My photographic year 2024

It’s been an interesting year for me photographically. 2024 meant a restart for me photographiclly, from having been more or less dormant for years, to becoming something I really put an effort into.

And it all started about a year ago in a not so great way, I bought a new camera and some lenses. I had sold off all gear some years ago, and only had a smartphone. And that first camera led to more cameras. I traded up for more functionality and more recent technology. At the end of the summer I had two great DSLRs (Nikon D7200 and D800e) with a set of top of the line lenses.

Then I took the most recent steps, and traded again, this time I got rid of all the DSLR stuff and got a Nikon Z5 with a couple of lenses. That’s where I intend to stay now for many years to come, I hope.

I also spent some on portrait gear, something I hope to explore in the future.

So, 2024 for me meant a drastic (and expensive!) journey through a lot of gear, but, more importantly, a journey through photographs, and here are some of my favorites from 2024.

And to be fair, I spent money not just on gear but on software as well. After trying out Dxo for a while, I took the plunge and invested in PhotoLab and FilmPack.

I photographed a lot in church, and I’ll sum that up in another post, but below is a shot from a concert in one of our churches.

I also photographed a lot for work, below is a shot from when my former colleague Pirjo retired. Photographing for work is the most fun part of my job, but I wish I would let myself take more time doing it. Often it gets a bit rushed, mostly because I put pressure on myself. Maybe that’s something to work on in 2025.

For work it happens that I get to take pictures of what we can call important people. Below is a shot of Peter Kullgren, Sweden’s minister for rural affairs.

In all its simplicity and beauty, a shot from last spring.

I travel some for work, the shot below is from a stroll through Hudiksvall, when I was there for work.

I work mostly from home, but our regional office is in Uppsala, and this is a shot from the campus area where the office is.

Another shot from church, this time easter lunch at the fellowship hall.

I don’t take enough photos of her, but here is one of our sweet puppy Blondie.

The sort of photos I like to capture, an everyday thing that can be interesting photographically.

One of the more controversial photographs from the year, because a colleague asked why I took this particular shot.

Macro is not really my thing even though I can appreciate macRo photography. For a little while in 2024 I had a macro lens though and enjoyed using it. Not enough though to keep it.

I do get to meet all sorts of animals and photograph them.

Our previous vicar, Per Alkstål, who retired in 2024.

This is a black and white conversion of a digital raw file. I do really like black and white, and perhaps there’ll be more of it in the future.

Tractors, tractors and more tractors.

One of my favorites from the summer of 2024.

Visiting a farm store I ran into some birds.

A rather colorful house.

A group of farmers from Switzerland visited a farm here.

It didn’t take him many swings to get through that log.

Visiting a farm not far from us.

Another sort of tractor race, this time vintage tractors competing in plowing.

It’s not often that I shoot action, but a day at the local races was fun.

We hired a new vicar, Karin Degréus.

And here’s one of my absolute favorite shots from the year, Karin in church with a young child.

A shot from the Aguéli museum, with some of the paintings of Ivan Aguéli in the background.

A bit of a dichotomy, an expensive albeit old Porsche, and a newer Volvo.

Below photo was taken at a concert arranged by church.

I managed to capture the first frost of the season.

Also taken at church obviously, but in one of our fellowship halls.

One of my favorite shots from church in 2024, taken during a concert.

Shot for work when we visited a farm that has invested in biogas.

An analog shot taken at a monastery that is not far from where we live.

A shot from central Sala, taken during a photowalk.

The opening of an exhibition at the Aguéli museum.

Another concert in one of our churches.

A shot from one of the many walks this year, this one at one of my old schools.

Also from a walk, a day in December when we had fog all day.

I didn’t photograph out in the woods as I thought or would have liked. Perhaps something to remedy next year.

There you have it, a small selection of shots from 2024. I’ve uploaded close to 2300 shots, some of them old, but that’s still a pretty decent amount of work. If nothing else, I’ve photographed a lot, and there’s value in that.