2025 Year in Review

featured, Personal

January 9, 2026

Writing these end of year recaps every year always makes me feel all the things. I love looking back at all the pepeople I got to work with and I feel so grateful. Here are some stats from 2025:

2025 was my 4th year as a full-time photographer. Cheers to year 5 ahead!
Similar to last year, I photographed 80+ projects, including weddings, elopements, and commercial work.
I got to do another 2-day tourism marketing photoshoot with Visit Central Delaware! I’ve done several shoots with them over the years, and it was so fun to go back to help market the state I used to live in.
This year I photographed destination weddings in Chicago, Crested Butte, Moab, and Aruba for destination weddings.
I traveled for an entire month! After the wedding in Aruba, I stayed and traveled around Aruba and Peru for a few weeks.

Overall it was another great year for my business and life. More personal updates below!

Shout out to my second shooters this year – Alex Segall, Katsposure, John Walsh, and Rachel!

Personal Updates

Ever since I moved to Colorado, I feel like this section of my yearly recap has included some version of “sometimes living in Colorado is hard for me”. You can find more of my past thoughts on that in literally any of my year in reviews from 2022 on.

In all honesty, living here still feels hard sometimes. But 2025 was better in a lot of ways.

I kept my part-time job at the Dairy Arts Center, and I’ve been working there for over a year now! The job is fun, and it gives me some consistency and sense of community with an organization that is working to be an accessible arts space in Boulder.

I also bought a house this year! Big news, I know. I kept pretty quiet about it on social media, but I bought a townhouse/condo in Boulder in spring 2025. I really wasn’t sure I wanted to own something and was pretty nervous about it. But now that I’ve been living here for 6+ months, I can say that I really like the place.

One of the biggest changes in my life this year was getting way more involved in the dancing scene in Colorado. I really committed to dancing, and it’s maybe been the best thing I’ve done since moving to Colorado. I was so surprised to find such a huge, thriving dance scene and community in Colorado. There are places to dance different styles every night of the week.

For the entirety of 2025, I went dancing probably on average 1-3 times per week. I’ve learned salsa, bachata, east coast swing, country swing, contra, and lindy hop. I even went to a 3-day salsa convention in Denver!

I’ve met so many people, and the whole thing has brought a ton of joy, consistency, and community to my life.

Here are a few other things I did in 2025:

Finally backpacked the famous 4 Pass Loop in the Maroon Bells Wilderness.
Went to Nebraska to see the sandhill crane migration
Took a trip to Yosemite National Park with my family
Spent my birthday photographing an incredible wedding in Moab, one of my favorite places ever.

A Month in Peru + Aruba

This was a big part of my 2025. I spend an entire month traveling. Usually, I do a big solo international trip each year, but this one was a little different. I knew I wanted to go to Peru in November. Then booked a wedding in Aruba for early November. It seemed perfect, because you can fly directly to Lima from Aruba. And to make things even better, one of my best friends came with me on the entire trip. Shout out to Rachel for second shooting with me in Aruba and then traveling around Peru for the following 3 weeks.

We had an amazing time at the wedding in Aruba and also got to spend some time exploring the island and relaxing on the beach. In Peru, we spent 5 days at an Eco Lodge in the Amazon Rainforest, where we camped in the jungle and saw so many amazing animals. Then we spent a few days in Ollantaytambo, a village in the Sacred Valley. After that we did the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, a 4-day trek on the ancient stone path built by the Incas. The trip ended with several days in Cusco, where we both got the flu. Overall though, it was an amazing trip.

Reflecting on goals from 2024

Mentoring: I did offer photography mentorships in 2025! I’d like to do more of this in the future.
Share more work: I shared work, but can always share more. This is kind of a perpetual goal.
Industry friends: This one stays on my list every year. I do think I did a good job connecting with other wedding industry friends in 2025.
Pivot a little bit for the types of weddings: This is still a TBD
Keep trying new things, meeting people, and building community: I really think I did this in 2025. 🙂

Goals for 2026

Try film photography?: I’ve been avoiding shooting with film, but I’m suddenly curious and maybe 2026 will be the year I finally try it!
Use my drone more: I’ve had a drone for years that I barely use. 2026 is the year to incorporate it into my work!
Share more on social media: A never-ending goal, but I’m still including it!
Keep making wedding industry friends: Another perpetual goal that is never done.
Get better at west coast swing dancing: This is currently the style of dance I have the hardest time with