2024: Year in Review

Fine art photographer Keith Dotson shares highlights and accomplishments from his 2024 in review

I can’t believe it’s been a year since Teena and I made the cross-country road trip to Joshua Tree.

In fact, this past year has seen us cover a lot of miles. I’m 61 years old now, and I feel the clock ticking. I’m trying to see and do everything while I am healthy and have the means to travel.

At an age when many people are thinking of retirement, I am excited everyday to be working.

Travel

In 2024, I traveled to or through 27 states for the purpose of making photographs. I almost always travel by automobile because that’s how the surprises and the adventures are found — and because I can’t take every piece of gear I want with me on an airplane.

Watch the Chattanooga video here:

Speech to Nashville Pro Photographer’s Club

In June, I gave a presentation to a Nashville professional photographer’s club, which gave me a warm welcome. My topic was how I made a career working in black and white. I was a nervous wreck but the speech was well-received and the video and the presentation file have both been in demand. Still — the introvert in me is glad it’s over!

New Camera

This is the year I committed to digital medium format, with a 100 megapixel Fujifilm GFX 100S. While the images have only just begun filtering into my portfolios, the impact on image quality and resolution (printing sizes) will be phenomenal.

Australian Television Show

In 2024, the most unexpected thing happened. I was invited by an Australian-based television production company to appear in a travel show about the American South, starring British comedian and television host Griff Rhys Jones. For a few hours in November, we recorded video for an episode about photographing abandoned places in the Mississippi Delta.

Show title and run dates to be announced in 2025.

New Publications

This year I published a new “portfolio” in booklet form: The South Dakota Portfolio was designed to feature my favorite photographs from the South Dakota portion of this summer’s western road trip. In an era where self-publishing is becoming obscenely expensive, this format is intended to be an affordable way to own a one of my publications.

My hope is to release more of these specialized and low-cost publications next year.

Large Print

This year I sold one of the largest fine art paper prints of my career to a client in South Carolina. The Edisto Island Oak Tree photograph was printed at 48 x 75-inches on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta. The image was shot with a Sony A7RIV and required every one of its 61 megapixels to produce this enlargement.

The Fine Art Photography Podcast Recognized by Goodpods

Goodpods ranked The Fine Art Photography Podcast at #16 in visual arts podcasts for the month of December, 2024.

The Best Visual Arts Podcasts from millions of podcasts available on the Goodpods platform and ranked by listens, ratings, comments, subscriptions and shares.

My Second Spanish Book Cover

This year, Barcelona-based book publisher Libros Del Asteroide, came back for a second licensing deal to use one of my photographs on a book cover, this time for a book translated from the original English-language book written by Maggie Smith.

New Large Printer

Late this year, after a very busy fall season, I made the difficult decision to upgrade my in-house printing capabilities with a larger Epson printer. This printer will allow me to print the bulk of my annual sales in-house, up to 20 x 30 inches.

This printer is expensive, large, and extremely heavy, but the expanded features over my older and smaller printer and the few test prints I’ve made so far have proven it to be a worthwhile investment.

I’m excited for what the year 2025 will bring! Thank you for being such an important part of 2024.