Happy New Year to all! For me, 2022 was a significant year for healing and growth. I was able to experience new things with friends, grind through adversity and celebrate wins, grow a deeper connection with my mental and physical well-being, and maintain healthy relationships with friends and family. Honestly, just saying all that brings me a great sigh of relief and a smile to my face. Although it wasn’t sunshine and flowers every single day, it was most definitely the best year of the previous few. It flew by quickly, but I have good energy to continue the momentum going into the New Year. To name a few things I accomplished in 2022:

• Named my business DVLPD, “a creative media company which brings ideas to reality“
• Had a fairly successful print sale in Sacramento, with motivation to do more pop-up sales when the new season approaches
• Caught up on nearly all film developing and scanning – anyone who shoots film knows how good this feels
• Upgraded to a Panasonic GH5, but usage got delayed for quite a while until I also recently upgraded my PC, which can handle editing the video files
• Treated myself to new Sony headphones and an iPad Mini + Pencil, and moved most workflow to the Cloud so I can edit photos and small video projects on the go
• Worked the entire year and crossed the 3.5yr mark at my job, got a salary bump
• Physically moving and feeling better as a result of more exercise and adjusting out bad habits in my life surrounding diet, sleep, movement, stress management, personal management, etc. Obviously, still working on these things every day..
• Ending the year feeling much better than I entered it; hungry to take on more opportunities for growth, curious what the future holds because I’m always seeking to grow into the best version of myself and chase the ever-changing ideal end-goal.

Reflecting on these accomplishments like this just reassures me that I’m doing something right. In contrast, it’s easy to compare where I am to all those I look up to, but I know we each have our own journey and the fact I look up to them already places my standards for success higher than most. I make an effort to reach out and stay in touch with those I know that I see putting in the work like me. I know that often times when less recognized artists go against the grain of what’s common, trendy, or popular, we ‘re subject to feeling as if we’re doing something wrong. In reality, we’re just really passionate human beings who want to be known for our own styles, pushing the culture and the community forward, and being able to survive doing something we love. To that, I will always go out of my way to support someone else that I see going through that grind to give them the fuel to keep going, because I know sometimes, a few words of encouragement go a long way.

Peace and enjoy some of my favorite film images from 2022 below.

Last but not least, a glorious sunset at Land’s End on September 5th, 2022.

As usual, contact me for prints or visit www.matthewpak.darkroom.com to streamline your order! I appreciate any order, even if it’s a $5 4×6. I also appreciate any support, by sharing my work online or by word of mouth.

Thank you! Wishing you all a successful, healthy, and fun 2023 and beyond!