Here we are: my final blog for 2024. In this third and final blog, I want to reflect back on the incredible, unexpected year 2024 turned into. This write-up is more focused on my photographic achievements, adventures, and more rather than focusing on my favourite images.
Introduction
It’s that time of year again! Another year has passed and that means it’s time for my yearly overviews. It is safe to say that 2024 has again been an amazing year for my photography. I started out the year wondering how it could possibly become more exciting than the year before and somehow it did. Thinking back to this year, it feels fulfilling and fills me with gratitude.
This year has been the busiest in my photography career, possibly even in my entire life. I visited two new continents where I explored Patagonia & Antarctica, two of my bucket lists locations. I have also never guided as many photo workshops as I did this year & got to meet incredible people along the way. My work at the series of eruptions at Sundhnúksgígar in Iceland was published multiple times in international media, I helped produce a documentary, my photography received international recognition, and I developed a 12+ hour video course with a good friend. It feels like I have been going non-stop until this well-needed Christmas break.
Just like last year, I am publishing 3 different blogs: one about my favourite camera shots of the year, one about my favourite drone shots of the year and this final one, my classic ‘Year in Review’ blog.
Disclaimer: This article is not sponsored in any way. However, when you make a purchase using the link in this article, I may earn a small commission.
Time To Look Back On 2024
I didn’t expect it, but 2024 turned into a whopper of a year for my photography and myself with many high notes. In this final blog of the year, I’ve listed 5 of the most important moments and achievements to me. But why do I do that? By writing them down I create a way for me to motivate myself to continue forward in the new year. Let’s dive in!
1. Teaching Photography On Photo Workshops
2024 was my busiest year ever when it came to running photo workshops. I organized and guided no less than 15 photography workshops this year. Whether we were exploring Icelandic winter, photographing puffins, roaming the Icelandic Highlands, sailing through remote fjords in Eastern Greenland, or even venturing into desolate Antarctica, this year has been packed with countless adventures. What these special photography-focused adventures all have in common is their unique experiences. Other than learning and doing photography, it’s the memorable experiences that really make them so enjoyable to run but also to participate in.
And, throughout all of these experiences, I always get to meet and engage with so many amazing & incredible people. I am thankful that I get to show all these amazing locations to people who are equally passionate about photography, making new memories for people in the process.
Want to join me on a photo workshop in 2025? There are still a few workshops available with limited spots. If you want to read more about my previous photo workshops, make sure to check out my photo workshop reports on my blog.
Drone photography has quickly grown into my niche. Especially on the Highlands-focused photo workshops I focus a lot on this and show participants what angles and interesting things can be seen from an aerial perspective.
On the Antarctica workshop, I was part of an excellent group of people leading the photography-side expedition. Thanks David Waronoff for taking this photo!
Our group on the Eastern Greenland sailboat photography expedition. I am very eager and excited to return there in 2025!
2. The Sundhnúkagígar Eruptions
While I have always done work for the media, this year it has really kicked up a notch due to the seemingly never-ending series of eruptions that have been occurring on the Reykjanes Peninsula. Even at the end of last year, when the first eruption at Sundhnúkagígar began, no one could have imagined we would see six more eruptions before 2024 was over. I have documented each one for various agencies, as well as continued running my volcanic-activity-focused Instagram broadcast channel, which meant a lot of additional work this year.
I have also helped produce a documentary about the events in Grindavík, which was broadcasted on Belgian national television and has been licensed internationally as well. The documentary, which is called ‘Beneath the Surface‘, follows multiple people involved in the events on Reykjanes right after the November 10th volcanic intrusion changed Grindavík forever.
The events at Sundhnúkagígar here in Iceland have shifted dramatically from the beauty of eruptions to the human aspect of it. And with it, the destruction.
If you want to see more of my work surrounding the volcanic eruptions in recent years, make sure to check out my Volcanoes in Iceland gallery and volcano related blogs.
As one of the people being followed in the documentary, and the person supplying all of the drone footage, I was a huge part in this documentary produced by Leon Haberkorn for the Belgian national television. It gives you insight into the human side of this dramatic natural disaster.
