Retrospective January 2025
Welcome to my new project
The goal of the year is to be more public with my photographic world as well as my work, which is why you’re here in the brand new newsletter, and there is a YouTube video I have made below, and an appearance with a brilliant podcast host even lower down. I have spent a lot of time sitting behind my work and behind the camera, 2025 I will be in front a lot more.
Fatherhood & Photography
I have wanted to make videos for YouTube for ages but have always been sidetracked, procrastinated or just putting it down to 'not quite yet'. I wanted to make something out of a whole bunch of video clips I took while on our first family holiday doing a road trip to Austinmer on the south coast of NSW. It has taken me a while, but I am really proud of the story and finally getting something published. If you would like to check it out you can watch it here.
Life in 35mm
I haven’t shot 35mm film since my honeymoon to Queenstown in 2022 where I shot 10 rolls of Ilford HP5. I really want to take my time with these rolls and be intentional with them which is why I chose the slower speed films of Kodak Ektar 100, Kodak Portra 160 and Fujifilm Across II 100. I don’t know what I am going to shoot with them but I think it could be worth recording to make a video out of.
Queenstown photos shot with Panasonic S1 and Leica M3 (all black and white)
Camcorder
I lasted till Jan 2nd for not buying new gear. I bought a camcorder / why? — Because it's fun, and because I can!
The fun lasted all but one day. I noticed there was an intermittent issue where it would throw up a zoom/focus error sporadically after startup. The seller was great and offered a return straight away. Super bummed because I was in love with it straight away. I did put an offer for the same model to someone else that night.
Fast-forward another week and I ordered the same model from a different seller, the batteries didn’t work, the screen didn’t flip the image when you rotated the screen and I just wasn’t happy with it. So back it went, and I think I’m just going to leave the idea of a camcorder as a fun fever dream and less of a reality.
Clever Supply Co Sidekick Pro
I have a problem, I can freely admit that. My obsession is camera bags, I have owned so many of them over the years and arguably have too many (my wife’s opinion, not mine). I think I have a solid coverage for all needs and right now feel like I have built a very versatile selection. The roster includes:
Big bag – Shimoda Explore V2 30L – Absolutely brilliant and so unbelievably comfy even fully loaded. I had this on my back for nearly 2 weeks straight on honeymoon, it's amazing.
Day bag – Billingham Hadley Pro – This is the bag everything is based around. I have taken it overseas, packed it to the absolute brim, and even after 10 years of use it still looks incredible. The longest I have had any bag in my collection, and it's not going anywhere.
Other day bag – Wandrd Rogue 9L – Ok here is where I will admit I have made a bit of an overlap. This one is very, very similar to the Hadley Pro, I originally got it for going into the office because of the sneaky back pocket for a laptop sleeve. If there was one that had to go from the collection it will probably be this one to be honest.
Small EDC bag – Clever Supply Co Sidekick pro – I try and take a camera with me everywhere, since my daughter was born I really wanted to optimise the carry side of that because there are a few more things coming with us each day. Backing this on the kickstarter was a smart move because I really like this little bag. It holds everything I need and nothing more I don't. I went into a bit more detail on what I am carrying in over on threads.
Will this be the end of my bag collection? Probably not, lets be honest. I think we could further optimise and remove the Wandrd 9L in place for a bag in between the Hadley Pro and the Sidekick Pro. I have had my eye on the Hadley Small Pro…
Chatting with Iain Farrell of Prime Lenses
The Prime lenses podcast has been one of my favourite podcasts I started listening too in 2024. He has some brilliant conversations with a wide variety of photographers and if it’s not on your subscribed lists I highly recommend it.
I joined Iain’s Patreon and he messaged me about taking part in his mini episode Focus Points he will be doing with members of his Patreon. It was great fun and I think we easily could have gotten carried away and chatting for hours. I can’t wait for it to come out so watch this space!
Worth a closer look
Everything I Know About Life I Learned From PowerPoint — A great insight for tips on building creating and delivering engaging presentations. When I told Iain Farrell from the Prime Lenses Podcast I was starting this newsletter this was his immediate recommendation.
Prime Lenses Podcast – Iain is the host of the Prime lenses podcast which is a brilliant. The guests and conversations are always brilliant and there have been some episodes that have really triggered the ‘aha’ moment in my head. With new episodes every week, it's a great listen with some incredibly interesting guests.
Ted Forbes – Visually Speaking – As soon as I saw this I jumped on the pre-order, I have seen a lot of people talking about it and can't wait to get it in my hands. Expect to see this again in a future retrospective.
Black Doves – Series on Netflix which was incredible. Keira Knightley and Ben Whishaw are absolutely astounding and if you like a spy thriller series it's well worth a look.
Orphan X – Since watching Black Doves I have been looking for a spy novel series to keep me going. After doing some research this series seemed to get a lot of love, so I dove right in. I blitzed through book one and am straight into book two.
Arcane Deep dive – As someone who binged both seasons of Arcane when it came out this article was so fascinating. If you're interested in the making of kind of stuff where they do in depth of the 'how does it look like that' then this is for you. I went down the same rabbit hole with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
Best of January 2025 Gallery
That wraps up January
So that ends my retrospective of January. How did you like the format? What would you like to see in future retros? I am really looking forward to doing more things this year and sharing them on here, YouTube, Instagram and Threads. Thanks for joining me for this one and I hope to see you again next month.
Bye for now,
Tom
