Since 2018, I've made it a tradition to reflect on the year's shoots. You can find last year's annual review here. Continuing the tradition, I'm excited to share The Photography Annual Review of 2025! Let me take you through the highlights of this year!
2025 was a year with a lot of returning customers. Unfortunately, 2025 was the year my father became sick and I had to take care of him. Being a caregiver took quite some time from my schedule, so I didn't do many free work shoots. At the end of 2025, my father went to a care home. So I'm excited for 2026, being able to create new things.
01 January
Where 2024 was little slower in January, 2025 changed a lot and January was quite packed with all kinds of shoots. I shot some imagery for a 3D scan sculptor company, Belly Moments. Created a lot of creative images for Jevie and shot some bedding.
02 February
At the end of January, we had a model shoot for Artistique (which is the same this year! How awesome). The selection came in February, so that is why I put these images under February. I really enjoyed working on these images. In February, I also worked on some Modesty Fashion, and yet another bedding client! And we went towards Noordwijk to shoot some bedding on location.
03 March
At the start of March, we had another location shoot, but this time in Joure in Friesland for pillows. We've brought a white background along to take packshots on location as well. But we also brought some of the items back home to photograph them in our studio as well. Did you know it is mostly better to shoot these kinds of things in the studio because it is easier to re-create? As in other locations, there might be ambient lighting or daylight slipping in, changing shadows for example.
I also shot some packshots for modest fashion and I had some challenging items like spot breeding cards. I also did my first free work shoot of the month finally! We've created these images with Fleur & Noa together with hairstylist Eduard and MUA Joyce Pietrzak.
And finally, this month I had a retouching job for a smith.
04 April
In April, I shot some creative images for Artistique. Simple but just with a little more colour and a (small) prop. I also shot some extra content for Jevie and worked on packshots for modest fashion again!
05 May
May was quite some bedding again.
And for those who don't know: bedding is quite intense to shoot. Ironing/steaming the fabric, making sure everything is styled well and making sure you're hiding things you don't want to see. The rest of the month was filled with creating new content for Jevie involving a lot of foam!
06 June
This year was about pastels and that wasn't something new for Chano Modesty. I've photographed pastel headscarfs. This month I also had a location shoot with weather around the 36 celsius. Unfortunately, the images are for this summer, so I can't share them yet. And I worked on some other packshots for Modest Swimwear.
07 July
July was a fun month! I tasted Matcha for the first time (which I don't love, it's okay with sweetener and I guess you can get used to it) because Jasmijn, a model I've worked with previously, came out with her own matcha brand. We photographed the images and I love how they turned out. And even cooler, the images have been used for their pop-up store in the Bijenkorf from September till December!
I've yet again shot some creative images for Jevie!
08 August
In August, I spent a lot of time creating new coloured packshots for Artistique! 56 items in total and there will be following more soon. Unfortunately, I can't share these yet because their new website isn't live yet at the moment of writing this blogpost. But I had another shoot for Asa Matcha. Bedding was also this month something I was working on, but it was more focused on bedding accessories like a sleeping mask.
I also worked for Hema this month. They reached out the week before I went on holiday to Japan, so I was excited to work on the project, but it also got me a little stressed with my holiday in mind. Luckily, it worked out.
09 September
This month I worked on the creative imagery for Artistique. And in Japan, I bought a new mirrorless camera, the Nikon Z8! Where I took this image with from our cat Muis!
I also photographed some packshots for a haircare brand that came out with perfume.
10 October
Sjumo, the brand I work for, came out with bathrobes and plaids. So we started October with shooting these. And I've worked on some retouching of jewellery and horse saddles as well!
This month was also quite busy because we had to do a lot of preparation for the model shoot for Jevie! I spent most of October and November retouching these images.
11 November
Unfortunately, this month I also had to say no sometimes, as the shoots were more demanding and I couldn't go away that easily because of my dad. But luckily, I could work on the images from Jevie, as they selected quite much. I retouched for 117 hours and 52 minutes for Jevie! The only shoot I had this month was for Modesty headscarfs!
12 December
I didn't shoot anything in December! That didn't happen before. But this one was on purpose. At the end of November, we heard that our dad got a spot at a care home. So we prepared everything, made sure we would both be available and we're ready to remove everything out of my parental home. So the days between Christmas and New Year's Eve were filled with going to that house, sort out papers and sell things on marketplace.
But that made that we can start 2026 fresh, and I'm excited to start planning shoots again, writing blogposts and work with new clients!
I hope you liked to look back at 2025 with me, and I'm excited what 2026 will bring!
If you're looking for a photographer or retoucher in 2026, I'd love to collaborate on your next project. Best wishes for 2026, and see you on the blog soon!
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