2025 wrapped unwrapped rewrapped regifted

Ronan Keating was right. Life is a rollercoaster, and I do not like rollercoasters... or boy bands... or cliches... Life, is a mess but you find a way. Despite chronic fatigue issues I’ve achieved a few things this year. Here are some highlights.

• Embraced social nudity and did a mass skinny dip
• Had the confidence to post photos of myself naked online
• Opened up about being naked curious to people.
• Challeneged my anxiety with a naked walk on a naturist beach for all to see
• Photographed Wirral Pride and Liverpool Pride
• Learnt that I am deaf, not just someone with bad hearing.
• Finally found ways to relax
• Reviewed my ADHD meds after being on them for a year
• Considered how a year of sobreity had been
• Debated whether 5 years of cold water dipping had liberated me from my fears
• Thought about what 5 years of cold water swimming had actually done for me.

Despite my health issues, I’m hopeful about 2026. I don’t know if I’ll have the energy to do any of the work I did this year, but I hope I can.

Thank you for reading, sharing, supporting and for not unsubscribing after scrolling quickly past my nakedness. I’m happy to report that some of these posts are going to be published for reals next year. It’s good to know my weirdness resonates.

If you'd like to see how the year was in photos, I've done a highlights blog post on my portfolio site.

Hope you have a relaxing holiday season (it’s a week really). See you in 2026.

Links

• Review of the Year 2025: Top 25 Photography. From behind the scenes of Blur’s rise to fame to Crufts caught on camera, this year’s top articles take us behind the curtains into histories and communities we’ve never had the pleasure of seeing up close.
• Beautiful Drone Videos of Iceland’s Black Sand Beaches. From photographer and videographer Jan Erik Waider, a trio of videos that features the black sand beaches of Iceland...
• Wondrous Winners of the 12th International Landscape Photographer of the Year Awards. These landscapes will make you want to go out and touch grass!
• Dancing Gorilla Wins Top Prize in the 2025 Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards. “Watching his performance was pure joy, and I’m thrilled to have captured his playful spirit in this image.”