The end of each year is a little like this for me. Usually around October, I begin to think about writing the review of my year in photography. This invariably is triggered by the memory of the previous year when I left (again) the review to the last minute and rushed it.
But surprise surprise, here I am on the morning of December 31, 2025, and rushing to write my end-of-year review.
Some things never change.
Thankfully, one of the things which never changes is the joy and fun photography provides. 2025 was another great year in the adventure of photography. Now the task is to extract from the hundreds and hundreds of photographs I have shot – 12 favourite images – all shot on iPhone – to represent 2025 – and to write an accompanying blog piece and get it out before the year ends.
RAINY NIGHTS AND NEON LIGHTS
Let’s kick things off in Tokyo. Some things just go together and rain and neon at night most certainly do. I am fortunate on many counts. Getting to Tokyo each year for work is one of them. And the evenings I get after work to get out and shoot is another. Add to this being friends with one of Tokyo’s best photographers – Laurence Bouchard – is just the cherry on top. Laurence is such a kind guy. He brings me to the best locations in Tokyo. Unlike other photographers who guard their locations, Laurence has the confidence in his own work to share these. This one – and here is the geo location – is wonderful to shoot at night. That night I was shooting mainly with the Fuji (and still have not reviewed them) but this one shot I got with the iPhone, I liked.
TEN YEARS OF WORKSHOPS AT PHOTO MUSEUM OF IRELAND
It’s hard to believe that I’ve been offering mobile photography and street photography workshops with the Photo Museum of Ireland for over ten years now. I still absolutely love it, and each workshop is unique and so enjoyable. Making my way to the museum one morning, this scene appeared. The light falling softly on this young woman’s face; the phone consuming her attention, her reflection fading off. Candid shots like this are great, but you can’t help wanting to direct the scene too to fully work it.
CANDIDS IN CADIZ
Choices: I love the choices these women made in how they dressed. It works. And works better when they are with each other. I can imagine them complimenting the other on how guapa (lovely) they look when they meet to head out for las compras (shopping).
DRINK
Osaka has a different vibe to Tokyo. It is edgier. People are less reserved. In one of those long arcade-type shopping areas common in Japan where you can find all sorts of shops, restaurants and bars, I was wandering along with the iPhone in one hand and the Fuji around my neck. I heard these guys – father and son I later learned – before I saw them. They ran towards me shouting, in what had to be an invitation to photograph them. Bang!
PERSPECTIVE
Early morning in Seville looking for frames and the light is not the light I am looking for. It is overcast and flat. I want it to be harsh and bright. Regretting this, I was sitting under this bridge and when I re-gathered enthusiasm to move on, I looked up and saw this.
CONSTRUCTING A SCENE
It happens very quickly. Definitely the reflection is the first thing I saw here. Then the wonderful yellowy orange of the traffic lights and add in a passer-by passing by and it’s a photo.
SHOOTING FISH
One night, just one night is all I had in downtown Hong Kong back in July. It is hard not to get a good photograph with all that is going on visually on the Hong Kong streets. It really is like shooting fish. If I lived here I think I might get bored of it, but that one night in July, I loved it.
PHOTOGRAPHIC SERENDIPITY IN SEVILLE
Hard to leave this one out. Again, sometimes scenes just arrive fully packed and as gifts.
Photography is 99% frustration. As the saying goes: if you see it, it’s too late. And that is the truth too often in street photography. But there are times when a moment comes just like a bird comes to eat from your hand and you have it. This Seville scene was just that moment.
INCHEON
June, jet-lagged and looking for scenes. This I find and it is crowded with kids and people on bikes and I know for the shot I see in my mind’s eye I need to wait. I wait. The scene clears and crowds, and repeats. Just when I am thinking of giving up, it clears and this lone guy obliges. Click!
YAMONOTE LINE
It takes me 8 minutes to cycle to work. And still when I pull the bike out in the dark of winter morning, I dread it. I cannot begin to imagine what commuting every day on crowded Tokyo trains must be like. Jet-lagged, one morning in Tokyo this April, I went to Shibuya station at around 6.30 am and for about 45 minutes I watched the thousands of Tokyo commuters come and go as train after train pulled in and pulled out of the heaving station. I shot a lot, but it is this one I like most. It has that little instant of connection.
SHINJUKU CROSSING – STREET PHOTOGRAPHY SAFARI
Sharp-dressed dude in a black suit with a white hat and white shoes. What is not to like?
HANOI
The highlight of the year was the trip to Hanoi for the two exhibitions I had in Photo Hanoi Biennale. Invited by the Irish embassy to take part in this was a real honour. On the first evening out in the old town I came across this small restaurant with their signature dish of snails and through the plastic sheeting I saw this little boy and his mother. It made me think of my own little boy – who no longer is my little boy – and also of my own mother. I am still her little boy.
IF YOU SEE IT, IT’S TOO LATE
Another from Hanoi. When I first noticed this guy, he was snoozing on his folded arms on the table. By the time I got ready to frame the shot, he awoke, and rubbed the sleep from his eyes as I photographed.
SOHO
Like Hong Kong, London is a city I wish I had more time to shoot in, particularly around Soho. Scenes like this just appear and call to be shot. I took scores of photos of the neon sign reflecting on the car opposite. I had the idea of what I wanted in my mind’s eye. Didn’t get it, but this one works. Happy times in London.
PUNK’S NEVER DEAD
Two day trips to London towards the end of 2025. Two weeks before Christmas I met up with one of my oldest and best photography friends: the incomparable Mark Fearnley. Two old punks headed to Camden. I’ve an idea of how I want to shoot this young punk, he said. You give him a few quid and he poses for you. Cool, I said. Let’s do that. Punk’s never dead.
CORK
To round things off, I have to have a photo from Cork. Shot this back in January. Cold winter light casting all sorts of shadows and this street photography trope (hats) wanders in. Yep.
I realise I set out to choose 12 favourites, but have gone past 12 and not realised it. Thanks for reading to the end.
Here’s a little New Year bonus: my new year’s resolutions in photography.
- Shoot less. 2. See fewer photographs. 3. See more of my own work. 4. Write more about photography. 5. Take workshops – planning to do one with Stuart Patton in Dublin Street Photography Festival. 6. Spend more time with photo books. 7. Get website presentable 8. Continue to archive. 9. Delete Instagram. Am I that brave?
Again, thanks to all for the inspiration and kindness.
Peace.