Reflection, Inflection
2025 is looming — decisions and directions
New Year is coming, at once the most cathartic and terrifying moment of the year. Expectations written as 01-01. By definition a new start, and yet a continuation of everything that has come before. I have slightly dodged some of these expectations over the years, as I got engaged and married on New Year’s Eve and so have the perfect excuse to opt out, but it still appears ahead of me like the start line of a race in the fog, a race I don’t remember entering and am not quite sure what challenges will follow. We all have to cross that threshold.
Next year, if nothing else, I will approach it with an intention to engage where at all possible.
Reflections
As you – my lovely readers of this Substack – have probably already noticed I have had a period which has prompted a good dose of reflection this year, personally, creatively, career-wise (should it be ‘careerily’? It would be much more pleasing alliteration) so I have plenty of material to work with to shape my approach to the passing of 2024. At the recent exhibition I visited at the V&A, Fragile Beauty, heightened that focus, reflecting the many sides of Elton John and David Furnish, their intense personal, creative and professional interests over many years. Indeed the way the exhibition grouped the photography into themes – celebrity, male form, reportage, etc, inevitably invited reflection on my own creative and personal endeavours.
This post is going to be a little briefer (text-wise at least) as we go into the holidays, but will come back strong in 2025 I hope!
Personal reflections
It was great meeting up with old friends in December (you know who you are!) and catching up on where their story is, what challenges lie ahead, and comparing personal notes. I think I can say we all under appreciate others’ ‘wiggly journey’ through life, and over-think what judgements others might have of us (see imposter syndrome, various other posts of mine etc). Situations with parents, family, kids, health (both types) all rush towards us and through us and take their toll, no-one is exempt.
On the other hand, new opportunities, friendships, connections also can be created if we push forward with intention, through these waves. Definitely not my strong suit, but something I want to do more of in 2025 – choose new experiences, keep engaging, reduce my Ostrich tendencies. We will see!
Creative reflections
Put simply, variety and intention is my plan for 2025. This substack in particular has kept me in a habit of looking for new images, thinking about my approach and engaging in the start of a journey to create better images. So more of this, for sure. More photo walks, more learning (gotta sign up to a class / workshop or two as I get bored with my own voice too too quickly), and hopefully the opportunity to help others creatively too. Reach out if you think I could help.
One project is already in motion for next year! My artist friend Karen (you can find her substack here) and I caught up on Bankside over a meal and chit chat (why does food and conversation work so well together?), and we hatched a plan…
The Inflection Project
I love working together with other people, and we both agreed, after a challenging couple of years, and both focusing on developing our creative journeys, we should work together. So from January, we will be working on a ‘create and respond’ series together – one month I will take a photograph, the next Karen will create (paint / draw / etc) another piece to continue the story. Much like the children’s game of drawing a series of body parts on a folded piece of paper, we will only find out the whole picture – the arc of the narrative, so to speak – at the end. We hope to exhibit the series at the end of 2025 or early 2026.
We will both keep you posted on our progress and thoughts about the work. I’ve got January to kick it off, so wish me luck!
Careerily
I’m not going to spend a long time in this area, as it’s not really the focus of this Substack, but I have some interesting ideas I want to explore next year.
AI
I’ve done quite a bit investigating AI over the last 18 months, but want to work a little harder on reaping the benefits, whilst informing myself about the dangers and implications for marketing in particular. My team at Cumming Group will be part of that journey.Roundtable dinners
At the end of November I hosted a roundtable with other experienced marketing folks, discussing that much overused term in marketing ‘Thought Leadership’. By unpacking some of the challenges, and presenting a framework I thought would give people a better grip on the issue and a focus that would keep us away from generic ‘shop talk’. Anyhoo, it proved to be a great success so we will be running 5 more next year. Thanks to co-hosts InpactB2B and sponsors Rosely Group to enabling it to happen!Fewer, better
At work we have a challenge – the company is comprised of 7 companies who have merged over the last few years, and with ALL the related issues. My mantra to do some interesting and impactful marketing next year is to focus on a few things and do them really really well, and not let anything else distract us from that.
And finally…
Just really a big thank you to all of you for subscribing and following. It’s genuinely been a privilege to have you on this journey of mine. It’s a small substack, but hopefully becoming well formed. If you have any questions, requests, comments or curious factoids, I’m all ears.
Keep curious - see you in 2025!
James
