2024 Review
Thanks to a trip to the Severn Valley Railway at the end of
the year, the total for December came to 23 images. Combining this with the November total comes to
35 images, which although doesn’t make the target of 50, is slightly higher
than the same period in 2023. Again,
this is down to poor weather, although my SVR trip coincided with perhaps the
sunniest day of the month.
Overall, I am happy with how things worked out in 2024. The production total for the year was 688
images, making this the most productive year I’ve had with the A77, and
exceeding the target of 650. Sales are
also a slight improvement over 2023, including my first international sale,
courtesy of Redbubble.
For most months of the year, I either made the production
target or produced more images than the corresponding 2023 month, with the two
main exceptions being March and October.
March came down to bad weather, but although the weather wasn’t all that
good in October, I did have some good weather that I failed to take advantage
of, which could have seen the target made.
I had two holidays away from home during the year: one in
North Wales and one in Dorset. The
former proved to be very productive, but the latter was marred by bad weather,
and ended up consisting of National Trust visits, not including the one I
really wanted to do: Brownsea Island.
This was due to a combination of the weather and parking issues at Poole
Quay.
National Trust-wise, I set out to do at least eight
properties, with at least two first-time visits. This I succeeded in doing, with three new
ones (two in North Wales), and five re-visits.
The only slight issue was that I did set out to do some properties where
I had only visited once or twice before: in the end, the only one that
qualified was Stourhead.
Event-wise, I managed two of the three I set out to do:
Cropthorne Walkabout and the Battle of Evesham Festival. Again, the weather for the Fladbury Walkabout
wasn’t really good enough for my needs.
I did photography on nine heritage railways during 2024:
five standard gauge and four narrow gauge.
For the most part these sessions were successful, but I didn’t do as
much on the Valley Railway Adventure as I thought I would; partly due to
missing the summer gala as it didn’t appear to have been publicised on their
website.
Finally, I should acknowledge the “Great Waddle of
Worcester” penguin sculptures. Without
those, I may not have made the production target for the year, although if the
event hadn’t taken place, it is possible I would done something else
instead.
2025
I’m keeping the production targets the same as 2024, but it would be nice if I could break the 700 barrier. The National Trust targets will remain the same and I am considering two holidays away from home; one of which is intended to be North Wales, and the other will be something new. As a result, Dorset is being rotated out of the holiday schedule for 2025.
I want to do at least three local events, and at the moment I’m thinking Cropthorne and Fladbury Walkabouts, and the Battle of Evesham Festival. I believe the Cropthorne Walkabout is the 50th Anniversary, and the Battle of Evesham Festival is running for three days this year, due to it being the 760th anniversary of the battle.
As far as the next couple of months are concerned, I am not planning to do a great deal of photography, and the production schedule reflects this (I only need 20 images for January and February). I want do some work on the railway sites over the winter as these have been somewhat neglected over the past few years in favour of this site, and I also plan a computer upgrade as well.
Camera Change
I’ve been giving some thought recently to the future of the
Sony A77 that I am currently using. I had
a couple of occasions in 2024 where I struggled with photographing moving
trains in low light conditions, and initially did some searching to see if I could
get a better lens for these sorts of circumstances. However, it seems Sony are replacing the A-mount
system with a new one, so it seems to me to make more sense to buy a new camera
body and lens instead.
My current thinking is to keep the A77 for the remainder of
2025 at least. By my reckoning, based on
current exposure rates, I will get through the 9XXXX references at some point
in the first half of 2026, by which point I will had the camera 8 years (the
same length of time I had the A550). At
this point, I will look to buying a new camera body with a compatible lens that
I hope will work better in low light. I’m
not sure what I will do with the current gear at this point; it’s possible I
may keep the A77 as a secondary camera, perhaps for dedicated use with my 500mm
lens.
The only slight problem I may have is that I might be looking
to replace my car at some point in the next couple of years, and financing both
may stretch my finances somewhat. I’d
be surprised if I spent less than £2,000 on my next camera gear upgrade.
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