2024 in Photos
A highlight reel on photos that made me so proud that I shot it
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2024 was a crazy year for me: getting a new job capturing photos for a school photography company (ironically I took my senior photos at the same studio I now work at), traveling around the world, and learning how to drive. It was a year of building community on bookstagram and recommitting to this newsletter. I’ve already shared a reading recap on Instagram, but in this post I want to go deeper on some of the photos I’ve taken over the last 12 months and tell some of the stories behind them.
Before we jump in, here are a few quick stats (because I’m truly a stat obsessed person even if I’m very much a humanities major):
6,998 photos taken
9 flights flown (all on Delta)
12,404 miles flown (halfway across the world)
5,805 different albums listened to (via last.fm)
4,812 tracks listened to (via last.fm)
Total eclipse of the heart
April brought a great American solar eclipse as much of the continent looked up to see a spectacular solar eclipse. While Atlanta wasn’t in the path of totality, I made my way east of the city to the peak of Stone Mountain to see a mostly obstructed sun. There was a childlike wonder as hundreds looked up at the phenomenon happening tens of thousands of miles above us. I think these images do a great job of capturing the awe on that day.
United by chaos
May brought me to Copenhagen for the Eurovision Song Contest (technically the show was in Malmö, Sweden but my friends and I commuted from Copenhagen on show days). If you know me, you’d know that I have a bit of an obsession with the pan-European song festival and it was a dream come through to experience the craziness of the show week in person.
Crazy ended up being the word of the week between pro-Palestine protests against Israel being allowed to compete (Greta Thunberg was arrested for a time at one protest. For my part, I walked into the concourse rather than give the performance an audience), the Netherlands’ Joost Klein being disqualified hours before the jury show final (a dress rehearsal the night before the actual show broadcast on TV where the national juries vote for their favorite songs), and just a lot of decisions by the European Broadcasting Union (the organizing body for Eurovision) that left a bad taste in my mouth.
Despite that, the atmosphere was equal parts family reunion and an at times defiant celebration of the peace, love, and tolerance that the contest was built on. We spent the night before the final at an Australian-themed bar in Copenhagen (truly a wild thought to think about being in an Australian themed bar for an event run by Spanish Europeans in Denmark but hey that’s globalization) where we partied the night away to Klein’s song Europapa (which was disqualified hours earlier and was a heavy favorite to win) at least partially in spite.
I was in the arena to see both dress rehearsals for the semifinals, and it was such an unique atmosphere to see songs that I’d heard for months translated to stage performances. It gives a completely different perspective to what you see on TV as you can see in this photo taken during Marcus & Martinus’ performance of Sweden’s song Unforgettable:
Between the ticketed events (both the live shows and the live shows that I watched from a Copenhagen nightclub transformed into the equivalent of a sports bar if it was mostly queer and the competition was entirely in song, my friend Rachel’s apartment, and a hotel ballroom), there was plenty of time to explore Copenhagen and Malmö. Highlights included taking a canal tour of Copenhagen from the popular Nyhavn harbor, quieter moments at Malmö’s central library and an adjacent park, and an amazing street food feast at the Reffen open-air food hall:
Eurovision fan site Wiwibloggs also hosted a fan fest at a very nice location atop the Emporia shopping center in Malmö, where I snapped these shots of Lithuania’s Silvester Belt:
Reunited
My family had a reunion in late June at my grandma’s house near Newark that migrated down the shore to Atlantic City. I did manage to get a couple of small photowalks in Lower Manhattan and on the boardwalk in Atlantic City from this next gaggle of photos.
I was fortunate to catch some really cool mist and fog that bubbled up over the ocean in Atlantic City that created some really moody shots along with the typical summer boardwalk vibes I was expecting to capture when heading out.
Bumpin’ that
I was a Charli XCX fan before Brat became a cultural phenomenon so there was no way I was going to miss the Sweat tour. My iPhone served as the camera for these shots which I think did a really good job at capturing the unique experience of State Farm Arena becoming a club as the Atlanta Falcons played right next door.
Empire State of Mind
My last trip of the year was a Halloweekend getaway to the Northeast mainly to see Zara Larsson in Washington with friends. I arrived in DC Halloween evening, checked into my hotel near the Navy Yard, and immediately set out to capture some photos while grabbing an Aperol Spritz at Takoma.
Before the concert Friday night, I spent the day exploring the city that’s become a bit of a second home for me over the last few years. After a stop at Solid State Books, I went to the National Museum of Women in the Arts via a walk in the city’s Chinatown neighborhood.
After we went our separate ways on Saturday, I took Amtrak up to the Big Apple for about 36 hours of hitting the pavement hard. Between the New York City Marathon on Sunday and a Saturday evening walking from my hotel in Lower Manhattan to Times Square left me with nearly 1,000 photos. I was really in my street photography bag capturing ordinary moments on the streets that sparked so much joy in what felt like such a festive atmosphere in the city.
Other odds and ends…
Of course, there were plenty of random photowalks all over Atlanta that were equal parts therapeutic and practical. It was a year where I took advantage of being able to pop into the city (before I got my car, I would drive to Cumberland Mall and hitch a ride on a MARTA bus into Midtown) and make photos out of just ordinary life. It’s a much different approach from the more event-oriented photography I was shooting mostly in college.
Final thoughts
I’m not really sure where photography will take me in the year ahead as I continue to balance school photography with personal work and try to find the balance between having photography as a creative outlet without burning out. Aside from planned trips to Stockholm and DC, this should be a relatively light travel year but I’m always open to whatever the year brings.
Headlines
I made a Spotify playlist with some songs that I think will set the table nicely for starting the new year well.
Not sure if you need the PSA, but clean up your phone’s charging port every once in a while. My iPhone 14 Pro was having issues charging and connecting to CarPlay before I took a toothpick to the Lightning port.
Given what we heard about Moana 2 essentially being a Disney+ show repackaged into a movie, it was a pretty fun watch that is a poignant reminder of how important community is. It’s hard to replicate the magic of the original but it’s certainly a solid sequel.
Zendaya all but confirming her engagement to Tom Holland has me devastated as someone who’s had a celebrity crush on her pretty much since Shake It Up.
My family used to frequent Atlantic City and seeing it through your lens IMMEDIATELY brought me back to the sights and scents that are so uniquely NJ boardwalk
in awe of your talent!!