Let's recap 2023, in English this time.
It was a hell of a ride; photography, financial, traveling, personal, working... A recap per month
January
The year started (photography wise) with Oetdoor, a scandinavian camping in the Netherlands. They added some cute little forest houses. Which were published in a outdoor and garden magazine 'Seasons', scroll down to November to see the article.
February
This month was filled with horses and gundogs and all about the big photoshoot for one of my returning clients: De Paander. Prepping, arranging models, location, etc etc.
This month was also the month of the operation. I had a small, but rather influential operation. The hospital made a mistake which caused a lot of pain in my lower back. Something to do with the epidural. So the last couple of months (this year...) was about take it easy, learning my new physical boundaries and teaching myself to be patient, not to be a patient, haha
February 2024 (while writing, in two months's) will be a year of rehabilitate. Not something I' happy with, well, I am happy with my progress. But not quiet where I want to be.
March
In March I did a lot of photography work for myself. Still taking it very easy. I had a new client: Hemker & Bekking; a hunting shop in Twello.
April
A dream came true; photographing for Pinewood. A big hunting and outdoor brand in Scandinavia. Nature wasn't that green and bright yet, but the photo's are amazing and something I'm very proud of.
I also got to photograph 'Selfcare Weekend' at the Veluwe. A weekend in the woods; very good food, campfire, smores, yoga, nature; do I need to say more?
May
Traveling through 4 countries for 3 foreign assignments Germany, Italy, Austria and Belgium. I already did a blog about this, so please check that one out aswel. A roadtrip with a lot of epic scenery:
In Belgium a got to work for Game Fair Belgium; as their social media manager and photographer I had to be there. It was so much fun and I had a great time. Some photo's of last year:
June
In June I had to travel again for work, this time to Wildleven in Germany. Two hunters got married in their cabin in the woods and I got to photograph it! That weekend was amazing and I made so much wonderful photo's. You can see my portfolio here.
Also a month with a new client: Jachthondenwinkel Hunter&co. They needed photo's for their store. Big photo's, immense. You can see them in my other blog about this shoot.
I had a lot of smaller photoshoots with a lot of fun subjects and outcomes.
July
This month had a lot of portrait shoots; but also again shooting for Oetdoor. This time it was all about 'summer', so pretty!
August
Hitting the €20K+, which means I have to pay taxes. Not something that I'm happy with, but happy about that I achieved this goal! I was working on it for 1,5 years. So I can't complain!
August was also my holiday month. We did a lot of work in our garden (we made a pond, something I really wanted), we went to the 'Veluwe' for holiday and spotted a lot of wildlife.
September
'Jacht & Buitenleven'; a weekend full of talking, photographing, checking out the newest gadgets and having a lot of fun with clients, customers and colleagues.
Imperial Food was another client I got to work for again. And in september I was again at the allotment of Twickel. A new project where I worked on this whole year. These photo's are shown in another blog.
October
A very busy month: 10+ photoshoots with more than 10k photo's to work out and edit. Loved every bit of it. Can't show you a lot unfortunately, but something I can show you are my photo's about the 'dag van de jager' (day of the hunters). On assignment for the KNJV at 'Hoge Veluwe'. It was a typical autumn day with sun, hail and rain.
November
Photographing the 'Nimrod' at Landgoed Marienwaerdt. The biggest gundog competition in the Netherlands.
Photographing puppies and all the autumn and hunting vibes.
I LOVE AUTUMN, I think you already now haha
This month was also the first month of my subscription to 'Seasons', a garden- and outdoor magazine. My thought were: If I want to be working for 'Seasons' when I must have a subscription. Little did I know that that magazine would already be the first one with my photo's in it! Oetdoor had a advertorial with my photo's in it.
December
And again a financial record, hitting the €30K+! Can't wait for 2024 to set new goals and to grow. And this month again I got to work for Oetdoor, they had an upgrade that I got to photograph. And it's amazing!!
The rest of this month wasn't about photographing. It was more about hunting with Weasel, administration, looking back and looking forward. Writing blogs (haha) and working on my new ideas.
I hope to work with you in 2024; maybe a portrait session, a big image bank to fill or another hunting event or outdoor gig. Thank you very much for reading this blog! You made it to the end, haha! And please keep in touch by @holykleinoonk