This year was a good one! Yes, it was exhausting at times but I did some cool stuff. Also finally started working part-time and have been loving that life.
Didn’t travel as much as in 2017 or attended as many photography meetups as in 2018 but I shot a lot more in 2019.
Started the year in pain which wasn’t great but with that came the change to working part-time hours so I’m not complaining. Guess it was the only way my body found to force me to slow down.
January had a slow start but soon picked up some speed. Managed to sort out my portfolio, attended a meetup and got accepted into the Divurgent workshops.
By February I was overwhelmed with all the photos I had to edit from previous shoots and the workshop but still managed to attend another meetup and visit Barcelona for the first time. Loved my time in Barcelona.
In March I attended two meetups, one of them in a studio. Had a great time there. Also had a couple of one to one shoots and loved them.
By March I did have some shoots I didn’t love but I am not going to bother mentioning those. Just stating that so you all know that not every shoot is a dream. Keeping it real ahah.
April saw another couple of meetups but I ended up not blogging about it. Guess by then I got bored of documenting meetups. That month I did my first one to one studio shoot with the amazing Zoey Lily. We had such a good time together!
May was wedding time, my brother got married and we flew to Portugal for it. There was no way I would miss that! Super happy for him. It was a week that did not feel much like holidays but we enjoyed ourselves. Before we headed back I did a short shoot for a friend’s brand at the beach which was super cool.
The day after I landed I went straight back to shooting with Zoey at the studio again. This time we had a team there and it was a great experience.
June had a bumpy start having met a customer from hell. Fortunately that was the only bad thing that month.
My birthday weekend was spent in Eastbourne and I had a lovely time there. That month I attended four meetups in two weekends, done another studio shoot with Zoey and on the 20th of that month had my first photo on Spotify.
July was a super hot month in the UK. Almost melted! Luckily on the hottest day we managed to escape to the beach to survive.
August was a crazy month when it comes to photography. Had a few customers and even booked an engagement shoot! Started testing for a model agency and had my first one to one shoot with Shio.
In September I was ready to leave everything behind (especially my camera) and enjoy three blissful weeks in Greece. That’s what we did. Had the best time between Zakynthos and Kefalonia.
At the end of the month I shot with Shio again. This time we were a bit more ambitious and got a beautiful bike to shoot with. After the shoot we went for some beers and pizza.
October was the month I decided to create a separate blog for photography. Which basically resulted in me abandoning this blog for a little while. Guess I needed the break.
That month I had a couple new customers and my first e-commerce gig (which I didn’t love).
November was kind of slow, from what I remember (since I wasn’t blogging). Bought a new camera and returned it as it turned out to be faulty. Not a very eventful month.
December was a bit more hectic with my first shoot with dogs. Loved that. Also spent a week in Portugal, another one that did not feel like a holiday.
It was also the month I got Shio to come to Portugal for three days to shoot with me. We created some of my all time favourite shots and had so much fun in the process.
Sorry I cannot share those shots yet as we are submitting most of them to magazines.
2019 was intense but I really enjoyed it.
Healthwise it felt like a recovery year. I feel so much better working just part-time in the office and doing what I really love the rest of the time. As a result I was barely sick this year.
Big thanks to my boyfriend for putting up with my long hours of editing, my mood swings and for even assisting me in shoots. Super grateful for all the love, patience and help in 2019!
To all the models and photographers I have worked with in 2019, thank you! A special thanks to Shio for being such an inspiration, for being so supportive this year and for constantly pushing me to do better.
Not doing 2020 resolutions, I will just keep working hard and see what comes along with that!
Hope you stick around for another year.
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!
LOTS OF LOVE,
ANA
In the featured photo, Shio shot in December at Praia das Maçãs
Thank you for reading and please come back whenever I write another post!
New blog posts used to be out every Wednesday at 6pm but these days you never know.
