Year in Review: My Favorite Shoots from 2021!
Sure, I take inventory of the last 12 months and assess what I could have done better—but then all my focus after that is on what I’m going to do to do better in the subsequent year.
This year, I’m giving myself a beat for gratitude—for surviving another year that was impacted by the coronavirus; for upleveling my business from where it stood in 2020; for landing more dream clients and growing on Instagram in spite of its endless changes; and for personal victories, too.
So today, I’m sharing 12 of my favorite shoots from 2021, what I loved about them, and what I’m taking with me from them into 2022.
January:
F•R•I•E•N•D•S
What Made This Shoot Remarkable: This was a low-budget shoot I did almost entirely on my iPhone. I spent about $12 total on this concept. I used a gray paper backdrop from The Valentine Room (edited later in Photoshop to be the purple seen in Monica Gellar’s apartment), found some old packing paper and acrylic paint to create the iconic peephole frame from the Friends TV show, and bought the sweater (which resembles a top worn by Rachel Green on an early episode) at TJ Maxx for a steep discount.
I videoed myself in 1080p and 60fps, posing a bunch of different ways, and later paused and screenshot the best ones. Finally I edited the session using my own presets in Lightroom Mobile.
What It Taught Me that I’m Taking into 2022: Great concepts can be simple—they don’t have to be complicated or expensive.
When I planned this shoot, I was trying to get back to being creative with photography for my own brand. I was preparing to embrace a massive shift in social media marketing because Reels was rocking the Instagram universe and I knew my photography was going to have to be extra creative to stand out—but I myself didn’t have a ton of time for staging, makeup, hair, fancy equipment, or clever props. I made this shoot happen on short notice, with just a little bit of cash, and I was able to repurpose it a couple different ways to bolster social media engagement. This is something I want to be able to do more of in 2022.
February:
Mellow Botanical
What Made This Shoot Remarkable: After years of working with Wild Valentine Co., I thought I had “the hang” of shooting flowers—but Liz’s style for Mellow Botanical blooms was so incredibly different from Sarah’s over at WV that I ended up capturing her (Liz’s) flowers in a completely new way… and I created some custom presets in Lightroom to match that were unlike anything I’d done before. This actually ended up impacting a lot of my editing for the rest of the year; I felt like I could be more creative and push the bounds of my comfort zone.
What It Taught Me that I’m Taking into 2022: Photography (and photo editing) is an ever-evolving craft. Just because you know how to shoot in manual doesn’t mean you’ve tapped all there is to know. There is endless possibility for what I can do and create every year in my business for as long as I’m doing photography!
March:
Wild Valentine Co.
What Made This Shoot Remarkable: This was another shoot where I got to do some creative things I don’t normally get to do, like “duplicate” Sarah of Wild Valentine Co. multiple times across an image for a more eye-catching final product. It was also an enjoyable session because every shot had a purpose; Sarah knew exactly where she planned to use each image, which helped us determine factors like image orientation, negative space where she could add text, and mood. This meant we got more photos overall, as well as more images that would help move Sarah’s business forward.
What It Taught Me that I’m Taking into 2022: I can make suggestions to my clients that push them a little outside their comfort zone. Sarah wouldn’t normally have done an image like the one where we “duplicated” her several times, but because we did, she ended up with a shot that stood out on Instagram and made for a really versatile marketing image, as well.
April:
Promo Photos for Instagram 102
What Made This Shoot Remarkable: I’ll admit, for the most part, there’s nothing remarkable about this shoot. It’s just one where I got out from behind the camera and tried a lot of posing ideas that normally, I wouldn’t necessarily suggest to my clients because they’d require real faith in me as a photographer. I also liked this shoot because I came away with nearly every shot on my list and that was a lot of photos. All the images were for different parts of the marketing campaign for my Instagram course, Instagram 102. Also, about half the shots from this shoot were captured from my iPhone X and still came out really well. Again, all edited with my own Lightroom Mobile presets.
What It Taught Me that I’m Taking into 2022: Outfit changes are overrated. It’s totally okay to do one outfit per hour. In this session, I only wore one dress (one of my favorite floral numbers from Madewell), and a chambray top. For some shots I wore my hair up, for others it was down, but otherwise I looked the same all the way through, and I was still able to get creative enough with posing and how I configured my props that it doesn’t feel stale. For my clients on limited time and money, this is a helpful thing to know!
May:
janegee
What Made This Shoot Remarkable: Although janegee and I parted ways this year because we were no longer the right fit, this session made for a great send-off. I worked with a model I’d never worked with before and achieved photos I could be really proud of. Also, since our second model had a scheduling conflict in the end, I had to step up and fill the other spot—and it was really fun!
What This Shoot Taught Me that I’m Taking into 2022: I often shoot photos that are intended to feel friendly and accessible, because the person behind the brand is a solopreneur service provider who wants strangers to feel comfortable reaching out to them—but since janegee is a boutique, with this shoot I could play a little and make the mood in the photos more of a Mood. I’d like to do more of this in 2022.
June:
iBrows
What Made This Shoot Remarkable: In the early days of AG, I captured a lot of active restaurant kitchens and events that required me to be able to snap killer shots in real time, which is a very difficult thing to do—if a moment happens in real time and you miss it, it’s gone. Over time, my clients have leaned more the way of the Digital CEO—meaning I get a lot more sessions that I can stage any way I want, where I’m able to control the light, and if I don’t get a moment, I can ask the subject to “go back and do it again.”
With this session, I was capturing artists at work in real time—doing what is essentially very intricate tattoo work, so there’s no “go back and do it again.” I can’t move a subject closer to the light or even touch anything in a microblading studio. So it provided a challenge, and I proved I “still got it”!
