2021: Year In Review.

Another year in the books!

Despite significant strides made and great progress, the coronavirus pandemic still poses immense difficulties and hung over the creative industry in waves throughout 2021. It has felt like a roller coaster. Some months, things seemed “normal”, while in others we operated under lockdowns, mandates, and restrictions. The year brought many frustrations, but also many reasons for excitement and optimism and I’m excited to see all this work come together despite this “whatever” reality that we’re all navigating through. Relative to so many, I have it easy, and I’m lucky to be here at the end of the year with health, family, friendships, and creativity all still intact.

Above is a gallery of my best work from the 2021 calendar year. 

I completed my twelfth year working as a photographer working in Major League Baseball, and my tenth as the Boston Red Sox team photographer. That marks a decade of documenting history at Fenway Park – an accomplishment I’m very proud of. This year continued to be tough from a storytelling standpoint. Access was limited and there was significant strain and added responsibility to those of us who were allowed some semblance of access. Still, what began as a year with no crowds and public gatherings shifted with the onset of the vaccine (distributed at Fenway Park), and crowds returned to stadiums early in the summer. This was an exciting story to tell. The team had a surprisingly outstanding year on the field, which took us on a wild ride through the postseason and deep into October. I feel lucky to have been there to document all the energy and humanity that supercharged this season on the field and in the stands. We also produced several top tier campaigns and marketing content series, including the reveal of the Boston Red Sox Nike City Connect uniform in direct partnership and collaboration with Nike. As the new year comes, I am excited to continue to evolve and use photography and motion as a means to produce and oversee larger scale campaigns with greater production value within the Red Sox ecosystem. I’m thankful to the Red Sox organization for sticking by me and presenting me with challenges and opportunities through a very vulnerable environment. 2022 will be wild!

On the freelance side, I’m lucky that business bounced back after taking a hit in 2021. It feels busier than ever, in fact, and I’m thankful for both existing clients and new ones for the opportunities they provided me this year. I continued to evolve my work toward the commercial space, and it’s been a fun challenge to pursue this type of work in a very competitive field. There is a lot to learn, but I’m encouraged by the success I’ve had here so far, and I’m looking forward to building on this momentum in 2022. I’ve got bigger plans in this space which I’ll keep tight for now, but it should be a fun, exciting chase in the new year.

I’ve always felt that it’s important to give back in our field, as there have been so many that have helped me along the way. With that spirit, I continued to update my YouTube channel, which hopefully has served as a resource and helpful point of reference to the photography community. I also spoke with many local and national camera clubs, schools, and classes, which has been a fun way to connect with people and present tips and knowledge that I’ve acquired over the years. These efforts have been very rewarding, and I’m grateful to have a captive audience.

Alaina continues to crush life in every way. She spent another year battling the frontlines of Covid as a nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital, all while completed her Master of Science Degree in Nursing Administration, teaching barre classes, and planning a wedding. Yes, we finally got married after a long slog of a delay due to Covid! It was the best day of my life and I couldn’t be more proud to call Alaina my wife. On to our honeymoon in Chile in early 2022, and hopefully more great news throughout the year. I feel so grateful to have supportive and encouraging people in my life – family, friends, coworkers. Our relationships continue to be more important than ever before. 

To you guys, the viewers of this blog and my work, I appreciate your support more than you know. I hope you have a safe, healthy, and prosperous new year!

Who knows what 2022 will bring, but 22 is my lucky number, so I like our odds!