aows #49

I printed all the photos I took in 2022

Mar 08, 2023

About a year ago, I had an idea: I’d collect all the photos I was taking on a daily basis and make a book containing every single shot I took that year. I did it, and this is the result.

Two volumes, 700+ pages, 14,000+ images. Twelve months worth of photography in a collection of contact sheets showing my best and worst work, and everything in between.

I love them. So much that I want to encourage you to do something similar, even if it’s just a digital version of this idea. By the way, I do share my contact sheets on a monthly basis over on my Patreon page as PDFs, so you know where to go if you want to take a closer look at my work from 2022, know what I’ve been up to in 2023, or simply support my photography.

But why do I like them so much, and why do I think they’d be useful for you as well? Well, there are a few reasons.

👀 A new way to look at your work

A photographer’s creative output takes many forms, but they all involve some kind of curation: from loose (think social media) to extremely restrictive selections (think books and prints). This is a required step when we are sharing a vision, a message, a story, with an audience.

The annual contact sheets is a piece of work intended for our own consumption —or, perhaps, to share with other photographers. Because there’s no curation involved, there are no gaps between the photographs: they contain the story of our art, uncensored.

These sheets force us to take a step back, to forget about the individual photos and shootings, and to look at our work as whole. Everything is in there: the struggles, the obstacles, the breakthroughs.

Their value will only increase over time, though. My hope is that, a few years from now, I’ll be able to take these volumes and reflect on my work: to see what I was drawn to in 2022, versus what I will be drawn to in 2032.

📸 They make us better photographers

This new way of looking at our work can only makes us better photographers. Forget about the composition in that single image; pay attention to the possibilities you tried that day of a given subject. What could have you done differently? Did you work the scene? Did you try different angles, different focal lengths, different depths of field? Did you try high angles, did you get low on the ground?

🖼️ Yet another purpose for your photographs

I’m sure you don’t even know what do with many of your images. Sometimes, the best projects are invisible, hidden in the noise, and only time will resurface them. But in the meanwhile, these contact sheets put those photographs to use right now.

They also give you another reason to get out and take more photos. Some days I only got out to have some photos to include in my contact sheets!

👋 Permission to let go

We might be holding onto many of our images for fear of losing them, and the way they make us feel. They take space in our catalogs, binders, folders, hard drives, and most importantly, in our mind.

By giving them a place to live in, we give ourselves permission to let go of them.

When we let go, we make room for what’s to come. Sometimes, to move forward we need to get rid of the past.

ONE now shipping internationally

I have a few copies left of my first coffee table book, ONE. And by popular demand, I’m shipping it to other countries now. Sadly, shipping is not cheap, and please keep in mind there might be additional charges by the customs authorities in your country, but you can have it if you want it.