2024 has been a big year for me – and now that we’re at the end of it, it’s time to reflect and review what I’ve learnt and achieved in 2024.
Although I’ve been working on developing my photography skills since late 2020. I feel like the growth in my skills has absolutely sky rocketed and grown exponentially in the past 12 months.
It started with purchasing a better camera, and deciding to invest financially in my education by joining the Unleashed Education community. And then braving the live calls to receive critique, and then the Embark Challenge where I got fortnightly feedback.
For anyone who’s ever received public feedback, it’s quite a daunting experience. Especially from the likes of Charlotte Reeves and Craig Turner-Bullock. Both of whom are world class pet photographers and great educators. While they’re kind and considerate in how they deliver their feedback, knowing it’s public makes it a much scarier position to be in than when it’s one on one in private.
How my work has evolved over 2024
While I didn’t think my composition, and general ability to use the manual settings on my camera was too bad. Looking back at a photo I took on Christmas Day 2023 I can see how much my skills have grown.
This photo is of my personal dog, Bones, and while I can love and appreciate the moment I’ve captured – he’s not the star of the scene and the eye is drawn all over the place and away from him.
early in the year while I was still learning my new camera, compared to what I’m producing now shows me how much I’ve improved this year thanks to the tutelage and coaching of both Charlotte and Craig.
After a year of figuring out the nuances of my new camera, receiving feedback and taking a much more structured approach to my development I’m proud of how far I’ve come.
This photo, of Goose the Giant Munsterlander is a great comparison photo to the previous one. Both are in dense, not typically “pretty” locations. Both have some pretty challenging lighting conditions.
And yet, Goose is clearly the star of the moment in his photo.
The clear visual difference between the two photos is what Craig described as a “rich and subdued” style beginning to develop.
What does “rich and subdued” mean?
Well, this means that I like I certain amount of saturation (depth and brightness in the colours) in my photos. This enhances the natural environment and helps you feel like you’re there again. But at the same time, they aren’t overpowering the photo to the point of making the dog feel washed out.
In the above image of Goose, you can clearly see the setting sun shining through the trees giving a rich, warm and vibrant golden glow to the image. While the luscious green banks across the creek are on clear display without contrasting negatively with the setting sun or washing out Goose’s black and white colouring.
International Pet Photographer Awards
Based on the feedback I received throughout the first half of the Embark Challenge (you can see my wrap up of this experience here), I decided to enter some photos to the International Pet Photographer Awards. These awards produce some AMAZING work from pet photographers around the world and are judged by world class, and world leading pet photographers.
Knowing the calibre of work being submitted and winning awards in this competition, I went in with fairly low expectations – and was blown away at finding out that all six of the photos I submitted won awards. In total, I got one Silver with Distinction, two Bronze with Distinction and three Bronze’s.
This is an incredible achievement – especially knowing that out of over 3000 photos submitted, only 24 of those scored a Gold award.
As we move into 2025, you can guarantee that I’ll be planning some shoots specifically aiming to improve on my 2024 results. In doing so, I’ll continue to earn points towards gaining accreditation as an International Pet Photographer through the International Pet Photography Awards – of which I’m well on my way thanks to the results of my 2024 submissions.
What’s next?
As I take some much needed down time over the Christmas period, I’ll be planning for Emerge (the second Challenge in the Unleashed Education Challenges) and all the shoots I’ll need to do for that, and shoots to create images to enter into the International Pet Photography Awards.
For now, I’ll be signing off after a busy Christmas week, and I’ll be heading away over the next week or so over the New Year to relax with friends and family.
I hope to see you in 2025.