Micael Widell Newsletter #21: Hindsight is 2020
Captain’s log
So here we are, at the other end of 2020.
For me personally, 2020 wasn’t all that bad. Sure, it was slightly worse than any of my most recent years. But it was better than many other years earlier in my life. I am very fortunate not to have suffered any financial or health consequences of the pandemic, nor has anyone close to me. How was your 2020?
The main thing that made 2020 tough for me was that I was bogged down by too much work – a sometimes demanding dayjob combined with all the work that goes into my YouTube channel. And on top of that being a parent in times when my son had to be home from preschool a lot, and we couldn’t get any help from grandparents without risking their lives…
But all my work during the year has paid off, and now I finally make enough money to work full time with my YouTube channel, which I will transition into doing in February of 2021. Another thing that me and my family are eagerly awaiting now is our second child, expected in the end of January.
I am very proud of the work I did on my YouTube channel during 2020. I made 48 videos I am very happy with. I received 2.3 million video views, which is a lot more than any year before. I feel like I developed as a video maker and as a photographer, which is also a rewarding feeling. A more thorough summary of my year on YouTube in this video.
/Micael
Awesome interactive tutorial about photography
If you want to understand some of the physics behind bokeh, focus, lenses and how camera sensors work, but feel intimidated by physics and math, you must check out this amazing blog post. It explains all of these things in a very intuitive way, making use of interactive graphics that you can play around with. Give it 30-60 minutes, and you will be rewarded with a better understanding of your camera and lens for the rest of your life.
My best photos of 2020
Below are my top three most liked photos on Instagram during 2020. All I can think about when I see them is that I should have been out a lot more taking photos – during the past few years I didn’t actually have many hours in total to do insect photography – the season is short and I have always been occupied by too much non-photography work. I hope that I will get a lot more time for photography in 2021!
My Published Videos since the last newsletter
- How to get started with FPV Drones (for less than $200)
- 4 Reasons I Love the Samyang 135mm f/2 Lens
- Making a BIG change in 2021 (plus 2020 in numbers)
Goodbye for now
This letter was a bit shorter than normally. Sometimes I guess I just don’t have that much to say. Hope you still enjoyed it!
Thank you for reading this far, and see you in a month! Feel free to follow me on YouTube, Instagram and Twitter in the meantime. And also feel free to tell your friends about this newsletter, and to reply to it if you have feedback or comments :)
/Micael