Happy New Year!

I know these posts are SO 2014, but I started writing it in December so I may as well post it.  I thought it would be fun to look back on 2014 and do a photography-related Year in Review, from my job and my personal life.

A few notable things from 2014:

• I sustained a pretty serious concussion in March, so that put a damper on… well, everything.  (And I’m still dealing with post-concussion syndrome 9 months later!)
• Despite the above, I still managed to add 429 images to my Stocksy portfolio and had my best sales year in stock photography since I started in 2009!  I experienced a whopping 456% growth with Stocksy from 2013 to 2014.  I’m so grateful to be a part of this co-op, and proud of how successful it has become as a small company in such a competitive industry.  Go Stocksy!
• I got married in August, and by all accounts it was the best wedding ever.
• This is possibly the first year in my entire life that I didn’t leave the country.  Whoa!

Here are a select few moments from 2014…

January

John, Sarah and I took a trip to the aquarium for our food blog, Crustcrumbs.

Jellyfish by Jen Grantham

… and then, in a morbid turn of events, we cooked an octopus.  You can license the series of octopus photos on Stocksy.

Cooked octopus on drying rack by Jen Grantham

We also posted our series of ice skating photos with a hot chocolate recipe.  The series can be licensed on Stocksy.

Ice Skating by Jen Grantham

February

Crustcrumbs took a weekend road trip to Barrie to go pretend ice fishing.  You can license photos from this shoot on Stocksy.

Cooking Outdoors by Jen Grantham

We also shot a series of gross food for Valentine’s Day.

Geoduck Sashimi from “6 Disastrous Dishes to Avoid on Valentine’s Day.”

I started blogging again, beginning with a curated gallery of images from Stocksy members called “Stock Photography of Real Women.”  That was a lot of fun, so I started a semi-regular blog feature called Friday Favourites.

March

We got a puppy!  He’s a Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier and we named him Dexter.  He was previously adopted by another couple, and then given up after just four days because he was “too crazy.”  Frankly, that was an understatement.  We love him anyway.

Dexter the Wheaten Terror, 13 weeks old, the first day we brought the little maniac home.

This is the day I learned the wonder of the #snowbeard.

I had a photo series nominated in the 1st Annual Stocksy Awards.

Nominated for Best Series in the 1st Annual Stocksy Awards.

That photo was also shared almost 25,000 times from my Tumblr this year.  Whoa.

I took pictures of an adorable baby named Millie.  Millie was grumpy during our shoot, so her mom pulled out a container of bubbles and blew bubbles for her for the first time.  It was one of my favourite things that has ever happened during a photoshoot.  You can license the series on Stocksy.

Toddler enchanted by bubbles by Jen Grantham

Pure joy.

I got a concussion.  Nooooooooooooo!

April

April was sort of like this:

May

My dog made this face.

… and it was the best.

Crustcrumbs posted stills from a series of food-related comedic shorts we shot with Toronto comedy duo Terrific Women.  I also posted a behind-the-scenes look from the shoot on my blog. (Yes, the lighting is supposed to be gross.)

A still from “Terrific Women Make Cottage Cheese Pie.”

I finished a year-long photo project taking pictures of this cute baby every month until her first birthday.

Face hidden to protect the adorable.

June

I finally got to be a part of my favourite movie.

Hold on to your butts.

Dexter found his first mud puddle, and it was honestly the worst.  There is a little photo series of this incident available on Stocksy.

Very Muddy Dog by Jen Grantham

I sold my first gigantic 6′ by 3′ canvas print to an office building.

Toronto Skyline Canvas Print

My baby brother graduated from high school.  Aww.

Hats.

July

This was a busy cottage month.  It was also a busy month for Crustcrumbs, gathering food for a series on Rumtopf.

Strawberries to start off the Rumtopf.

I shot this series with a model named Camille.

Hairstylist curling model’s hair by Jen Grantham

Summer vacation.

Cottage Decor by Jen Grantham

I took pictures of our wedding rings being made.  The rings were done by Shelly Purdy.

Jewellery designer working on a men’s wedding band by Jen Grantham

August

I got married!  It was an amazing 3-day affair with perfect weather.  Friday rehearsal dinner boat cruise, Saturday wedding in my parents’ backyard, Sunday brunch.  Our wedding photographer was my friend Stacey Newman.

Boom. Married.

I also did my own photobooth at the wedding and it was basically the best.

Thumbs up for a DIY photobooth.

I wore a sexy, flattering jumpsuit and hung off the edge of the CN Tower.

Me at the CN Tower Edge Walk.

September

I had the pleasure of organizing the first “official” Stocksy group shoot along with a shoot-from-the-hip photowalk in Kensington Market and a group outing to Stocksy member Lisa Macintosh’s photography show, “Ask.”  The food for our Thanksgiving feast was cooked and styled by John, and he was interviewed about it on Stocksy’s blog.  Here are my photos from the Thanksgiving feast, plus a few from our Christmas sidebar shoot.

Group of friends waiting for Thanksgiving dinner by Jen Grantham

October

John and I did a gross photoshoot with tomatoes.

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!

During that photoshoot, I painted gold nail polish on some black chicken feet for some reason.

Gold nail polish painted onto black chicken feet by Jen Grantham

I worked with live animals for the first time at a photoshoot!  (I worked with a trained raccoon once on a film shoot.)  You can see the series on Stocksy.  I also blogged about it.

Owl on woman’s shoulder by Jen Grantham

The model even let me put a tarantula on her face.

Tarantula crawling on woman’s face by Jen Grantham

I shot some images for the Toronto comedy duo, The Crimson Wave.

The Crimson Wave

I turned 30!

November

John and I shot a series of cake and cupcake images for Crustcrumbs.

Minimalist cake with a dinosaur topper by Jen Grantham

I started a few different photo series I still haven’t finished.

This will be something, one day.

I did finish this series of images of a man hanging exterior Christmas lights.

Hanging the Christmas Lights by Jen Grantham

December

John, Sarah and I created a poster for a short film called Fat Camp.  It’s amazing.

Fat Camp by Sacha Pavlovic

I shot a series of yoga images with world-traveling yoga instructor and musician Nicola.

Yoga Practice – Prayer by Jen Grantham

Christmas with family!  Three times!

Christmas #1

My photography goals in 2015:

• Don’t hit my head on anything.
• Shoot more! [for work and fun]
• Travel more!
• Experiment with video.

I hope everyone has a great 2015!