Best of 2018// Iceland Elopement Photographer | Destination Wedding Photographer
Best of 2018- A year in Photographs
Iceland Elopement Photographer | Brooklyn & Destination Wedding Photographer
Wow. This past year. 2018. All I can say is ‘wow’.
I want to start out by saying I am ENDLESSLY grateful for the opportunities 2018 gave me. Having the opportunity and ability to be an Elopement Photographer in Iceland AND an Intimate Wedding Photographer in Brooklyn AND a Destination Wedding Photographer around the world is a DREAM, and I am so lucky. I ended 2017 on a pretty high note and was unsure how or IF I could even top it. I had traveled the most up until that point, my business started to flourish, and I started to find myself and my calling. How would a year top that? Well, it did, and by a landslide.
DISCLAIMER: This Best of 2018 Iceland Elopement & Intimate Wedding blog might seem like a #humblebrag but it really is just me listing what all I have accomplished and being SO grateful for it. You have been warned, come along for the ride.
The year started out with me traveling right off the bat, twice within January and ended with me traveling through the New Year. I honestly have so much to say about this year but I don’t really know where to begin. This was my first full year being 100% on my own and I am so proud to say ‘I did it’. I booked about 3xs the amount of jobs than I did in 2017 and it felt amazing. I feel like I hit my stride and took it running. I had to learn to let some things go to make room for other things to come into my life which is always a fun life lesson. I met some people who have become near to my heart and I adventured my little tail off. But honestly, this year was mostly about growth for me, business and personal. When I was rounding up all of these photos (WARNING: THERE ARE A LOT. SORRYNOTSORRY.) the sessions I had at the beginning of the year actually felt like they were about 2yrs ago. It is pretty awesome going though all my years body of work and seeing how much I have evolved as an artist. Instead of writing out everything in paragraph form, I will list the things I accomplished and am proud of in bullet points because everyone loves a good bullet point list.
I left the country (USA) 12 times.
I traveled within the U.S. (not counting my tri-state area weddings) 9 times.
I visited 5 countries including the UK (Scotland / England x2) and Norway for the first time.
I was away from NYC for over 6mo of the year total.
I flew on 49 flights.
Flying back and forth to Iceland (because I am there monthly) I flew 62,640 miles. (100,810 km)
I flew a grand total of 89,157 miles. (143,484 km) - that is 3.58 times around the Earth. This is probably my most insane stat of the year for me. WHAT. And now I have enough airline miles to maybe buy a snack on board with them. ** Insert Chrissy Teigen Awkward Face **
I rented 36 cars.
I took 85 cab rides I can remember to / from business related things.
I opened up an official Icelandic Wedding Photography company with the government. (Hire local, please.) ;)
If I had to guess driving, I would estimate over 300hrs driving and who-fucking-knows how many miles.
I drove on the ‘wrong side’ of the road for the first time.
I was a co-host for my first Photography Workshop in Iceland. I have wanted to host a workshop for a long time and this was something I am proud to say I did. I basically coordinated the entire thing and that is something cool to say. I learned a lot from it as I hope the attendees learned a lot from me. I am going to host more in the future, so stay tuned.
I was the official photographer for USA Roller Derby and Team Korea for the World Cup in Manchester, UK.
I was published / featured over a dozen times including Rangefinder Online, Offbeat Bride, Wandering Weddings, We Are the Wanderers, Photobug Community, LooksLikeFilm, Vogue Italia PhotoVogue, F-Stop Gear, guest blogged for a few people, and some more.
I was picked as Wedding of the Month for Rangefinder Magazines November print issue. This was an actual dream of mine coming true. Since before I owned a camera, I would go into Barnes & Noble every month and buy the new issue to learn. (Because I had to learn from magazines and not the internet being a wealth of knowledge it is now haha). I ALWAYS wanted to grace it’s pages. I actually cried when I saw it in my own hands.
Shot album art and photographs for an Art Book for Amanda Palmer, which comes out Spring 2019.
I also shot some album art for some local Icelandic bands!
I was in the running for Rangefinder Magazines 30 Emerging Photographers which is possibly the biggest award (in my mind) for Wedding Photographers. I did not get it BUT I got some AMAZING feedback from the Editor in Chief and she put me in the running again for 2019 because she saw potential in me. I CALL THAT A FUCKING WIN.
And some nerdy things now that I happen to like, STATS! I have been working hard on learning SEO and I am happy to say my stats shot up this year. Unique Visitors- +166.1% from 2017, Visits- +120.9% from 2017, and Pageviews- +129.9% from 2017. I went from 10k page views to over 23k page views. Not too shabby.
But honestly, aside from all of these things I was hustling hard for this year, I am just the most grateful that I had a year PACKED with amazing clients. All of my clients trusted me 100% to create art and do what I do and that is THE BEST feeling in the world. I also came out of the year making some great friends, got closer to other friends, met a pretty great person who has become important in my life, saw my nephew turn 1yrs old, got to see more of my family than I have seen in years, met my new baby cousin, ate a ton of really great food, drank a TON of really great coffee, had a lot of not so great coffee (sorry UK and Norway!), had lots of delicious beer, and really just pushed myself to my limits.
I can’t wait to see what 2019 has in store for me. So far it is taking me to Iceland for weddings, Scotland for a Castle elopement, Brooklyn, Seattle, and let’s see where else. My bags are always packed and I am always ready for adventure in this thing called life.
<3 Steph
Best of 2018 Photos.
There are so many but I could not help myself. #sorrynotsorryatall
Your Narrative blog will appear here, click preview to see it live.
For any issues click here