Marek Isalski, Entropy Source
2012: A Retrospective
- Was 2012 a good year for you?
- It was a year of very hard work, mainly in my business. It was better than last year which lacked sufficient interesting job-work. 2011 was when I bet everything on my company, but it wouldn't be till the last quarter of 2012 that this decision began to feel like it was paying off.
- What did you do in 2012 that you'd never done before?
- Mostly photography things as this had been where I set most of my personal goals. While I have worked at a wedding before (I was even the organist at one in 1992), I had never been asked to do the photography. So, naturally, 2012 saw me covering two. I sold a photograph for a national advertising campaign. I was published in a national paper. I went abroad to work (rather than just doing it remotely). I shot and directed promotional videos.
- What was your favourite moment of the year?
- Head massage from Dr Cat. After months of working myself to the absolute limit, and desperate for some connection with someone else, something which would distract me from the million thoughts crashing around my consciousness, that half an hour was the most welcome relief I felt all year.
- What was your least favourite moment of the year?
- Realising part of my life would be a rerun of last year, and that on top of this the only reason people were glad to see me is because they needed to unload their problems on to me.
- Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
- I tend to set goals rather than resolutions, and these are detailed and reviewed elsewhere in my blog.
- What are your plans for 2013?
- Expand business. Improve physique. Shoot more art nudes. Model more. Write more music. More love.
- Did anyone close to you give birth?
- No.
- Did anyone close to you die?
- No, thankfully. 2011 was plenty bad enough for that.
- How many weddings did you go to?
- 3, photographer at 2.
- What countries/states did you visit?
- None!
- What dates in 2012 will remain etched in your memory?
- I didn't go on any dates in 2012.
- What was your biggest achievement of the year?
- Too many to list!
- What was your biggest failure?
- A xen-create-image stopping quagga on the host machine. That was not fun.
- Did you suffer any illness or injury?
- Mental stress, three months of migraines, insomnia and hallucinations, but being mostly self-inflicted I can't really complain or demand sympathy.
- What was the best thing you bought?
- The Custom SLR Glide Strap, which is much better for carrying a camera around a three day festival than just hand-holding.
- Whose behaviour merited celebration?
- Some of my clients have been superb, notably Creative Concern and Signpost4. And my closest friends always deserve credit for so many things.
- Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
- The finance department at one of my clients. The (now ex-) boyfriend of one of my close friends. The World's attitude to finite resources, and consumption and population growth.
- Where did most of your money go?
- Cost of my own living, followed by HMRC, followed by bailing myself out in 2011, followed by fun stuff.
- What did you get really, really, really excited about?
- Alton Towers: Air and Oblivion.
- What lyrics will you remember most from 2012?
- A lot of the music I have been listening to for the first time in 2012 has lacked lyrics. Or even tonality.
- Compared to this time last year are you:
- a) Fatter or thinner? Same weight, slightly more muscle bulk.
b) Happier or sadder? More of both, but the happiness tips the balance.
c) Richer or poorer? Richer in both life and finances. - What do you wish you'd done more of?
- Music.
- What do you wish you'd done less of?
- Chasing HMRC to sort their incompetence out; and chasing late-paying clients for due invoices.
- How will you spend Christmas?
- Small family gathering in London at my sister's flat.
- Did you fall in love in 2012?
- While there are probably more people for whom I put myself in harm's way, I do not think I have "fallen in love" this year. Unless a film stock and developer combination counts.
- What was your favourite month of 2012?
- August: there was Infest, a bunch of exciting photo shoots, friends to see, a wedding, and the promise of work coming up.
- How will you see in the new year?
- Putting on a goth/industrial/alternative night at Sacred Trinity Chapel, with Manchester's best goth/punk/metal DJs, and friends.
- What was your favourite TV show?
- Off.
- Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
- I have a greater appreciation of the uselessness or dangerousness of a small number of individuals, but I do not actively expend energy hating.
- What were the best books you read?
- Sadly I have barely read any books this year. I am most unimpressed at myself.
- What was your greatest musical discovery?
- Geistform; and in addition to his music, he is incredibly interesting guy to talk to on a drive from Bradford to Liverpool.
- What did you want and get?
- Larger quantities of challenging or interesting work.
- What did you want and not get?
- A lover. But perhaps that was also because I was not quite ready to find the time for that kind of close relationship.
- What was your favourite film this year?
- Rollei Retro 80S
- What did you do on your birthday and how old were you?
- Worked. 32.
- What one thing would have made your year more satisfying?
- Spending more of the down time with friends in a way that is balanced rather than me feeling like a therapist.
- How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2012?
- Behind a camera, wearing black.
- What/who kept you sane?
- Work kept me sane. Then work drove me to the edge. Then Rebecca and The Cats and Katie kept me sane.
- Which celebrity did you fancy the most?
- People only become attractive to me if I can respect them. I struggle to have much respect for celebrity.
- Which political issue stirred you the most?
- After becoming disappointed in a number of political movements, parties and campaign groups in 2011, politics has been very much de-prioritised in my mind this year.
- Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned this year?
- Don't ask? Don't get.
- What would you like to have in 2013 that you didn't have in 2012?
- Enough affection.