January 2

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Happy New Year and Best Wishes for 2018!

By Dan

January 2, 2018

Well, we made it through 2017. There’s no doubt that in many ways, it was a “interesting” year. As soon as the 7 turned into an 8, I saw many people around the world express their excitement about finally leaving 2017 behind for good. It’s no surprise why people would feel this way.

That being said, if you spent a significant amount of time outdoors, at least enough to balance all your activism and any frustrations you might have experienced, then perhaps you found plenty of personal reward and positive experiences during the past year.

For me, 2017 was a banner year and I love the photos I shot during the past 12 months. Starting with some wonderful snowy conditions here in Alaska, I reveled in the magical winter light we often have during our shortest days. I took many fat bike rides with the camera and braved the cold up high while shooting some magical winter aerials of the Chugach Mountains.

I enjoyed four awesome seasons of bike touring, with a couple of very chilly, but fun winter overnights, a winter fat bike tour of the White Mountains, a fall waterfall photography excursion in Northern Minnesota and two awesome bikepacking trips to Scotland, in May and September.

These two trips were the highlights of my year. I shot thousands of photos, had some wonderful adventures and made lots of new friends. I can’t wait to go back!

I taught quite a few workshops and gave a number of presentations and Photo Walks in 2017, in the Great Smoky Mountains, Austin, Alaska, Seattle, Portland and Edinburgh. My Scotland photo walk was particularly notable, as it was my first international photo event.

In July, I released my comprehensive Fujifilm guide, X SERIES UNLIMITED, which quickly became my bestselling eBook of all time. Thousands of X Series users have downloaded the guide and I’m pleased and humbled that so many people have told me how much the book has helped them better understand how to use their Fuji cameras.

I also won another Top 100 Photography Blog award, which makes three years in a row that my blog has been recognized as one of the best photography blogs on the web. This was a great honor for me, since I put so much effort into my blog and providing you guys with tips, insight and visual entertainment.

At the end of November, I took a wonderful trip to Boston, where I revisited my photography roots and took a huge stroll down memory lane. I hadn’t been back to Boston in about 20 years, so this was an especially meaningful experience.

I pretty much laid low for most of December, enjoyed the holidays, which I hope you did too, and took quite a bit of time to reflect on the past year. Now that 2018 is upon us, I’m excited to see what it will bring!

I always like to say that new years are like blank journals, and so now that we stand on the front end of another one, I hope you’re also excited about the infinite number of possibilities and opportunity that potentially lie ahead for you as well.

Maybe you’ve already got some cool trip ideas for 2018. Maybe you’ve got some new camera gear that you’re dying to try out. Maybe you’re just feeling refueled after the extended holiday downtime. Whatever the case, I hope that 2018 starts in a positive way, and I wish you great success, prosperity, peace and lots of adventures and creativity in the coming months.

Thank you so much for all of your support in 2017. Much of the success I experienced last year was due to you reading my blog, buying my ebooks and attending my talks, so I’m grateful for your following. I’m thankful for all the new friends I made last year and I look forward to meeting even more of you in 2018.

I’d love how your year went. If you’d like to share one or two of your best photography moments or accomplishments from 2017, post them in the comments below!

About the author

Hi, I'm Dan Bailey, a 25+ year pro outdoor and adventure photographer, and official FUJIFILM X-Photographer based in Anchorage, Alaska.


As a top rated blogger and author my goal is to help you become a better, more confident and competent photographer, so that you can have as much fun and creative enjoyment as I do.


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