feed approach. It seems more like a kickstarter at the moment, and despite them claiming it’s not replacing Luminar AI, to me it looks like it is. But I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and reserve full judgement until the final version is out.

Challenges and Achievements

It was a challenging year for me personally. The ongoing Covid lockdowns made it very difficult to do any photography although I did get out a few times. I was sick for a while too (not covid), and that didn’t help. The result of this is that it’s difficult to write about photography and photo editing when you’re not actively taking photos.

My website traffic declined significantly this year. Part of it is because of the fact that my writing wasn’t as frequent as it had been, because of the above reasons. There was also a google search update that kind of screwed over Squarespace users. But viewership is down across lots of industries and it’s not just me. Lots of people are reporting a significant reduction in traffic over the course of the year as the pandemic wore on. I also closed my Patreon channel because the subscriber ship had declined so much, but this was to be expected given the environment. I was really grateful for the support from my Patreon subscribers but I decided that it was better to go out while it was still reasonably positive.

YouTube was another issue this year. My channel started to get significantly less views on content than it had previously, and I noticed that other photography channels were also getting far fewer views than they previously had. I think part of the problem is the afore mentioned shift in peoples interests, and also a change in the YouTube algorithm to de-emphasise subscribers and emphasise clickbait. It’s hard to come up with a click bait headline for things like a tutorial on “Importing and Exporting Images into Capture One”.

I’ve also found it difficult to record videos this year, again due to Lockdown and not having a proper environment suitable for recording. I’ll be honest, coupled with the dramatic falloff in viewership, it’s hard to even get motivated to create videos now. I hope this is only temporary, and I’m already thinking about how I can improve things next year.

On the positive side, I had some great opportunities this year for my motion graphics work. I got to work on lots of really interesting projects including a kids science show, but the highlight was getting to design the complete graphics package for a game show. This was a lot of work, and we didn’t have a lot of time to turn it around but it was hugely rewarding and a great opportunity.

Looking Forward to 2022

I really do hope next year turns out to be better for everyone. While the new year looks like it’s set to be another difficult one with the rise of omicron (that sounds like the title for the next Transformers movie) I really do hope it gets better for everyone out there. Either way, I’m going to do my best to start the new year with a positive attitude.

I’m going to try hard to regain some of the lost traffic on my site and I hope to find a way to get back to taking more photos and in turn doing more writing about the subject. I also want to work on more video projects and up my YouTube game. If not YouTube then some other platform. I loved shooting Street Photo Diary, and I really want to get back to doing that or something similar.

I’m also hoping to do something with the design of the website. I need to address the shortcomings of SquareSpace and so I am considering switching to Wordpress. That will be a challenge in and of itself, but should allow me much more flexibility.

Finally I’m going to continue to work on my design work, and hopefully find a way to blog more about that too, and also lean into the areas where design and photography cross over. I think it’s important to show “where photography goes” so to speak, and how it is used in proper work, and this is a good way to do that.

Finally, I want to thank everyone who has read this site, or watched any of my videos over the past year. It’s for you that I keep plugging away with this, even when the going gets tough. Working on this website over the past few years has made the world a smaller place as I have gotten to interact with people all over the world of all backgrounds. It’s been a pleasure and I hope I can continue to earn you readership in the future. So with that said, Happy New Year, and I hope you have a good one.

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