Best Of 2018 || Jessica Mumm Photography
2018 was a year for the books!
At the end of 2017 I remember naively thinking, “how could next year top this year”? Boy, was I wrong. Just to highlight a few things in 2018, I had my best year so far business wise, I bought a new car, quit my job and officially started photography as my full time job, got my work featured for the first time, traveled as much as I could, and met some of the best people ever. I had some of the highest highs and the lowest lows, I struggled to balance work life and my personal life, and I had to decide to only keep things and people in my life that had a positive impact. In a lot of ways, it was a hard year too, but I wouldn’t have changed any of it because this year was such a pivotal year for molding me into who I want to be, and what I want to do.
I decided to search through my blog and see what I posted at the end of last year. Here’s a quote from that post:
“My biggest goal for 2018 is to just be a more overall organized, balanced, and happier person. I still want to travel as much as possible, hike some of my goal trails, shoot some beautiful weddings, and spend time with people that really matter to me, and make my overall quality of life much better. I want this to be the year that I find balance in work and my personal life, while still growing my business. I want to continue to try new things!”
Reflecting on that, I think I definitely was more organized, but still struggled with the whole balance thing. Part of that came from the fact that I had little to no free time to find that balance, when I was still working almost 40 hours a week and running my business. So third time’s the charm; I’m thinking that 2019 will be the year for balance between fun and work! (Not that work isn’t fun, because 80% of the time it’s a blast.) In 2018, I hiked a ton of my goal trails (Bench + Snow Lakes, Lake O’Hara, Mount Storm King, and Larch Valley, just to name a few), shot some INSANELY beautiful + unique + amazing weddings, and I definitely tried some new things! (Laura, I know you’re reading this, shoutout for making me try all kinds of new food!)
I’m a sucker for numbers / analytics / stats, so I pulled together some interesting graphics from a few online services to show you some stats from my year!
That’s right, I listened to over 30,000 minutes of music on Spotify! The “Top Artists” roundup is pretty true to my faves this year, and I’d recommend listening to all of them. I also got pretty involved on Instagram (shameless plug; if you’re not following me there yet, you need to! I post / story almost every day!) and started to grow my little online clan there! Finally the little circle of colors is the most commonly found colors in my Insta feed; pretty earthy if I do say so myself.
2018 was also a year of expanding my social circle! I had opportunities to meet up with so many local photographers who have become great resources and friends. Spokane has the best little community of creatives, and the fact that Spokane is so big on supporting small businesses over corporate stores is one of my favorite things about living here.
I calculated some of my own stats regarding both my business and my personal life, and here they are:
I shot 9 weddings, 15 sessions, and 4 personal shoots. I traveled in 2 countries, 5 states, and 7 national parks! I hiked 22 times.
So with that said, here’s some of my goals for 2019:
I want to book 15 weddings! Obviously business goals are important and this one is a big one of mine! More than 15 would be even better; I wouldn’t complain about that 😉 I also want to work with couples who are chill + laid back, love the outdoors, and maybe even want to stray from tradition on their wedding day, or do something totally unique. If this is you, please shoot me a message and we can chat about your big day! Additionally, I’d like to do at least 20 portrait sessions of any kind. And one more business goal that I have is to get a few more features on different wedding blogs!
I want to purchase a new computer! Big desktop iMac’s visit me in my dreams often. My laptop has been a workhorse for years but I’m ready for more screen real estate and faster processing!
I want to travel to Alaska or Hawaii. I mean, ideally I’d spend a month in Europe adventuring through the Italian Dolomites, Norway, Switzerland, and basically anywhere else with epic mountain landscapes and hiking, but beggars can’t be choosers. Realistically, I just really want to travel somewhere that’s a good amount further than a 10 hour drive away. I’m ready to expand my radar of travel! Alaska or Hawaii both seem like great places to start.
I want to revisit some old favorite trails, and hit some new ones! I compiled a list of my goal hikes for next year. If you’ve done any of these, or are interested in doing them in 2019 with me, let me know! I could always use more hiking partners!
Joffre Lakes (British Columbia)
Lake 22 (Central Cascades)
Lake Ingalls (Central Cascades)
Blanca Lake (Central Cascades)
Colchuck Lake / Aasgard Pass (The Enchantments)
Heather - Maple Pass Loop (North Cascades National Park)
Emmons Moraine (Mount Rainier National Park)
Fremont Lookout or Tolmie Peak Lookout (Mount Rainier National Park)
Harrison Lake (Selkirk Range, ID)
Hunt Lake (Selkirk Range, ID)
Roman Nose Lakes (Selkirk Range, ID)
Lower + Upper Grinnell Lake (Glacier National Park)
Cracker Lake (Glacier National Park)
Hidden Lake (Glacier National Park)
Sperry Glacier (Glacier National Park)
Lake O’Hara / Obapin Plateau (Yoho National Park)
Wapta Falls (Yoho National Park)
Minnestimma Lakes (Banff National Park)
I want to stay consistent in the gym / with my physical fitness. No, I’m not looking for 6 pack abs! But my hiking addiction isn’t slowing down soon and I’d like to be comfortably hiking 10+ mile trails with over 2000 feet of gain on the regular. To do this, I need focus more on my physical fitness so I can crush my goal trails!
I want to make changes in my day to day life to be more environmentally friendly. If you read my last blog post, you’ll know why! This includes things like not using k-cups (reusable keurig filter for the win!), being more conscious with my recycling (I could probably recycle a lot more of what I throw away), focusing more on purchasing used / thrifted clothing instead of buying new, and avoiding single use products.
I want to reduce my screen time. This is something we all really need to do, but especially now that I work from home it’s very easy to open a notification on you phone, and get caught up in the endless scroll. Less of that, please!
I want to focus on the things, people, and activities that make me happy! Because at the end of the day, if you’re not truly enjoying your life than what does any of the previously mentioned stuff even matter?
Okay, okay, enough of the mushy stuff!
I know you came here to see what was listed in the title of this post: the best of my 2018 photography! I’ve gathered 3 main categories of photos below: weddings, sessions, and places. First up is weddings! It was insanely difficult, but I chose 2 of my favorite candids / moments, and 2 of my favorite portraits from each wedding I shot in 2018. I’m so happy with my 2018 wedding season; I truly got to work with some of the greatest people and am even happier to report that I made some new friends out of it too. These were some of the coolest, sweetest, and most unique couples I’ve ever gotten of working with, and I’m so honored that I got to capture some of their happiest and most emotional moments. What an absolute privilege. Scroll down to see my favorites!
Best Of 2018 Weddings
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Next up is sessions! I also photographed some seriously fun and super cute engagement, anniversary, senior, and portrait sessions this year. I squeezed in some personal projects and had the opportunity to have some really good creative freedom! Below are 2 of my faves from each of my portrait sessions this year.
Best of 2018 Sessions
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And finally, my favorite travel + hiking photos! I got to not only go to some of my old favorite places (Banff, the Cascades, etc.) but check out some brand new places too! Travel + landscape photography has grown to take up a huge part of my heart and is something I know I’ll continue to do for a long, long time.
Best Of 2018 Places
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And finally, a small collections of personal photos I found in my camera roll to share some of my favorite memories with my favorite people! I have the best, funniest, and most considerate friends. Freakin’ LOVE YOU GUYS.
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