As another Christmas comes and goes, it’s time to take stock and look back on a busy and fun filled year. My Lightroom (editing software) shows I took nearly 8,000 images this year combined between all projects and employments, making it a much busier year than 2023. I changed my working patterns in the summer which freed up some additional time to dedicate to my photography and travel. I’ve started to make the most of this with regular weekends away and a couple of extended trips further afield.

In June, all of the buttons stopped work on my A7ii camera. After a drawn out process with my camera insurance it turned out the fault wasn’t covered, so, I sent the camera off to the Sony repair centre in Wales and all credit to them, it has worked perfectly since. To cover the gap, I picked up an old Sony A6000 APS-C camera which would work with my existing Sony fit lenses. For such an old camera, it takes surprisingly clean images at low ISO. Whilst the RAW files are in no way comparable in quality to the full frame A7, it certainly bridged the gap and has given me a really small pocket sized setup which I’ve used a lot in the past few months. This tiny setup now allows me to put the camera in my pocket on our walks and days out.

I fulfilled a life long aspiration to see the northern lights in May when they provided one of the strongest UK displays on records in the skies above Northern England. We’d always planned to go on a trip to Iceland to see the lights so I couldn’t quite believe that they were so visible 5 minutes up the road in Yorkshire.

I’ve been up to Scotland 3 times this year, to the Cairngorms, the Islands and the Fort William area. Another long term ambition was ticked off in July when we embarked on a 10 day campervan adventure around some of the Scottish Islands. We had a fantastic 10 days ferry hopping around the Inner Hebrides - You can see the results from that trip over on the blog.

I’m excited for what 2025 will bring, the calendar is filling up quickly. Happy new year to you all and thanks as always for you support.

Below is a group of my favourite images from the year, click on the image to view full screen >