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Looking Back at My 2010

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Well, it's December 31 again, and I'd like to take a moment to share some of the highlights of what was a very special year for me. Here they are in no particular order:

Stacy and I tied the knot.
On August 14, I married my best friend in a small white church in the Minnesotan countryside. My dearest friends and family were all there. We prayed. We danced. We drank. Life doesn't get much better. I don't mean to gloat, but it can indeed be classified as an epic win. This is by far the biggest highlight of any highlight list I've ever made. 

John's Photography grew.
With the support of my awesome clients and family, my photography biz reached its annual goals. I ended up shooting several beautiful weddings, friends and families in 2010.  Despite moving into a more competitive photography market in Sioux Falls, my camera stayed clicking throughout the past 12 months and I'm going to continue enjoying every minute of it. It's not yet my primary profession, but I'm looking forward to keeping the momentum which has been a blessing for me and my passion. 

Sioux Falls became home.
After six-and-a-half kick-butt years in Brookings, I finally packed up my life and moved it down the interstate to an apartment (hopefully my last one) in south-central Sioux Falls. So far, Stacy and I have been enjoying the city very much. We're both farm kids, so it was quite a transition, but we can both dominate I-229 with the best of them. 

I kept my pop-on-Fridays-only resolution. 
Exactly one year ago, I vowed to curb my ridiculous Diet Coke addiction by scheduling my soda intake to Fridays only. It worked, and I'm proud to report the loss of 10 lbs. without lifting a finger. The only downside to this resolution is that, although I reduced my sodium and HFCS intake, I consequently juiced my body with loads of coffee. I believe 2011 will have to be the year in which I finally gain control of my caffeine addiction.

My clients gave me some awesome photo assignments. 
I won't list them all here, but you can go to my photo blog to check out the curious diversity of work I shot in 2010. Everything from rap concerts to business portraits. It was an incredibly fun year for photography, and I can't wait to see what 2011 puts in front of my lens. 

Southeast Tech gave me more teaching opportunities.
The kind people at Business and Industry Training at STI called me up to teach Basic Photography in Fall 2009. The students in my first class gave me some very thoughtful and generous reviews, so STI decided to let me organize and teach Advanced Photography in addition to Basic Photography in Spring and Fall 2010. In Spring 2011, STI is letting me add yet another course to the catalog - a one-day portraiture seminar which will definitely be a fun day for me and my students. BTW - Business and Industry Training (BIT) at STI offers all three of these courses to the public at trainsiouxfalls.com

I started a legitimate blog.
I know it's not the world's most life-changing RSS feed ever, but I enjoy the feeling of turning thoughts and experiences into something more permanent. To tell the truth, I have some really inspiring friends who have some really inspiring blogs. I spent an unhealthy amount of time reading articles and drawing inspiration from the internet in 2010. Early in the year, I realized that I'm wasting an insane amount of stories and moments by not recording them for future reference. I obsessed over how I would set up my blog - what I would name it, what platform I would use, what my focus would be. The truth is - none of it matters nearly as much as actually producing and posting the content. Taking in others' blogs has become a daily habit for me, and I hope to contribute to the blog-o-sphere much more - in my own way - in 2011. 

We finally went to Hawaii.
Snorkeling with graceful sea turtles. Gawking at a Northern Pacific humpback whale. White-knuckling a rental car around hairpin turns on a cliff 1000 feet above the sea. Finding waterfalls off the beaten path. Napping on a beach. Double rainbows. Insanely colorful sunsets. Island hopping on a catamaran. Sorry, I'll stop now. It's by far the most awesomest place Stacy and I have ever visited, and we hope to go back sometime relatively soon. I'm overwhelmed with memories from that trip. Stacy already created a series of blog posts with photos from the journey, and I hope to organize my thoughts and experiences into my own blog post soon.

My family doubled. 
When I said "I do." to Stacy back in August, I became part of a wonderful clan of people in South-central Minnesota. I strongly believe that family grows vertically and horizontally. Families add children and spouses - and this grows the family literally, but there is also another dimension in which the family grows. I experienced it in the final two weeks of 2010. My aunt Elaine passed away, and my extended family demonstrated its most important activity - it gathered together with strong support and sincere love. My extended family doesn't come together as a whole very often, but when it does - I get this sense of place which tells me that we're all where we need to be. Right where we're meant to be. Togetherness grows the family figuratively. It's the fertilizer for the tree. I'm proud of the history and heritage of the Nelson and Kiecker names, and thanks to a little thing called love, my family tree now throws much more shade.  

My eyes really opened. 
Getting a little deeper here. The experiences and emotions and developments in 2010 gave me an advanced focus on my life goals. Instead of figuring out what I want, I can now work on how I'm going to get it - a much more satisfying activity. As you can see in this list - a lot of things happened to me in 2010, and they've helped me mature, realize and appreciate the things that make me who I am. Every opportunity. Every person. Every idea. Every feeling. Every photo. Every day. I'm grateful for it all, and I can't wait to see what will be on the list in 2011.