2025 recap

Happy New Year! It’s a bit late but I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas break.

I’m excited to get back into writing after a few weeks off - as I mentioned in my last post, I’ll be uploading once a month instead of every fortnight as my work starts to pick up.

Since we are a couple of weeks into 2026, I thought it made sense for this first post to be a little recap of the previous year. I’ve been fortunate enough to work with new clients, explore new types of photography, and develop my own projects. Equally, 2025 was my first full year at Pink Plan, which has taught me so much, not only about the property industry but about myself too!

As someone who would love to eventually build their own home, it has been the opportunity of a lifetime to work with estate agents across Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, photographing all kinds of properties from listed cottages to modern mansions. I won’t be sharing this work specifically in this post, but if you’re interested in property photography, go and check out my Instagram: @stoneandlightmedia. There’s plenty of inspiration for home design lovers!

I’m going to go through the year chronologically, starting with Ink and Engines Fest which took place at the Norfolk Showground from the 4th-6th July. It is a tattoo convention and car show all in one, featuring incredible live music and food from local vendors. Whether you’re a tattoo lover or car enthusiast, there is something for everyone and the atmosphere is electric.

As a part of the media team, I captured portraits of the tattoo artists and provided coverage of music performances by Harleymoon Kemp and Chasing Mumford (Europe’s no.1 Mumford and Sons tribute). Interacting with the artists was a highlight of the experience for me. It was an honour to meet people with such a dedication to their craft, and it allowed me to capture their personalities more vividly in the photos.

About a month later, I had the honour of capturing a very special day for two lovely people.

Jay and Josie’s wedding was both a personal and professional highlight of the year for me - not only was it a beautiful day to be a part of, but it forced me out of my comfort zone and into completely new territory. I have always enjoyed photographing events - I love capturing real, candid moments between people that they can hold on to forever - so a wedding was always on my creative bucket list.

I photographed from the point the guests arrived at the church, to the ceremony itself, and the reception afterwards. Jay and Josie requested I capture plenty of images of the guests - interacting, smiling, laughing - as well as the two of them throughout the day. I was very much a pinball darting from place to place, but it was so much fun and refreshing to have complete creative freedom.  

Following an extremely busy few months at work, I was ready for some time off and coastal air.

I spent a week in St Agnes, Cornwall from the 19th-26th September and used the trip as an opportunity to reconnect with my creative self. I decided to strip things back by using my phone to take photos throughout the holiday, which was both freeing and nostalgic. I didn’t put too much pressure on myself to capture the greatest angles or perfect light, but took a more documentary-style approach.

From this experience, I created a mini series of landscapes from various locations around Cornwall, including Porthchapel and Perranporth. I have a separate post on the full series here. While less technical, iPhone photography is a great opportunity to practice the fundamentals and can actually be quite challenging! I’d highly recommend this exercise to other photographers.

Post-Cornwall, I was ready to get back to photography with an actual camera.

At this point, I had written a few blog posts about past projects and I really wanted to capture some new content. Since we were midway through autumn, I decided to get out with my camera and capture all things seasonal. This turned into a bit of a wildlife photography project.

Although I’d been to some of these places before, visiting them in autumn presented a range of new photo opportunities. Not only does the landscape change as it goes through this transition, but the wildlife does too. These visual and behavioural shifts result in images that are completely unique to this time of year. Read the full blog post here.

Concert photography has always been a draw for me. The same way I’ve worked with painters and jewellery makers in the past, there’s something so special about capturing someone unapologetically doing what they love.

A friend of mine is the bassist in a metal band and when I heard they were performing on the 22nd November, I was keen to jump on the photo opportunity. I attended the rehearsals before the gig to capture some behind-the-scenes images and photographed the concert later that evening. I’ll be the first to admit I’m not a huge metal fan, but the energy and atmosphere in the venue was next level. I felt it important to grab a few shots of the audience (thank you, Elise and Ben for letting me include your hilarious photo) as they were a huge part of the night.

Overall, this was a great way to close the year, even if my ear drums suffered!

It would be criminal to not mention one of my proudest projects of 2025, which was this blog!

I started it in September as a way of getting back into writing and giving myself a creative boost. I must have listened to at least ten different podcasts about creative block, and a common piece of advice was to pick up something you used to enjoy and treat it as a stepping stone to other outlets.

For me, writing made the most sense. Although it’s not what I want to do long-term, it is an extremely useful tool and a great way to uncover inspiration. I’m only six posts in (seven, counting this one), but I can definitely say it has been both personally and creatively rewarding. Revisiting projects that would have otherwise been lost in the depths of Instagram has allowed me to appreciate my growth as a photographer and recognise my strengths.

So, thank you for all the lovely feedback on this blog throughout 2025. I know it’s not so common for people to sit and read through a blog post these days, so comments are always appreciated. As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, you can keep up with my photography work via the social links below, and I will be sure to provide creative updates in future posts.

I hope everyone has a positive start to the year - thank you for reading.

Em x