As we are just about to say goodbye to 2015, so here and now I couldn’t think of many better places to sit and write this end of year reflection and my thoughts on the year ahead. I guess sat on a dive boat in the middle of the Red Sea is the way its going to be this year! ;) It’s not count down time for a few days yet, but I couldn’t let this opportunnity for a little peace and reflection pass by without flicking through some 2015 images in a new environment and selecting a few to share here.
This year has yet again seen many firsts for me, from shooting my first wedding in central Oxford earlier in the year, to documenting my first wedding on the Greek island of Skiathos in the middle and then shooting my first wedding in Thailand just a few weeks ago. A few other photography firsts in 2015 have included; Shooting in New York City, visiting Stockholm and booking in a record number of international weddings for 2016 ! You can view more of my recent travel blog here.
Last year I was also delighted to of become a regional finalist in the wedding industry awards ‘best photographer’ category, and I’m thrilled to now of been given this honour two years running, I was also thrilled to of won my first fearless photographer award and winning an international wedding photography select award. (both of these images are featured below)
A few wedding repeats have included heading back to Italy and Lake Garda to shoot a very fun wedding in Malcseine, and I’m exciting to have 3 Italian lake weddings in the fray for next year, including a first time for me on Lake Como. I also returned several times this year to the wonderful spot not far from home to shoot weddings throughout the year at Trevenna Barns in Cornwall.
Moving away from weddings for a moment, me and Poppy have decided to trial living abroad in Spain for a few months at the beginning of 2016, which we are of course very excited about, we will be leaving in April shortly after I return from the WPPI photography conference in Vegas and shooting a wedding in Bali a few days later (its going to be a mad spring spent at 40,000 feet!) :) I will of course still be flying most weekends back to the UK or elsewhere in Europe for my weddings – something I’m very excited about trying out and I am already putting some things in motion to make productivity run high while flying.
People joke that I spend more time outside the UK than at home, this year that prophecy almost came true – and unintentionally really, next year it’s extremely likely that it will indeed become a fact.
Returning to this year, 2015 has revolved around shooting 28 weddings across 3 continents, passing through 16 airports, catching 29 flights and staying at a ridiculous number of hotel rooms – which to start to add up seems like a daunting task. In total I have been fortunate to visit 13 countries this year; France, Switzerland, Netherlands, Spain, USA, Greece, Italy, Sweden, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, UAE, and here in Egypt. I have just one more wedding to document and 2 more to edit before 2015 will be officially winding down and the Christmas music can play all day long. :)
2015 has been a great year of new ideas, new challenges, spending time with some inspiring people and documenting some insanely enjoyable weddings, many of which I’m delighted have resulted in new friendships. I hope the new year will bring more of the same as well as plenty of time for some skiing with family and moving things forward once again for the spring of 2016 and beyond. I’m also looking forward to travelling more next year, mostly across Europe for weddings but also some trips to the USA, Bali and Australia in the pipe line. I probably wont be able to stay away from Thailand either, in fact I don’t think Poppy will allow it.
As I say every year around this time, a massive thanks goes out to all those couples whom intrust me to become apart of their lives for a brief amount of time, to document, to share, to create and to experience with them one of the most memorable and fun times in their lives. It is a real privilege to get to know each and every one of you as individuals and I truly consider myself lucky to be able to do this crazy thing I guess you could call my ‘job’.
Below you will find around 200 images that I really could’t narrow down any further to summarise what an awesome 2015 we have all had together. Enjoy having a glance over some of my favourite wedding moments from 2015 and I hope to see many of the faces below again in the near future.
I’m happy that we still have a week or two left of 2015, I will enjoy the time at home to push a few more ideas into reality, but ultimately I’m buzzing for January to begin so we can all go charging into 2016 together. :)
by Barney Walters
