A year in review 2021 and what to expect in 2022

Just like everyone else, 2021 was a strange year that was blighted by Covid. But it wasn’t all bad, I managed to take many photographs, have new gear, get things done on the website and much more!

Photography in 2021

Photography was a big part of 2021, and I was lucky enough to get out on a regular basis. My website photo blog section is full of images from my outgoings, plus there’s always my latest Instagram images available on this website. Here are a few of my favourites from 2021.

Articles in 2021

I wrote a heck of a lot of articles in 2021, with articles on techniques, tips, hardware reviews and software reviews. It’s something I enjoy doing, and I know that you all appreciate the hard work that goes into these. Here are my five most popular articles that, if you haven’t read, it just might be the time to catch up on them.

Why I still recommend the X-T20 in 2021 – A phenomenal 14.6k+ views this year!

Fujifilm’s most underrated lens – A fantastic look at the XC50-230mm, and with 13.8k views in 2021!

Why Darktable is great for Fujifilm users – A look at Darktable, and its importance to Fujifilm users, and with over 9k views, it was popular!

Photographing wildlife with the XC-50-230mm – A lot of users of all lenses liked and reacted to this, as it gives great technique on photographing birds and wildlife! Over 5k views.

Why most amateur & professional photographers use aperture priority – This one is the most useful general article to hit the top 5, with over 4k views. I really rang true with so many visitors.

Website in 2021

My website, OneCameraOneLens has gone from strength to strength, and consistently amazes me with the visitor numbers and feedback I receive. Many of the articles, and sections of the website (especially the Fujifilm section) attract hundreds of visitors daily, who also then browse the rest of the site

Statistically speaking, from January 1st 2021 until today, December 31st, OneCameraOneLens has welcomed over 310,000 visitors, that takes the total to over 400,000 in the 18 months or so the website has been running. I’ve had over 800 comments and 4000 likes in 2021.

The most popular article has had over 14.6k views, while the most popular page (other than the home page) has had over 26k visits.

Google accounted for over 32k searches of OneCameraOneLens, while every single other search engine accounted for just 4k searches. Everything else was direct traffic from Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and links from other websites.

The United States accounted for 82k visitors, the UK 38k and Germany 24k visitors, while every country you can think of had visits in various numbers.

But numbers don’t mean anything if the content isn’t king, and I think it’s the combination of photography, articles by myself, articles by contributors and specific subject matter such as Fujifilm recipes and Darktable articles that has helped keep the site fresh and exciting. The most popular Fujifilm page attracting over 26k visitors!

Gear in 2021

2021 was a very different year, apart from selling my Viltrox 85mm F/1.8 (and replacing it with the XF18-135mm), I also decided to stop shooting in 35mm film and concentrate on instant film photography.

In January I bought the Fujifilm Instax Mini 70, which is an amazing analogue instant camera, and a few months later I picked up the Fujifilm Instax SQ6 square format instant camera. Both are great fun, both capture the moment and there’ll be more to come in 2022!

What inspired me in 2021?

Like many, I enjoy watching YouTube videos and reading magazines. Before I go into the list of YouTubers I recommend, I have to ask you all too join your local library. Most now have online content via the PressReader app, and allows you to read all the regular photography magazines. Having them all “on-tap” like this is amazing, and there is so much inspiration in the images you see, the tips you read and the gear you read about

My top five YouTube photography channels that have really inspired my photography and outlook on what I’ve done and what I will do are as follows.

T.Hoppers YouTube Channel: Her channel is dedicated to highlighting photographers from the past, famous people you didn’t know were photographers and of course her own photography and a lot more. Truly inspirational and each episode is put together perfectly.

Maarten Heilbron’s YouTube Channel: Maarten reviews cameras, talks about important photography subjects and so much more. His videos are always in depth and fascinating, and you always end up knowing more than you knew before about photography.

Samuel Streetlife’s YouTube Channel: One of the big names in street photography. Samuel uses both film and digital cameras, and travels around taking photographs that are always of interest. He’s great to just watch and enjoy, and there’s always something interesting going on in his videos.

Mattias Burling’s YouTube Channel: A fantastic channel that reviews older cameras, has interesting photography using those cameras and is such a soothing channel to watch. Mattias never fails to entertain, and produce some incredible images.

James Popsy’ YouTube Channel : One of the very few landscape photographers that I watch now. He’s constantly interesting, because unlike other YouTube landscape photographers, he seems to understand how photography and photographers are actually like in real life. A genuine photographer who loves photography, always gives great advice and constantly improves his content.

There are so many more I could name, but I’m just using it to these five, as in January I’ll be exploring YouTube photographers a lot more, and you’ll have a much larger list of photographers who are genuinely in it because they love it.

I also get inspired simply by looking at the images on my Facebook groups. I know some people simply pass by the image without much notice, but I study each one, I use the “like” function when I’ve studied them, and will always comment on the ones who inspire me to up my game.

What’s coming in 2022?

I have a plan for the coming year, and it’s quite challenging:

• Mostly all jpeg images shot in square format in monochrome and unedited.
• Selected raw files will be edited in colour. Usually for HDR, long exposure, infrared or low light photography.
• A tripod will be part of the kit for the HDR/Long exposure/infrared/double exposure photography.
• New Fujifilm Instax Evo (February) will be used as a main camera (5mp sensor) alongside the X-T3 for unedited images and Instax film of best shots as I experiment with low-fi imagery.
• Website new section for yearly calendar worthy shots.
• Website new section for Darktable related content.
• Whereas now there are generally 2-4 blog updates a week (usually one of photos and others of other content), from January there will be two blogs a week… Midweek photographs from shoots and weekend general article.
• Google Pixel 6 which l recently upgraded to will be used for major photography projects.

I think the big one there is the Fujifilm Instax Evo. It’s a hybrid Instax camera that captures images using a 5mp sensor and prints then out on Instax Mini film (my favourite format right now!). This will basically be another digital camera, with built in features (as mentioned in my preview) that should hopefully mean it can be a useful tool in my photography.

2022 will all be about experimenting, and touching photography techniques I haven’t done much of for too long now! I’m hoping the year will be something different, something to keep by interest and to improve my compositions.

Whatever happens, I hope you all have a wonderful New Year!

Mark, 31-12-21