From me, Nasim, Libor, Jason, and the rest of the Photography Life team, we want to wish you all a very Happy New Year! May your 2025 be filled with joyful moments, good times with family and friends, and beautiful light.
Almost exactly one year ago today, Nasim and I had a conversation about the state of our website and the internet as a whole. That day, we talked about the growth of AI-generated junk websites, the virus of social media, the proliferation of “content farms” written by non-photographers, and the stranglehold of aggressive advertisements on what used to be an enjoyable activity – namely, reading and learning about photography online.
During that conversation, he and I decided to immediately remove third-party ads from Photography Life, thereby eliminating our biggest source of revenue with no alternative in place. We weren’t sure if this decision would spell the death of the website or something of a rebirth, but we felt it was essential to try. And the reaction from our readers was nothing short of remarkable. I probably don’t need to remind you what happened next, but I would like to put some numbers to it:
- In 2024, we wrote 245 articles on Photography Life…
- Including 32 lens reviews…
- Plus 162 extra posts on our new Member Page…
- Including 12 photo critique livestreams…
- Along with 2 eBooks and 2 multi-hour video workshops…
- All while showing zero third-party ads on Photography Life!
During that time, we created a community of photographers on our Member Page from scratch to 2706 photographers, while also crossing over 100,000 subscribers on our YouTube channel. In a world where traditional blogs are dying out – and camera sales have slowed – you showed that it’s still possible to survive and thrive as a dedicated photography website.
I hope you’ll forgive me for slowing the pace of articles a bit during these last two weeks while our team prepares for an even bigger 2025. We’ve got a series of big lens reviews coming up, along with two new Online Workshops nearly ready for publication, and that’s just in January! Meanwhile, we will always be available any time you have questions about photography, our gear reviews, or anything else.
My two biggest passions in life are photography, and Photography Life. This website has always been a labor of love from day one, and the best part of my job is connecting with other photographers to improve our skills together. I think it’s fair to say that 2024 was the biggest and most unusual year in Photography Life’s history, and I’m very glad you were here to share it with us.
With that, our team wishes you a very Happy New Year!
All the best of health for 2025 dear Photographylife team. Thanks a lot for your work and amazing tips and articles. I wish you can stay indipendent and very successful.
Many thanks for your work, and Happy New Year to all of you at Photography Life and to all readers / members.
Happy New Year, Vidmarko!
You are one of my favorite websites. I’m looking forward for more content.
I’m very happy to hear it, thank you! Much more on the way in 2025.
Thank you Aqqalu, we are glad that you find what you like with us.
> I’m looking forward for more content.
And you’ll certainly get it :)
Thank you for your great work this year and in recent years. I enjoy reading your topics and always learn something new. What more could you want? Greetings Heinz
Much appreciated, Heinz, and happy new year!
Thank you very much, Heinz. It is also a great pleasure for us to write for readers who appreciate our work. I wish you good light in 2025.
Yep many thanks crew, I love this site and all your great work. Made even better by your readers and their comments
Thank you, Fred! I agree, I love the comment section here, and that’s not something I can say about a lot of comment sections :)
Thank you very much, Fred. Kind comments like yours are fuel for our work. I totally agree with Spencer that the level of comments here at Photography Life is absolutely unique. It says a lot about the community of people who read us. I really wish it would stay that way. All the best for 2025, Fred.
Happy New Year!
This is by far the best website about photography.
Many thanks to the hard working Team.
Wish you all the best.
Greetings from my current location Shanghai.
Roger
Happy New Year, Roger! Thanks for the kind words and well-wishes. I hope you have a great 2025.
Hi Roger, greetings to Shanghai and many thanks for your kind comment. We all appreciate it very much. All the best in 2025, little smog in the streets and beautiful light.
Thanks to you all at PL for providing this great community resource, and Best Wishes for the New Year!
Thank you, Mark, happy new year!
Thank you very much, Mark. All the best to you too.
Thanks to you, Spencer! What all the folks reading this should know is that Spencer is one of the main reasons this site does so well and still exists. He has a rare combination of great photographic skill, meticulous attention to detail, and general good sense that prevents the site from waywardly descending into the dark SEO abyss.
Very kind of you, thank you, Jason! Now I get to brag a bit about you in return :)
I know that our readers see Jason’s articles frequently, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg! Jason started writing for us three years ago and holds the site together with his efforts, including a ton of work behind the scenes. He’s constantly editing our old articles to bring them up to date. He’s also a skilled coder who wrote our camera comparison database and a variety of other projects that go way above my head. Also, I’d like to mention our discussions on AI and other creative, philosophical topics over the years – it’s helped make me a better and more thoughtful photographer. I couldn’t keep Photography Life going smoothly without Jason and the other team members!
Guys, it’s truly amazing to be part of the same team with you. I deeply appreciate being your colleague. There’s just one thing that makes me a little sad – the vast geographical distance that separates us. However, I firmly hope that 2025 will be the year we finally meet in one lush green “office”.
Well spoken. Your efforts are greatly appreciated, as are your ethical standards. Happy New Year!
Thank you, Eric! Looking forward to another busy and interesting year. I hope it’s a good one for you too!
Everything was fine at Photography Life in 2024 and 2025 will be as well ;) The best to you and yours :D
Glad you thought so, thanks! Happy new year!