“If everyone jumped off of a cliff, would you follow them down?” – wise words my Grandmother once said to me.

Every photographer is doing it. Writing blogs and posting videos about the end of 2020. Pick a theme from below and you’ve pretty much got it covered.

“It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. Here are my best 10 images. Here are my favorite images from every month. This is why I’m depressed. This is why I’m happy. Looking forward to 2021. 10 secrets to becoming a better photographer in 2021. Here are all of my great plans.”

Hit that like button and subscribe.

So since everyone else is doing it, I may as well too.

Let’s just call this – “What I learned in 2020, in no particular order”.

1.      When a pandemic hits, not only is there a run on toilet paper and alcohol, there is also a run on………..wait for it………..Film Developing Chemicals.

Yep, believe it or not, some analog hoarders decided that when “the crap hit the fan” they would buy enough color chemicals to last them a lifetime, just in case, leaving us unknowing suckers to find out about the shortage when we dip into our last kit of back-up chems and go to order more – only to find the “OUT OF STOCK” warning at every supplier.

Essentially there were no color film developing chemicals to be purchased ANYWHERE from early March until late July.

What did that mean to me? Well, initially panic set in. But then I remembered reading somewhere about some very frugal person extending his color chems to develop waaaay more than the 8 rolls the kit says. Now to be honest I had always stretched it into the 12-15 roll range, not out of being frugal, but being lazy about mixing new chems. So the pandemic caused me to learn to extend the chems to 28-30 rolls, through using additional temp and time ratios. It works fairly well – to the point that now that I am able to have good back-stock of chems again I am still pushing them to around 25 rolls before mixing more.

Makes good sense for both the wallet and environment! And its exciting. It reminds me a bit of that Seinfeld episode where Kramer tried to see how far he could make it with the gas gauge on empty.

2.      I miss shooting events.

Every event that I normally shoot for was cancelled in 2020. Charity walks, rallies, musicals – all of them.

Not shooting musicals was the biggest bummer. They are a PAIN to shoot and do correctly, and a LOT of work. But I really enjoy it – even more so now that they have been absent. I think I’ve decided I’d like to grow this part of my work and take on more of it – So Krissy, Jimmy, Troy, and Josh – if you are reading this know when things get back to normal I’ll be knocking on your door to get my fix.

3.      Prices of old film gear go UP during a pandemic.

Go figure – this is one that I would not have predicted. And to be perfectly honest - I predicted would go the other way.

In one of the film forums I frequent, I made a post early in the year warning against spending any hard-earned cash on any older film gear because the market was at its peak already. In a time of global financial crisis and unrest, historically things that are considered to be “non-essential” expensive hobbies drop-off as being important and prices crash. Prices would plummet.

The reality was that people re-discovered film photography this past year, and spent A LOT of money on gear and film to document their lives and also learn a new tactile craft. Whether that was born from nostalgia of looking at old family photos and remembering their dads shooting film, or some YouTube influencer saying “Bruh, you gotta shoot film to be cool in 2020” we’ll never know.

The result of that is that many film cameras and lenses, especially medium format, saw a big spike in prices this year. Thankfully most of those are ones that I was lucky enough to purchase years back so it didn’t really affect me – other than being a little paranoid about taking a camera out into the field that’s now worth more than some people’s cars. This leads me to #4.

4.      Plastic cameras are fun and worry-free. 

This year I re-discovered the Holga camera, along with some of its other plastic brethren like the Sprocket Rocket and Diana. There’s nothing more freeing than carrying around a super lightweight camera with a plastic lens, limited capabilities, and the ever-present knowledge that whatever you are shooting may look like complete garbage due to light leaks, camera problems, or an out-of-focus lens. And besides, if you drop it and break it, or it gets liberated from your car when you aren’t looking – who cares?  

All that said I had a lot of fun with plastic cameras this year, and it focused my energy into making good photos IN SPITE of my gear limitations. It also pushed me to enter the HolgaWeek contest this past November. Even though I didn’t win any categories it was a lot of fun and kept me motivated.

 5.      I’m able to adapt.

This year saw me working from home beginning on March 17th. The last time we ate AT/IN/NEAR a restaurant was March 15th.  Those who are close to me know that I am a creature of habit. The pandemic didn’t give a damn about habits or preferences.

What did that mean for me, the habit-monger? Well I learned to work from home – it was painful at first. My day job is in product management and that involves working with a lot of cross-functional team members, meetings, touching product, measuring things, product photography for presentations, etc. I, like everyone else, learned to do that remotely. And I learned to embrace that, eventually.

Restaurants – my other habit. Well, carry-out became a Friday night mainstay instead of going out. Same with Saturdays. But the offshoot of that is that I started cooking a lot more. I mean A LOT. We joined a local farmer co-op and began to get fresh local produce weekly. And I started getting sustainable seafood delivered from Sea To Table. All of that meant we were eating healthy and learning how to meal plan better, as often the fish and fresh local produced varied from week to week. And thank goodness for the new air fryer we purchased. They may be a bit cliché at the moment but I’m really enjoying it. Salmon filets in the air fryer are to die for.

Working at home, and spending a lot more time in general at home, meant that Renee and I had to learn to utilize the entire house. The back deck became a fair weather office when possible (that was great!). We also took back a few corners of the house here and there that we weren’t utilizing fully. In one of the corners we made a little bar area with mood lighting and a high-top table, complete with an old-school bar cart and mixing supplies. We’ve dubbed that area as “The Cincinnatian” - due to my images of Cincinnati on the walls and the vibe that reminds us of better times - and after a hard day will often “meet” there to get away; and sometimes have dinner at the “bar”.

It sounds silly – but it is a nice escape.

 6.      “Thunder is God laughing at your plans.”

I don’t know who was the originator for that quote, but I get it now. I never really did before. To me it means plan where you can, but know that things are going to change and its how you roll with them that counts.

Reflecting where things are for me right now on this day compared to what I THOUGHT things were going to be on this day in 2020 just shows me that I always got too wrapped up in the planning of things.

My close photography friends know that when I tell them I am planning a trip to go shoot and ask them if they want to join, they know that I will have things planned out to the minute. With an itinerary. Maps. GPS coordinates. Sun position at Sunrise and Sunset.

I’m not going to stop doing that – but I have learned to go with the flow and, sometimes, it’s the unplanned that brings the most joy. The not knowing. The excitement.

I’ll finish on this subject, with a story.

In early November – Doug, Eric, and I decided we need to get out and shoot, and hastily picked a location for the coming Saturday morning a few days later. Eric had been there before but I hadn’t. I figured we’d all meet there at the appointed time and Eric would point me in the right direction.

Well, plans changed and Eric couldn’t make it at the last minute due to a Covid scare – so Doug and I were on our own. I had no plans. Didn’t really know the area. And was showing up at 6am in the dark to shoot. Not my normal comfort zone.

Once Doug met me there, it was a mad dash to get to where we thought we might want to be at sunrise. I remember when we were fumbling around in the dark I made an apology to Doug about not knowing where we were going. We found what we thought was the best spot, scrambled out into the field and got set-up……and proceeded to have the most enjoyable morning I had had out in a long while. I came away with several “keepers” , and also had a great time. With no planning. Who knew?

Here’s to an unplanned 2021.

I hope it brings you everything good that you didn’t expect.

All the best,

Jeremy