Entering into the final month of Year 2019, it’s now December 2019 and in about a month’s time, we would be welcoming the new Year 2020. Time flies, looking back at the past eleven months of 2019, taking on the final month of December 2019 and preparing ahead for Year 2020, sharing some quick updates, thoughts, feelings and tentative plans.

Some might be slowing down their work for the upcoming Christmas festive season, I would also be slowing down, clearing up my backlog of articles on both my photography and travel portal/blog as well as my technology/business/personal portal/blog.

Photography by Isaac Benjamin Ong

Commercial Photography

This area really took quite some time to build up, it would be three FY years completed and start of January 2020 would be my fourth year in this business. The first two years were really really tough, year 2019 ain’t exactly smooth sailing, although in Q3 of 2019, more partnerships and opportunities started to come in place, while it doesn’t immediately convert to an exponential surge in revenue earned, it has opened up more opportunities, networks and partnerships.

On future partnerships and expansion plans, I would be thinking and strategising over again in this month of December 2019. I may or may not share too much into this segment. Things haven’t really been able to take place as planned, some plans were held back, while some new directions and setups took place instead. Change is the only constant, regardless of the industry that we are in, we have to change, adapt, evolve, adopt and move forward (and repeat the whole cycle)

I would need to work on the curation of my main photography portfolio website Format, followed by my secondary photography portfolio 500px and uploading my other leisure photographs that I took in recent months onto Flickr, I would also be sharing on my new platforms MakersPlace and Wirestock too!

Leisure/Personal Photography

This segment took a toll, my leisure/personal photography were reduced significantly during the second half of 2019. I was balancing between running a photography business and my content writing for my technology/business portal/website. Thus affecting my personal photography project plans as well content creation for this photography and travel portal/blog. 

Personally, I have a number of personal photography projects from publishing my own regular photo zines, publishing photo books again, continuation of my Hokkaido travel photography project. I am also planning to work on my notebooks, journaling, small photography prints and drawing/sketching.

Travel 

I was planning to go for a travel holiday in November or December 2019, due to the changes in photography business schedule, I have to put it aside and looks like 2019 won’t have any travel holidays for me. Maybe January 2020 or April 2020 would be my next travel adventure.

In Year 2020, I hope to travel more so that I can produce more photography artworks, writing and short films/videos in my travel photography segment.

Last but not least

This is the final final sprint for Year 2019, Q3 and Q4 had seen some bright spots in an increasing challenging, tough, difficult and competitive market out there (not just photography business), along with potential worse world economic conditions in Year 2020 (would there be a recession?).

One more major photography assignment for December 2019, followed by a short rest during Christmas and last week of December 2019 and we would be starting a new Year 2020 very soon!

Year 2019 looks like finishing on a good note, after all I been through since I started my photography business in January 2017. On paper, three years is not a very long time frame, yet at times, it felt like ages. During this period of time, my learning curve on running my very own sole proprietorship business was very steep, I was given many life, business and society lessons. Some of the situations/lessons affected me more than anything else and I had to pull myself out from the bottom a few times.

A brief update/reflection on Year 2019 in general, this would probably wrap up my overall year 2019, my thoughts, views, review and reflections.

Soon, it would be Goodbye 2019 and Hello 2020!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *