Each year I publish a year-in-review which shows the highlights of my year in photography. 2017 is a year I am very happy to see end; it has been the most challenging personal year of my life, bringing bad news and personal injury which unquestionably held me and my photography back this year.
As some of you may know, I fell and tore a ligament in my knee in May, which culminated in surgical intervention to replace the ligament in October. Luckily I have an excellent surgeon (he served as Surgical Team Chief for President George W. Bush while he was in office) and I am still reportedly progressing well through physical therapy. I am doing well now, but being knocked off my feet for a month after the injury and for two months after surgery took a serious toll on my work and morale. I am expected to make a full recovery and be back to normal mid 2018, but this injury with such a slow recovery time has been very disheartening, even with a cutting edge new surgical method employed which was less invasive and is allowing for a quicker recovery than previously able with this relatively new ligament reconstruction I've had to have. This is why I haven't posted too many pictures this year; most of my work has been straightforward photoshoots with existing clients since I've had to be selective with what photoshoots I've taken on during my recoveries. If my 2017 can teach you anything it is don't dislocate your bones and tear ligaments - 0/10, would not recommend.
This isn't to say 2017 was all bad; I did quite a bit of great photography before, and after (and during, for that matter) my various adventures in knee problems. I spent about ¼ of the year recovering from knee injury and surgery, but the other ¾ of the year had quite a lot of photography. 2017 was a year about change, and that change began in January, even before the 20th, which began bringing even more change and seemed to set the tone for the rest of the year. My knee didn't change until five months into the year, but every month held some kind of change; just two months after that quite possibly the biggest thing that has happened in my photographic career happened, pointing to the future from my past; 2018 is here, and I am eager to move forward to that future beginning now.