2021 Year in Review
2021. What an unforgettable year of ups and downs. I’ve given up trying to predict what will happen, and now just take it for what it is. Despite a highly disrupted year, including 107 days straight of lockdown, I was fortunate to be able to shoot over 15 events and work with some amazing corporate and private clients. I experienced some career highlights (including delivering my biggest project to-date) and all-the-while continued to grow Freshie Photography. I look back at the year that was with a sense of gratitude and achievement. Here’s my Year in Review 2021!
February
February of 2021 saw Sydney beginning to awaken from the COVID slumber as events began to come back online. My first major event of the year was the SunRun, which was the first mass-participation event (approx. 3000 competitors) in NSW since the start of COVID. I was grateful that the Northern Beaches Council engaged me to put together a team of photographers and videographers to cover the event and prove to other organisers that events could go ahead in a COVID-safe fashion. The event went really well, and you can read more about it here.
February also saw a return to shooting races for the Warringah Triathlon Club, and a new commercial partnership with Sports Group Australia.
March
Things really started to ramp-up in March. I worked with the legends at Wild Women on Top to cover Coastrek Sydney 2021, my biggest project to-date. Coastrek is a beast of an event to cover, traversing a 60km course over 18 hours, but my goodness was it an awesome event to work on! You can ready more about the event day experience here, and planning for Coastrek 2022 is already well underway!
The March WTC Triathlon was a soaking wet affair, but these are often some of my most enjoyable events to shoot because everyone is in the mood to embrace the ridiculous conditions!
April
April saw a return of the best surfers in the world to the Northern Beaches for the World Surf League event at Narrabeen. This event also marked the first outing for my new Canon EOS R6, and what a game-changing purchase that has been! Outside of the WSL comp, we also had some nice pre-winter swells roll through, which provided an opportunity to get out and do some surf projects for personal clients.
May
What a busy month! The Northern Beaches Council was holding their Taste of the Beaches event all throughout May, and they engaged me to shoot photo and video at six different events. The events started with the Manly Beach Bar and Corso Beer Garden on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, and then continued with a Food Truck Party, various evening events at local bars/restaurants, and wrapped up with the Palm Beach Wine Bar event. 6 events, approx. 2500 photos, and 4 separate videos.
May also saw me travel to shoot my favourite triathlon of the year, the NSW Club Championships. Shooting for the Warringah Tri Club is always a joy, and Club Champs really brings out the very best in club camaraderie. The club dominated, bringing home the trophy with the largest winning margin in history, and I was privileged to be there to capture some unforgettable moments.
June
Oh no, not again! After months of life essentially being back to normal, COVID returned to a Sydney population that hadn’t yet had the chance to get fully vaccinated, and the month of June saw case numbers begin to steadily rise. I don’t need to harp on about this….things got bad, we got locked down again, all events got cancelled, and we started a long winter of lockdown. I’ll see you in a few months.
October
Oh, hi there, post-lockdown world. October saw an easing of some restrictions for vaccinated individuals. Whilst most large events weren’t back online, October did give me a chance to get some of my commercial/lifestyle projects back up and running. Shoots included a fun beach personal training shoot for Training Beaches, and the start of a very successful ongoing partnership with Honu paddleboards to produce their photo and video content.
November
Racing is back! Warringah Tri Club again lead the way with resuming club racing in a COVID-safe manner, and we were blessed with a beautiful morning for shooting. I also returned to work with my friends at Wild Women on Top to capture some corporate/lifestyle images at the beautiful Lavender Bay on Sydney Harbour. What a setting!
December
A busy month to end the year. Two Northern Beaches Council Xmas events, a triathlon, the Bare Creek Trail Run for Outer Image Collective, some more video work for Honu, and finally a fun morning shooting 7-time World Champion Layne Beachley at the Surfaid Santa Surf.
And that is 2021 done and dusted. Some 35,000 photos shot, a bucketload of amazing events, and one very content photographer. Thank you to all my amazing clients and business partners, working with you is what keeps me motivated each day! I’m looking forward to 2022, whatever it may bring!