Twenty twelveeeeeeeeee!!!!
The world is gonna end! Oh nooooooo!

I have a feeling that this will be the running joke throughout the year for me. However, in my annual end of the year open letter as I take some time to look back at 2011 I find myself at a bit of a loss for words.
This year seemed to go by much quicker than last. Sure, we all say that at the end of each year, don’t we?

But this year was such a mix of running around SoCal working on personal projects with various clients mixed in between that I’m finding it difficult to find key points to talk about as I reflect on my year.

Growth. Let’s just go with a cliche choice on this one, shall we?

I could support this two ways…
The first is that I watched many of my close friends, family, and even past client’s lives grow as people had children and added to their families. I became an Uncle this year when my little sister had a daughter mid-summer. Later in in the Fall my oldest and best friend had a son, too. So I’m an Uncle twice this year. Maternity photos I shot last year were now baby photos this year. I was booked by past families to do new rounds of family portraits as kids were older and new images were needed.

I took my work a new direction with a portrait series that I started work on in the Spring. I began creating images of people in and around my daily life. Some images were planned out in detail prior to the shoot, while others were created right there on the street with people I had met only moments before. This series proved extremely popular. I showcased the series during an art show in Hollywood – my first time every displaying my work publicly in a gallery setting.

I continued to travel all over the US for weddings. I kept my self-promise of always extending my trips to see local friends in the areas that work would take me.

I gained several new, major clients as my business grew and projects that I worked on became bigger and more important. My biggest of which are actually continuing into the new year and I will finally be able to share them in the upcoming weeks.

Twenty Eleven was a great year. And although I could go on and on about each detail and event that made it great I won’t.
My life grew with new members of families around me. My clients grew as I expanded my business. And my work grew as I developed my own style and took my photography to a level far beyond where I was just 12 months ago.

Let’s get going with 2012! I can’t wait to see what’s ahead.