Hello, dear podcast listeners, and happy new year! After taking a much-needed break over the holidays, we are back and excited for what’s to come in Year three (can you believe it?) of the show.

As it’s become a tradition on the show, Kristina and I have devoted our first chat to looking back and reflecting on the previous year. And what a year 2019 was!

Looking back at 2019

Over the course of 34 episodes, I went on a (digital) journey around the world discussing toys with photographers from Sweden, Germany, Canada, South Africa, Australia and across the United States. There were nine themed challenges that pushed me outside of my comfort zone and helped me grow as a photographer. We reviewed movies like Welcome to Marwen and The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part. Kristina and Shelly took over the feed for a great series of “off-season” podcasts on fan fiction, nostalgia and humor. And, in addition to interviews, we tackled big topics like social media anxiety, photography projects, printing and more.

Thanks to everyone who listened in 2019! Whether you tuned in each week, participated in our monthly challenges, or just casually listened to an episode here and there, I appreciate your support, time and attention.

Like our 2018 recap, Kristina took the reigns this week and interviewed me about my second year as podcast host, the lessons I learned along the way, why I seem to talk about Star Wars so much and more. I hope you enjoy it.

Looking ahead in 2020

As I’ve now teased on multiple episodes, we have big plans for the show in 2020 that include more great interview guests from around the world, monthly themed challenges/exercises, topic-driven episodes, roundtables with members of the Toy Photographers editorial team, movie/TV reviews, and more!

Much will be revealed in the coming weeks, but for now, sit back and enjoy this recap of 2019. And if you’d like to join me and Kristina for our first themed challenge of the year, we’ll finally be tackling some color theory, beginning with the color red. Please submit your images to us by Friday, January 24 using the hashtag #tp_red on Instagram or MeWe, and tag us @thereeljames23 and @kalexanderson.

Thanks again for listening. I look forward to connecting with all of you in 2020!

-James

Don’t miss out on all the things happening at Toy Photographers this year by  Subscribing to our weekly email round up the podcast! Then continue the discussion in our awesome communities on MeWe and Flickr.