2020 - A YEAR FOR THE HISTORY BOOKS IN 53 IMAGES
At the start of the New Year, I normally blog about what I find to be my strongest images of the past year. A great exercise in self-critique in an attempt to learn from the past. As 2020 has been all but a normal year, I’ve decided to do this years post a little bit different as well.
Most readers are probably familiar with my Pic(k) of the week series; a weekly post where I post an image that stands out this particular week; very much like my own visual diary. The project has just entered its 12th year now. Yes, never missed a week so far and pretty proud about this achievement!
Looking back at all of the 53 weekly posts (yes, 53 weeks in 2020), there is an interesting mix of subject matter. Although it has been a difficult year, I can see some of my strongest work coming out of 2020. Below is a quick 3 min video overview of last year. Make sure to watch it in full screen for the best viewing experience.
At the end of 2019, I managed to get some time off and spend the end of the year holidays with friends and family in my home country Belgium. Just like most, I was very much looking forward to 2020, the start of the new decade.
Once back in Dubai, I managed to do some interesting drone photography, in between trips to Prague, Nice, Rome and Copenhagen. Some of the camel shadows aerials I made back then, belong to my favorite images of the year. The start of the new year was looking very promising with little to worry about!
Mid February, I picked up a couple of pre-production cameras for review: both the Fujifilm X-100V and an entry level X-T200, came with me on a weeklong skiing trip to Austria. The image with most reach and likes on Instagram in 2020 was the one below of my X-100V sitting in the snow. It proofs that ones doesn't need to post top photos to be popular on Instagram!
After the winter adventure came to an end, I did spend a few days in Osaka (gallery here), after Tokyo my second favorite city in Japan! I remember vividly how all Japanese schools were closing while I was there. For the first time it became clear that this Covid thing might affect us more than we initially thought it would be...
Early march, I flew to Munich, Germany and documented the Munich metro.
The trip turned out to be my very last flying trip for several months. It would take me more than 4 months, before I would step inside an airplane again. Something that for me, last happened more than 40 years ago! Being brought up in a family of pilots, I would fly at least a few times a month even as a child. It felt weird to be away from airplanes for that long!
I will never forget how I was shooting a Space Shuttle mock-up at the Dubai Land sales offices, when the news came through that all UAE airports would shut down for passenger operations. The image of the Shuttle with an empty chair in front of it, will stay with me forever. The whole thing was all becoming very real now...
While the flying came to a stand-still my photography went into overdrive. I started working on personal projects like “Left Behind” and ran a fair number of online webinars about Aerial, Street and even RAW file post-processing.
Once we were allowed to leave the house again after a two month hard lock-down, projects like "Sideways" and "Everybody left" started taking shape. They were a good indication on how we were all feeling at the time.
A few self-published books like my lastest aerial photography one, “Focus on the world below”, were completed and are still available for sale here. To check it out, click here for a short video. Recently received a fresh shipment here in Dubai. Send me a message, if interested in getting a signed copy and save on shipping costs.
Several road trips around the UAE were taken to clear the mind. One thing stood out; there were virtually no people in my images. “Photography” was the single most important thing that pushed me through these challenging times. As an extra bonus, I even managed to do some medium format analog film photography.
As the positive cases went down in Europe at the start of the summer, I praised myself lucky to spend almost two months in my home country Belgium and parts of France. I managed to complete my European UAV (drone) license and used it extensively to shoot a few more aerial projects.
The one that stood out most, was a series of images shot at the Cote d’Opale (North of France), where I documented wrecked World War One ships that only become visible during an exceptionally low tide.
Also visited parts of my home country Belgium, like the Ardennes, which I hadn’t been to in years. It was a welcome break and once again a time where photography kept us going!
Beside flying the drone, I also got to fly our 1954 Piper Super Cub quite a bit. The most memorable was a flight I organised where we managed to fly a formation of 5 aircraft over the International airport of Brussels. A log book entry that won't be forgotten!
Towards the end of the summer, life slowly got back to normal in Dubai. The hardest was the fact that unfortunately a lot of friends had lost their jobs in the process...
In November, I was invited by the fine guys of the Dubai Desert Conservation reserve and managed to shoot my favorite image of 2020; an aerial of a large group of Orxy’s with their distinctive shadows. A shot which will be printed large!
While I normally celebrate the end of the year holidays in Belgium, this year was once again different. New Year's eve was spend in a London hotel room while away on a flight; a perfect opportunity to reflect on what is behind us and to look forward to what is ahead.
Due to the pandemic this years photo-gear review blogposts were a bit more far in between;
Lastly, for those interested my Lightroom catalog or 2020 shows at total of 10852 images shot. Very much in line with previous years. 700 Images got a 5 star rating (personal best rating) which is substantially higher than the standard 400-500 for previous years. Obviously this is a little subjective, but a good indicator to see what I personally think of my own photography work, during the course of the year.
Grateful to be in good health and still having a flying job, I'm very much looking forward to what 2021 will bring. Things like the World Expo to be held in Dubai from OCT 01 2021 to MAR 31 2022, will surely provide us with some interesting photographic opportunities. Personally I really miss traveling without being constraint to the inside of hotels the most. Can’t wait to wonder around the streets of New York and Tokyo again! With the vaccinations going full speed here in the UAE, lets be hopeful that we will be getting there soon!
Stay positive. Test negative.
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