Annemarie
Summing up an entire year in 5 photos is no easy task. Doing it in words is hard enough! While scrolling through photos on both my laptop and phone, I simultaneously felt like I had too many and not enough. Also, I had close to no “photo evidence” for some things that were a huge part of my year, like school, my first job, and writing for CelebMix and Fuzzable. So I tried to pick photos that cover as many different aspects of my 2017 as possible. And because I’m sappy and extra and I over-analyze everything, some of these descriptions might be a little far-fetched.
If nothing else, this has made me realize that I need to take more pictures, and better ones. Well, there’s another resolution for 2018. I’ve also posted another New Year’s reflection piece that dives into my thoughts on 2017 and 2018. Anyways, without further ado, here are five pictures that describe my 2017!
1. O Christmas Tree
This is Canada’s largest Christmas tree, standing at 100ft tall inside Toronto’s Eaton Centre. I was lucky enough to see it twice in 2017, once at the beginning of January and once in mid-December. It’s stunning to look at in person, it has so many lights your eyes hurt if you look at it too long! I actually went to Toronto several times throughout 2017, and this was really the year I fell in love with the city and realized I want to work or live there someday. I’ll likely be spending even more time there soon for university, so I’m glad I got to see and experience even more of Toronto this year.
2. Camera Ready
This is a very basic photo I took using the camera I got to borrow for the duration of my photography class during the spring. About two-thirds of the photo library on my computer is pictures from that class, so I felt compelled to include at least one. Anyways, this is more of a picture to represent all of the vaguely artistic things I’ve done or consumed in 2017! Along with my photography class, I started to learn ukulele, I watched my first musical, and I designed and photoshopped some posters that were hung around my school. I’ve discovered more music than ever this year- my Spotify library has grown exponentially! And of course, I did quite a bit of writing during 2017. I did an (almost) monthly blog right here on Fuzzable, did more interviews and exclusives on CelebMix, and I explored a bunch of new types of writing through another class I’m taking. Yay creativity!
3. Ottawa
I also visited Ottawa, the capital of Canada, in 2017! This year was Canada’s 150th anniversary, and although my family and I visited in late August instead of Canada Day weekend, I still got a pretty authentic Canadian experience. I visited the Parliament buildings, went on a cruise of the Rideau canal at sunset, and did a lot of walking! I took so many pictures it was difficult to narrow down to one. Also, let’s take a minute to appreciate how awkward of a pose this is. It’s a cute idea, but I feel like it doesn’t really translate in the photo. If you zoom in enough, you can probably see how self-conscious I looked while posing as a “T”.
4. Oh Wonder
I went to my first *real* concert in 2017! (I am not counting the American Idol finalist tour I went to when I was 10. I’m trying very hard to block that out of my memory). Anyways, I saw Oh Wonder on their third night in Toronto in September! I’d been listening to their music for over a year, and I love both their self-titled album and their newest release Ultralife. It was a fantastic show! Josephine and Anthony had so much energy on stage, the setlist was perfect, and the atmosphere in the room was infectious. This was the only decent picture I managed to take, but I still have vivid memories of having a great time. I need to go to more concerts in 2018!
5. You Are Enough
This was a message I noticed written on the wooden rail of a boardwalk at a local nature conservatory/trail system. This sounds really cheesy, but those words really made me feel at peace. I was surrounded by the sounds of birds chirping and a river running, too far from the road to hear any cars. It was late October, the peak of autumn, and the trees along the trail were boasting their vibrant red, yellow, and orange leaves. The words “You Are Enough” were a great reminder for me and brought things into perspective during a hectic time. I hope to get out to enjoy nature and experience more of these moments of serenity and acceptance in 2018.
So that was my 2017 summed up in pictures. I’ll probably be posting more photos throughout 2018 on my Twitter, so follow me over there if you want to see more!
Share the photos that summed up your 2017 with us on Twitter @Fuzzable!
