I usually write sloppy year end summaries and this year is no different. Life does not wrap itself up with a bow, and neither does the work. But January 1st has a way of forcing you to stop, sip some coffee, and ask what the hell happened last year.
2025 was a year of motion and impact. Some of it loud and electric. Some of it brutal and quiet. The kind of year that leaves scars and calluses in equal measure.
The Work That Kept Me Standing
The photography classes were my anchor. Every Saturday I showed up. I taught. I pushed people to see instead of just look. I watched students gain confidence, make mistakes, argue with me, and slowly develop a voice through their photography. Teaching is not glamorous, but it is honest work. It reminded me why I picked up a camera in the first place.
Working with the city of Ulsan continues to be a pleasure. We know each other’s limits now. This year there was no interference and no bullshit from certain foreign coordinators. That freedom let me focus on the students and the work, which is how it should always be.
The gallery exhibition ran like a well oiled machine. Seeing the work printed, framed, and judged by the wall instead of a screen felt like a reckoning. No likes. No algorithms. Just photographs, standing there exposed, asking viewers to meet them halfway.
It went so well that it caught me off guard emotionally. Picture me, on the verge of blubbering, because the people standing in front of me finally recognized the work I have put into the class and into this city. No grumpy expats trying to steal the spotlight. Just genuine appreciation. That meant more than I expected.
Travel helped too. Fukuoka gave me exactly what I needed. Familiar enough to feel comfortable, unfamiliar enough to stay sharp. I walked. I shot. I listened. That city does not shout. It whispers. I respected it for that.
Working with Visit Seoul was a reminder that professional trust still exists in this industry. It let me flex the professional muscles that some people like to pretend I do not have. Being asked to tell a story instead of just deliver content is rare. Seoul, as always, offered layers of beauty, chaos, and contradiction. That tension is where good photographs live.
The Hits You Don’t See on Instagram
And then there was the other side of the year.
My father in law passed away. A loss that hit our family hard and shifted the ground under all of us. Grief does not announce itself. It just shows up and refuses to leave. Trying to process that while still working, traveling, and dealing with people who think their Ulsan Online post is more important than a grieving family was exhausting. Sorry, but your language exchange or hagwon sale can wait until my loved one has been laid to rest.
Then came the call I was not ready for. My brother passed away. Just like that. Suddenly none of the plans mattered. I was back on a plane to Canada before Christmas, not to celebrate, but to survive it. To sit with my mom. To remember. To feel the weight of absence where a voice should have been.
There is no lesson here. No silver lining. Loss does not teach. It takes. You beg whatever deity you believe in for a Christmas miracle, hoping real life will suddenly behave like a bad holiday movie. It never does. Life will knock you to your knees and piss in your face while you struggle to stand back up.
I spent Christmas Day quietly with my mom, eating turkey and facing the sad truth that half my family was dead. Their ashes sealed inside of identical urns placed next to the Christmas tree. No shining lights from above. No miracles. Just cold hard reality and a warm Christmas dinner.
What 2026 Is Asking For
So here we are. A new year. Same world. Same mess. Different resolve.
2026 is not about reinvention. It is about clarity. Fewer distractions. More walking. More long term projects. More photographs that mean something, even if they only mean something to me.
I want deeper stories, not louder ones. Fewer posts and better work. More teaching, more community, more time behind the lens and less time explaining myself.
I want less toxic foreign photographers and more community projects. I want less trolls and more people who just want to get out and take photos. Less self-promotion and gatekeeping and more people willing to help each other out.
I am not chasing trends. I am chasing honesty. I need to improve and keep moving forward.
When the clock struck midnight, nothing changed. I was still grieving, still overweight, and still unsure how to move ahead. If 2025 tested my endurance, then 2026 is about endurance with intention. Showing up. Doing the work. Telling the truth. And occasionally disappearing into a city with a camera and no plan.
No grand promises. Just forward motion.
Let’s just make it a good one.