To be honest I’m not sure how I wanted to approach this annual review. I knew that there was work that I made this year that I was distinctly proud of but at the same time, the looming sense of dread that came with 8 months of drought did make me want to skip this altogether. The prospect of being a photographer this year developed in the same way a McDonalds french fry goes through its life, yknow? Starts off great, then it gets a bit dicey, and then it’s just sad (but you eat them anyways because you did, in fact already purchase them and you don’t feel like cooking anything else).
But even so! Here we are.
I think instead of the normal long-form text —> photo dump format I take, what I’ll do this year is a bit more of an intimate look into my favorite sessions. These won’t be in exact chronological order, but that’s never stopped me before. This is a distillation of all of the work that I’ve shot in a year. From about 4000 delivered images to this list of approximately 100 photos. Stick around until the very end to see my favorite top 8 images from the year!
As always if you’d like to work with me feel free to reach out to me via my contact page.
C’mon. Let’s take a stroll.
Alrighty! So we’re starting this off with 2 engagement sessions that I had a LOT of fun at: Gabby+Tim’s engagement session, and Gabe+Katy’s boneless engagement session (I say boneless because they weren’t technically engaged YET at this point…..but it did happen; just not when these photos dropped!). Both of which were at new locations I’d never been to, and both of them were with couples who not only had experience with photography, but also wanted me to shoot their weddings as well (which is always a humbling bonus, in my book). I don’t actively try to create the illusion that I’ve been to every location in the DMV; I’m busy but not that busy haha. But it was just nice to explore new spots with clients. The following few were from test shoots, impromptu portraits and cats from my friends.
A fun little fact is that after G+T’s session, I ended up loving this spot so much I took Idania+Max back to it for one of my last shoots of the year!
I’m a bit behind on the prism trend, but I did get a lot of mileage out of just using my phone to introduce fun little optics into photos. We tried that with these quick little portraits of Wavey and Vicky. Not much more to say when the models are so easy on the eyes, wouldncha say?
I haven’t officially posted these donut photos yet…but this is a little sneak peek. These were a fun little portfolio shoot I did a couple weeks ago just to see what I could do with a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts! No massive production budget, no complicated lighting setup. Just my camera, 1 light, and some tasty little donuts. Ever since I dipped my feet into the world of food photography for my cookbook, Second Generation Plates, I’d been interested in what it would be like to pivot a bit over towards food photography; and this was a wonderfully exciting venture into that territory! As much as I wish I could come up with these concept myself, it’d be wrong for me say they are. Always credit your sources and inspirations, kids! These images were inspired by the likes of Scott Choucino, Laura Murray and Melanie Kim. Bold colors, strong presence and just the slightest amount of realistic grit. After doing this shoot, I’m so so so incredibly excited for some projects I have lined up for 2021. Let’s keep chuggin along. we got a lot more to go.
oh MAN the first two couples here. Oh man oh man oh man. I met them through college/work! Angie+Jason had decided to go the route of an intimate backyard wedding with their closest family and friends. Approaching that wedding with a much more photojournalism perspective rather than a documentary wedding photography mindset was something that was really cool to do. Not that the two are entirely different concepts, but there are still things about the two that don’t quite mesh. Darius+Lorena were also a wild ride. My first shoot with them was disguised as a “fun little Thanksgiving gift photoshoot” of sorts, which turned into a surprise proposal! (A surprise for her, that is) Later on, we decided to do another shoot before their wedding just across the Bay Bridge. Our first attempt for this encore shoot got rained out, but our second attempt yielded magic.
Megumi+Tim, and Ria+Anthony were also wonderfully fun shoots and I’m so grateful to have been able to shoot with them! What’s funny is that one of my favorite photos (that sparkly blue one) actually came from a rare unplanned double exposure! I usually like to be intentional about gathering material for potential double/triple/quad exposure combinations but this one just….fell into place. We also shot that right before the first day of the inaugural Overwatch League Washington Justice Homestand, which you can actually start browsing immediately below!
WOOOO BOY. ESPORTS. I got my start into esports through VGBootcamp and working with them on the stream production side of things about 2 years ago. Starting with Smash, and eventually branching out into regional (DMV) Tekken, SFV, Soul Caliber tournaments. But this was the first time I even had a chance to see something as big as the Overwatch League this close (in DC, no less!). There were some truly incredible people I got to meet through these two homestands, and some valuable information I was able to glean from those experiences. There’s no point spreading bad vibes, but what I will say is this: If you are an esports organization that has made the wise decision of setting aside a budget to hire photographers, please please PLEASE hire photographers that have experience in esports. No one wants to see a tennis photographer stumble their way around a production for an entire weekend.
