2025 - A Year In Review
From the outside, 2025 may have looked like a quieter year—no international travel, no packed itineraries, no dramatic landscapes far from home. But for our family, it was a deeply intentional year shaped by travel photography, staying rooted, and learning what it means to live in one place rather than pass through it.
We stayed in the United States the entire year and made Oahu, Hawaii our base—choosing depth over distance after years of constant movement. For someone whose life and work have long been defined by photography and travel, this pause became an unexpected chapter of reflection, presence, and creative recalibration.
A Year of Staying Put (and the Reasons Why)
Our move to Oahu, Hawaii for 2025 was intentional.
Over the years, we explored many paths for our kids’ education—traditional schooling after the pandemic, a non-traditional half-year world-schooling journey in 2023, and virtual learning that blended the two. Each phase taught us something valuable, but by 2025, we knew it was time to pause the experimentation and prioritize professional support for our younger son.
Settling down didn’t immediately bring ease. Early in the year, my older son’s passport expired, and when we tried to renew it in Hawaii, we were asked to present the original birth certificate—stored at our home in Washington. That alone required a solo trip back to the mainland, just to retrieve a single piece of paper. It was a small but telling reminder that even simple logistics can shape a year more than we expect.
In the first eight months, we rented cars over a dozen times back to back, living with a constant sense of impermanence, until we decided to commit to staying longer after finding the combination of professional support our younger son truly needed. That decision quietly anchored the year, even as life around us continued to feel fragmented. (Read 8 Less Crowded Photo Spots To Capture Natural Beauty On Oahu, Hawaii, written after 8 months of exploring the island.)
Then my husband underwent knee surgery, further narrowing our ability to travel and shifting our focus fully to day-to-day family logistics and recovery. For both him and our younger son, my days became a steady loop of driving between hospitals, clinics, and appointments. I spent countless trips behind the wheel, moving across one obligation to the next, watching sunset not from a beach or lookout, but through the windshield on the freeway.
Read Oahu Beyond Waikiki (part 1) - 8 Photo Spots From Known To Hidden Gem, written at the early stage of exploring Oahu
And Oahu Beyond Waikiki (part 2) - 7 Scenic Spots You Don't Want To Miss, written 3 months after exploring Oahu
In June, we did manage a short trip to Kauai—just a 25-minute flight away, likely the shortest flight I’ve ever taken. The contrast was immediate. Kauai felt slower and greener, a place where nature takes the lead and human presence fades into the background. Even in a brief visit, it reminded me how differently each island holds space, light, and energy—and how proximity doesn’t always predict experience.
Hanalei Pier in sunrise, Kauai Island
Beyond travel limitations, I also dealt with ongoing skin and eye issues. Even on days we went to the beach, I never entered the ocean—not once the entire year. Hawaii might be paradise for many, and it was a place we hoped to feel content even without traveling, but the experience reminded me that place alone doesn’t guarantee happiness. Mindset matters—perhaps more than location ever does.
Later in the year, we returned to Washington again—this time together. Reconnecting with our home and spending time in the Pacific Northwest felt grounding in a different way. The softer, lower-contrast light there—so unlike Hawaii’s intensity—brought me back to a familiar visual language and naturally led into deeper reflections on photography, light, and how creativity adapts to the season you’re in.
Photography in a Rooted Year
Even without extensive travel, photography remained a constant in 2025. I took a total of nearly 40,000 photos —~6500 of which in Washington, and the rest in Hawaii, made within a fragmented, demanding schedule.
Despite the harsh light during the day, Hawaii’s intense and consistent year-round light offers greater flexibility to photograph at the edges of the day—during sunrise and sunset.
Returning later in the year to the Pacific Northwest brought a familiar contrast: quieter, lower-contrast light that encourages a slower, more contemplative way of seeing.
Moving between these environments sharpened my awareness that light—not location—ultimately shapes a photograph. I shared these insights in a Youtube video (see below).
Given the realities of 2025, creating with clarity, intention, and efficiency mattered more than ever. I relied heavily on light as the primary decision-maker, simplifying my creation process from both camera and post processing in the limited windows I had. Photography became less about maximizing opportunities and more about making the most of the moments available—an approach that felt both practical and deeply grounding.
That same focus carried into my creative and teaching work. I continued refining my Document Happiness photography course, with an emphasis on helping photographers work confidently and efficiently—whether at home or while traveling.
Staying connected with students and witnessing their progress became a meaningful part of the year, not only in building clarity and confidence, but also in cultivating happiness through photography.
What 2025 Gave Me
2025 gave me fewer miles—but more clarity.
It reminded me that photography can be deeply therapeutic—not as a tool for productivity, but as a way to stay present when life carries a certain weight. Carrying a camera helped me notice light, patterns, and fleeting moments, wherever I was and however the day unfolded.
This year reaffirmed something simple and enduring: the quality of our experiences—whether in photography or in life—is shaped less by circumstance and more by how we meet the moment.
As we move forward, I carry that lesson with gratitude—rooted, steady, and open to whatever comes next.
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A reflective 2025 year in review shaped by staying rooted in Hawaii, limited travel, and intentional photography. From life on Oahu to revisiting the Pacific Northwest, this post explores how light, mindset, and clarity guided both family decisions and creative work.