Editor's note: The 2026 class of my Lightroom Classic Secrets course is open for enrollment now. Learn the tips, techniques and secrets used by the Lightroom masters. Click here for the details. Thanks for reading, Andrew.
Every December I like to take some time to look through the photos that I’ve made during the year and pick my ten favorites. It’s a retrospective of my photography. I think about the things I wanted to achieve, and whether I achieved them.
I also look for themes and ideas that I wasn’t aware of at the time but are easier to see looking back. I often find things I tried, usually earlier in the year, that had potential but I then forgot about.
This yearly retrospective works as I make most of my photos in spring, summer and early autumn, and few in the winter months. This creative cycle suits me. Spring, summer and autumn are for making photos. The winter months are for catching up on developing photos, thinking about the projects I did during the year, thinking about themes and ideas and making plans for the coming year.
This exercise has served me well for fifteen years. But this year I’ve started to think about things differently. I’ve made a lot of photos, so picking my ten best is less of a helpful exercise. I’ve also become more aware of the power of small projects, and their link with creativity.
So this year my approach is to pick my ten favorite photo projects from the year. With each project I select my favorite photos, then bring them together in Lightroom Classic’s Print module to make the layouts you see in this article.
I don’t think about impressing other photographers when I do this exercise. My aim is to find the ten projects that are most interesting and useful to me. It’s a personal exercise. It’s not about other people. It’s about me, my photography and setting myself up for a good photographic year in 2026.
There’s nothing wrong with picking your best ten photos to impress other people, especially if it helps you be more objective about your own work. But it’s a good idea to be clear about your aims.
Creative exercise: Find your best photos or projects from 2025
You know already what this exercise is going to be. Go through your photos from 2025 and find the ten best. If you’re onboard with the idea of working with small photography projects, then you can find your best projects instead. If you’re new to the idea of working with projects, you’ll find looking through your 2025 photos and grouping them into themes and projects an interesting and productive exercise.
Write down your goals for 2026
Once you’ve found your best photos (or projects) it’s helpful to use them to come up with your photography goals for 2026. Write them down. Then, at the end of the year, you can look back and see if you achieved them.
They don’t have to be lofty, arty goals. A goal can be as simple as make lots of photos of gardens (one of my goals for the year) or travel to a new place to make photos.
But they can be more specific if that suits you. For example, you might want to travel to a certain place to make photos. Or you could learn a new photographic technique. If you have kids, you can set a goal to photograph their adventures over the course of the year. These are good specific goals.
Another way to think about goals is in terms of tangible products. You could set yourself a goal to add a gallery or two to your portfolio website. Better still, your goal might be to create a set of three prints to fill a space on a wall in your home. Or you can set yourself the goal of creating six zines over twelve months, each one for a different photography project.
My favorite projects from 2025
Here are my favorite projects from the year, with a few words on each. So far I’ve found eight, but I have lots of photos yet to develop.
Remember, a project doesn’t have to big or complex. It can be small enough to complete in an hour or two. Last week’s article Creative Exercise: Small Photography Projects has more detail on this idea.
Project #1: Knightshayes (black and white infrafred)
A set of black and white infrared garden photos of the gardens at Knightshayes, a historical property in Devon.
Project #2: Knightshayes (black and white)
I made these photos on the same day as the infrared photos, to see which ones I preferred. I didn’t continue with either project, but I’d like to return to using black and white in 2026.
Project #3: Saltram
A set of photos from the gardens at Saltram, a historical property in Devon.
Project #4: Burrow Farm Gardens flowers
A set of photos of flowers from one of my favorite Devon gardens.
Project #5: Burrow Farm Gardens
A set of garden photos from the same garden.
Project #6: Butterflies
A set of butterfly photos, all made on the same afternoon.
Project #7: RHS Rosemoor at f2
A set of photos made with the a 23mm (APS-C) lens set to f2.
Project #8: Flower photos
A set of flower photos made in different gardens at different times. Some of my favorite photos not included in other projects.
The Creative Photographer
My ebook The Creative Photographer explores seven ways that you can become a better photographer by focusing on the creative aspects of photography. Click the link to learn more or buy.
