
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 always feel so grateful.
Here are some stats from 2025:
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!
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. That’s probably true anywhere. No place is perfect, and every location comes with pros and cons.
I’m happy to report that 2025 was better for me 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 literally every night of the week.
For the entirety of 2025, I went dancing about 1-3 times per week. I’ve learned salsa, bachata, east coast swing, country swing, west coast 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:





This was a big part of my 2025. I spent an entire month traveling around Aruba and Peru! 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 I 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, saw sooo many animals, learned about the river community cultures, and swam in the river. It was unlike anything I’ve ever done, and it was amazing.
Then we spent a few days in Ollantaytambo, a village in the Sacred Valley, before starting the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. This 4-day trek is the ancient stone path built by the Incas to reach Machu Picchu.
Our trip ended with several days in Cusco, where we both got the flu. lol.
I LOVED Peru and it was my first time in South America! Here are some photos from the trip –

















I'm Abby Shepard, a wedding and elopement photographer based in Boulder, Colorado. I document real moments with bright, bold, natural images and help you have a meaningful & fun wedding day.
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