This year I have spent an obscene amount of time documenting the ongoing series of eruptions on Reykjanes for various news agencies. Thanks to my buddy Marco Di Marco for taking this photograph during the most recent eruption.
The eruptions have been occurring very close to our capital, Reykjavík. I captured this photograph during the February eruption at Sundhnúkagígar.
3. The Drone Photography Masterclass
Another massive project I worked on this year, was the Drone Photography Masterclass. Two years ago, I wrote & developed an e-book on how I capture my aerial photographs with my drone. Since then, I have been playing with the idea to turn that e-book into a much more detailed video course. The primary reason being that it would be so much easier to get across how I work by actually showing in the field how I work, what techniques I use, how I look for compositions & research locations and much, much more.
When my friend Nigel proposed we could develop such a video course together, that idea started turning into reality. Pretty much immediately after we returned home from Antarctica, we began planning, discussing & writing how we would produce it. After weeks of planning, three weeks recording material in both England & Iceland, and several more weeks of editing, it finally came to fruition. I am very proud of what we made and the feedback has been so great.
This little ‘teaser’ gives you a great idea of what the Drone Photography Masterclass turned into.
Some Feedback We Have Received
4. Exploring New Locations
This year, my photography has taken me all over the place, which meant I had to travel a lot more than previous years. My adventures have taken me to two new continents, South America & Antarctica, where I ticked off two bucket list locations: Antarctica & Patagonia. But I also ticked off a bucket list location in the north by traveling to Scoresby Sund in Eastern Greenland. I also travelled to the United Kingdom, to work on the Drone Photography Masterclass, which gave me a small taste of what I could find there. All of these adventures have only made me hungry for more.
Other than entirely new locations, I have also been exploring new locations locally in Iceland too. But not only new places… Last summer I have been very intentional in finding new compositions in very familiar locations. I purposely flew with my drone in different directions, finding new angles and subjects away from the usual suspects. I tried to challenge myself to come up with new ideas, which has resulted in new work that has quickly turned into favourites.
Visiting Antarctica was a childhood dream come true.
The incredible mountain ranges of Torres Del Paine in Chilean Patagonia.
This dream encounter with a young polar bear in Eastern Greenland will forever be cherished in my memories.
As preparation for the Drone Photography Masterclass I traveled to England to photograph.
After being inspired by an image taken by Isabella Tabacchi, I traveled multiple times to this unique location in the Highlands to create my own version of it.
Exploring the Antarctic Peninsula was a true adventure that defied all my expectations.
We visited many unique locations in Antarctica where its incredible wildlife was never far away.
5. Awards & Commendations
Finally, I’ve been honoured to be celebrated several times for my photography this year:
- Best of Nation (for Belgium) & Finalist in Nature/Landscape in WPC 2025 (awarded by the World Photographic Cup – December 2024 – Certificates)
Jeroen won the Best of Nation award for Belgium, which means he received the highest score for Team Belgium. He also is one of the 10 finalists in the Nature/Landscape category in the World Photographic Cup 2025. - ‘Snow and Ice’ Special Award (awarded by the International Landscape Photographer Of The Year – November 2024 – Certificate)
Jeroen received this Special Award in the prestigious International Landscape Photographer Of The Year 2024 awards. - Bronze in Landscape Nature category (awarded by the Belgian Photo Awards – October 2024 – Certificate)
Jeroen received third place in the Landscape Nature category of the first edition of the Belgian Photo awards. He also received several other commendations. - Highly Commended in Abstract category (awarded by the Siena International Drone Awards – September 2024 – Certificate)
Jeroen has been Highly Commended in the Abstract category of this prestigious, international drone photography contest with his image ‘Elddreki / Fire Dragon‘. The image put him in the top 5 within the Abstract category. - Sixth Place in Nature Category (awarded by Federation of European Photographers (FEP) – April 2024 – Certificate)
Jeroen had the pleasure to place sixth in the Nature category for three of his photographs of the ongoing volcanic eruptions in Iceland. In addition Jeroen received several Distinction and Merit awards for other submitted work.
My ