I sort of hate end of the year photo reviews. By the time the end of the year rolls around I’m usually sick to death of my own images – and I consistently make the mistake of looking at other photographer’s end of the year reviews and end up hating on my work even more. I’m sure those other photographers are hating on their work too – it’s that endless cycle of art hate we artists perpetuate. It’s good because it keeps us wanting to do better – bad because we should appreciate what we do ourselves more. So I decided this year I’d make it easy on myself, I’d post 5 personal photos from each month. Why I thought this would be any easier is beyond me. It was however a good lesson. First and foremost I learned that I did not in 2013 take anywhere near enough photos. In October for instance I had only went out ONE DAY to take personal photos. Everything else I took in October was paid work. Now paid work is wonderful, but personal photos are what keep my passion for photography alive. The other thing I learned in compiling these photos was that some months I was prolific in personal imagery, and some months I was really dry. Some of the images I selected were more because I had a small pool to choose from, whereas some months it was a struggle to narrow it down.

When I select images on a personal level it becomes less about the composition of the image, and more about the moment. I’m sure some of these might spark a bit of a question mark. An image of an empty living room in a new home is important – even if the artistic merits are low. As are images of people in my life that I may have met for the first time or revisited for the thousandth. But I stuck with my rules – so in chronological order by date and time taken, here are 5 favorite personal images for each month in the year 2013.