Last year was a game-changer for my photography practice — I exhibited, experimented, and learned from other photographers — technically, artistically, emotionally. Here are the top 9 things I learned last year that I’m taking into 2025.

#1 How to Stop a Moving Train

I really wanted a self-portrait for my birthday in front of a pink train — one that matched my lipstick.

This involved a lot of experimentation, patience!, and getting the timing exactly, exactly right:

shutter speed (1/10)
train frequency
people getting on/off of trains
train arrival vs. departure speeds
maximizing length of passing train
different colors of trains
not being a nuisance

The first day I tried it, it was frustrating and I gave up. I came back the next day with what I’d learned and nailed it. I love how it turned out.

#2 How to Get Out of a Rut + Disrupt Perfectionism

I’m an overthinker and control freak.

When I started street photography, I loved how freeing it was — no control over people, weather, streets. Just shoot!

But I tend to get caught up in details, overcritical, creatively stuck — rejecting photos before I even take them.

One day in May, I tried an experiment: Ride every stop of a metro line without getting off, and take exactly ONE photo per stop. They didn’t have to be good.

30 stops. 30 shots.

It was fun, re-energized my practice for weeks, and I ended up with a photostory I love of a very green and rainy spring day.

#3 Flash is my Friend

I’ve always associated flash with bad 1980s snapshots and the likes of Bruce Gilden, whose approach to street photography is the antithesis of mine. I never liked flash and immediately turn it off on my iPhone.

But then in April, I met Jorge Garcia at an NYC-SPC x Ricoh GR event in Tokyo. He used flash on the street — in full sun (!) — to vivid and captivating effect. I loved it.

Total a-ha! moment.

I realized that my Fuji X70 back home, that I’d not touched in years, had built-in flash. I couldn’t wait to get home to it.

I’m just getting started.

Wish me luck in my flash era!

#4 Yep, Shooting in JPEG is Better (for Me)

Always shoot in RAW.

Or so you always hear in photography circles. You need it to edit! What if you take *the* photo?! You aren’t a serious or real photographer if you don’t shoot RAW.

I don’t care.

I’ve always shot in JPEG, then tried RAW this year. Nope. Still no. It’s cumbersome, eats space, slows transfers, and creates an annoying parallel universe.

I am a serious and real photographer.

And I like to get it right in-camera, maybe crop it, and then post/print SOOC. I don’t do weddings. I don’t want to tweak it later. I want it as I saw it in the moment. That’s what is interesting to me.

#5 How to Actually Enjoy Color

I love monochrome. I dress monochrome.

I love lines and light in black and white.

For many years now, I shoot 90% in black and white — deviating only when a story is ABOUT color, e.g. red shoes, Pride parade rainbows, or the green-on-green-on-green of a forest canopy.

This year I experimented a lot with in-camera color settings to tell specific stories about how places felt to me.

Constraints are freeing. Rather than letting color “happen to me,” using it intentionally as an emotional element

has unlocked a level of color photography that feels artistically true to me.

I look forward to more exploration!

#6 How to Make a Film in a Day

I’ve shot a lot of video footage over the years and done nothing with it, so in April I dared myself to make a “day in the life” mini-film in one day.

I used my Ricoh GRIII, a camera whose filmic qualities I love but one not known for its video prowess. Challenge accepted!

That day I shot ~30 scenes, <10s each, and then stitched ~12 together that night with some simple titles and transitions.

I pushed through a mental barrier, created something beautiful to my eyes, and made a how-to video/article that people say has inspired them, too.

How to Make a Short Film on Ricoh GR in One Day [youtube.com/@jillphotos]

#7 Trust Easy Photos

I grew up with an immigrant family mindset to not trust things that come too easily. It’s driven my work ethic (for better and worse) — and now I want to unlearn it.

I love the challenge of street photography and its unpredictable conditions. Braving windy snowstorms to get the shot. Always scanning and seeking and walking.

But this year, I found that many of my favorite photos were the easiest — hotel rooms, random blurry concerts, daily life, flowers. Subjects I’d before not thought to capture, and doing so with little thought or effort.

As I try to change the way I think and live, photography makes for a perfect practice and laboratory.

#8 Make All the Books

I want to see my photos every day.

I‘ve worked 98% digitally for years — only seeing my work on tiny shiny screens, except for exhibition or print sales. More and more, I want them out of the cloud and into my hands.

This year I printed zines at 7-11 and gave them out as business cards to make friends. I published photobooks under my own ISBN/imprint. I sold them, traded them, gave them away. This all made me very happy and I can’t wait to do more.

Right now I’m working on a massive gorgeous gallery book. A4 size. Linen hardcover. Good paper. 200gsm. End papers. 100s of pages. 1/1. Just for me.

#9 Let People Take Pictures of You

I take my own passport photos. I take the photos at parties. I hide from friends’ cameras. I get shy and awkward, duck and hide. I hate having my photo taken.

This year I met some really cool new photographer friends while traveling. Some of my best memories this year are from hanging out with them — doing shoots on streets and bars and taking photos of each other. I trusted them and let them take pictures of me, walking and laughing, all silver-streaked hair and hand gestures gone wild.

I’m so grateful now to have these photos, of my real face and joy in those moments. I am grateful to those that took them. Thank you. What a gift it is to be seen.

Find my work online:
jill.photos
instagram.com/jillcorral
youtube.com/@jillphotos

Top 9 Photography Insights I’m Taking into 2025