What It Taught Me that I’m Taking into 2022: I’m good at my job. I already know I can do my job, but there are some jobs where I question whether I’m good at it. Jobs that require me to work a little outside my usual routine can often prove that I’m quick on my feet and can think from the client’s perspective in a way that a lot of brand photographers can’t, and I should feel confident about that!
July:
Lovebirds Donuts
What Made This Shoot Remarkable: It was such an honor to hear from Tamara over at Lovebirds Donuts.
For one thing, I do the whole vegetarian thing, so to hear from a vegan restaurant was heartwarming for me. For another, Lovebirds is the kind of destination-spot and “Instagrammable” brand I’ve wanted to work with at AG from day one. There aren’t a lot of them in New England, so when one reaches out and says they could tell from my website that I just “get it,” well. That’s like getting a lifetime achievement award!
What It Taught Me that I’m Taking into 2022: I still have a lot I can learn. When Lovebirds reached out, it was for a Digital Media subscription, which was new in 2021, and generating video content turned out to be a challenge without a second or third pair of hands at every shoot. Definitely going to be taking some classes and investing in some equipment for 2022!
September:
Haley Frazier
What Made This Shoot Remarkable: Everything worked in our favor for this session. The streets of Portsmouth were quiet; fall colors were in full swing; storefronts had decorated for the season. It was a great introduction to autumn. It had been a while since I’d done outdoor portraits, and I’ll look back on this one fondly.
What It Taught Me that I’m Taking into 2022: I should encourage more “just because” photos. Many of my clients come to me somewhere between “just because” and “I’m starting a business,” and I often push them in the direction of planning their photos for profitability… but it’s actually okay to have photos taken just because you want to remember this time in your life. Haley did that for this session and I think more women will be happy they did it if they follow in her shoes.
October 1 & 2:
Lil’s Café & Wicked Clean Candles
What Made These Sessions Remarkable: Lil’s Café was the last place I worked before I ventured out on my own. At that time it was owned by a restaurant group, but it has since changed hands and now belongs to a woman named Deb who has taken it to a new level that just amazes me. It was such an honor to be asked to come back and capture their new menu!
As for Wicked Clean Candles: This sustainable company reached out to me about photos for Facebook Ads. I love this. This is a company that is willing to invest in the things that will make them more money, not just another flashy Instagram brand, and when they came to me they knew what they wanted… and yet still offered me almost complete creative freedom within the bounds of “these photos are for Facebook Ads.”
What These Sessions Taught Me that I’m Taking into 2022: Half-day sessions are where it’s at. Both these clients booked half-day sessions and came away with all the photos they needed for complete marketing strategies—meaning they had all the visual materials to start, run, and wrap marketing campaigns that would get them their invested money back and more. When a client only books an hour, sometimes they have what they need for a month, but not enough to get them through a launch that would make them more money to reinvest back into their businesses. I’ll be encouraging more clients to book half-day sessions in 2022!
November:
Sassy Biscuit
What Made This Shoot Remarkable: Sassy Biscuit is one of my subscription clients. It’s the only business on my list that the owner is rarely present for the photos; instead, I get a list of shots each month and some inspirational images to work from. Many times, the inspirational shots are photos that I as a photographer can tell are actually studio shots from food bloggers—they’re not shot in a restaurant where there’s a lot of hustle and bustle, very little control over the light, and the food is hot off the grill. It’s hard to capture photos that look like studio shots when you’re working in an actual restaurant—especially since you have to capture the food in a way that sets realistic expectations for new patrons.
In this shoot, though, we got a little more stylized with the food, and that was fun.
What It Taught Me that I’ll Take into 2022: With new clients, I should set expectations early and often for what the photography process is going to be like for them.
December:
Amy Nesheim
What Made This Shoot Remarkable: When I got into this line of work, my long-game goal was to work with women in business who were disrupting their fields and changing the world. Almost right away I was working with women in business 90% of the time, which was more than I could have hoped for as a plucky, bright-eyed newbie to the Digital Nomad world. Many of these women were carving out a future for themselves that would make them happy, and that’s fantastic… but not too many of them have been interested in completely changing an industry or reshaping the future for women everywhere.
Amy falls somewhere in between. As a contract lawyer, she has chosen a line of work that will probably always support her financially, offering her the breathing room to have the life she wants. But she’s also working to make legal materials accessible to women in the Digital Nomad world, for a fraction of the usual cost to hire an attorney. When I look for allies in the business world, I look for people like Amy!
What This Shoot Taught Me that I’m Taking into 2022: I’m not sure this session taught me anything, exactly, but it helped me to set my sights on where I’d like to see AG emerge at the end of 2022, and it also inspired a lot of the content I hope to be putting out in the coming weeks and months!
2022, Here I Come!
Looking over this list, here are the things I’m taking with me into 2022:
Simple concepts can still be winners
My photography style is free to grow and change
I can’t leave my clients within their comfort zones if I want to help them grow
A successful shoot isn’t defined by the props and wardrobe budget
I’m interested in doing more product shoots that evoke a brand mood
I’m good at this profession
I still have a lot I can learn
It’s okay to encourage “just because” shoots that will help powerful women remember this season in their lives
Half-day sessions are actually more profitable for brands than one-hour sessions, even if they cost more on paper
Not everyone is a photographer, and it’s important to set expectations early and often with new clients—especially subscribers—about what we should focus on for their business
I know where I want to be at the end of 2022!
That’s it for this year, folks! See you in ‘22!
HELLO! MY NAME IS ALEXIS.
Coffee lover, day dreamer, foodie, and creative. I believe in doing what you can with what you have where you are. I blog to help you do more with what you have. I hope you love it here!
Photos are expensive, I’ll be the first to say it. So how can you make the most of your photography budget for 2022? Here are my top tips for curating a PROFITABLE shot list!