The following images were ones I created when we had just started quarantine, back in March/April ish. I had given myself the challenge to take a walk with only my phone, and my Nikon 50mm to see what I could create exclusively through in-camera effects. The boneless Starry Night looking one is a quad exposure (maybe a quintuple? or maybe only triple) done in camera, and I’m extremely happy with how it turned out. The others are just really fun experiments with shutter drag, and fresh color grading techniques. Pretty sure I slipped out of the house to shoot in the middle of the street at 2am for one of em.
After that are portraits that I took this year (and one bonus re-edit of a classic Rayma portrait) for 2 clients! Both Dr. Jasmine Lee and Kevin just fully gave me the reins and let me do whatever I wanted with the sessions, for which I am infinitely grateful. Dr. Lee wanted a revamp to her current brand. She had new hair, a new look, and just overall needed a lift to her brand so my goal was to capture images that encapsulated her bright personality, while keeping her foundation as an accomplished, qualified professional close by.
Now the shoot with Kevin…….the man has style. What more do I need to say? (Okay I will say this: I wanted to imitate that LA sunshine meets brutalist architecture vibe. The only lenses I used were an ultrawide, and an 85mm. )
Let’s keep rolling, shall we?
OKAY THIS IS WHERE THINGS TOOK A LITTLE TURN. Back in June, I realized that if I wanted to have any semblance of money this year after 80% of my weddings/event bookings were either cancelled or postponed that I’d have to try a different route.
And that route ended up being real estate! Tried it for about 5 months, shot just under 200 properties, and decided that it probably isn’t exactly something I want to work in as a primary field. Not that I hate it or am awful at it, I just prefer other things. But you do whatcha gotta do, y’know? I did like these enough to set up a portfolio of real estate images though, so like…..hit me up if you need that.
These portraits. A close friend of mine from college shot me a text asking if I was down to do a graduation shoot for his sisters. Seeing as I’d die for this man, I naturally said yes. The confidence these kids have these days is absolutely incredible. A couple weeks later, I got an inquiry from someone that they referred to me for another grad shoot. A fun little departure from the norm! The way all of them showed up to the shoot with their hair done, edges laid, and heels ready to step. Being able to celebrate with them and see their parents, aunties/uncles cheer from the car was a nice dose of humanity after being stuck in the house for a while.
Maybe the kids are doin alright (certainly better than I was when i was their age, haha). We were gunning for a celebratory, Paper mag, Vogue-but-not-shot-by-Annie-Leibs, vibe. I wanted them to look great, feel great about the way they looked, and most importantly for them to be confident in the skin that they’re in. And so something I took care not to do with these portraits was to be too extensive on the skin retouching.
Following that is a quick bottle of Isaac Bowman gifted to me by a client, and some portraits of the incredible Irena Stein, of Alma Cocina Latina in Baltimore. We had the opportunity to do some chatting and some eating with her as part of Creative Mornings Baltimore and it was so incredible to work with a fellow creative, even when the world is falling apart.
Lastly, those two AWESOME pieces near the bottom are part of 2 collaborations I did with illustrator extraordinaire Kathi! The first collab we did was centered around her creating illustrations to meld with photographs I gave her. And for the second go around, we flipped the switch; she’d give me illustrations and I’d create images that would pair with them! I’m so happy to have been able to work with her in this weird haunted clown mansion of a year.
okay!!!! this is it for the normal photos, and now we move onto the Top 8.
Surprisingly I have….very little I have to say about these images. They may not all be the most sparkly and pristine images, but they are the ones that meant the most to me this year. In the same way a pizza is made complete with that little crispy bit of cheese at the edge, I hope these pictures brought you some semblance of respite from whatever pressing realities are happening in your life. I have no bright and shining future facing words to offer you at this time; but what I do want to say is: thank you.
Thank you for reading all of this. Thank you for looking at all these silly little images I thought were neat. Thank you for following me even though I’m inconsistent at best with updating my social media. Thank you for reaching out to me when things really started hitting the fan. Thank you for spam texting me to tell me that you loved all the photos I gave you. Thank you for letting your friends know that “there’s this photographer they simply have to work with”.
All I can do is continue to try and make work that lives up all the support I’m offered. There’s no telling what 2021 will offer us, but I do hope you stick around for a while.
Cheers,
-WZ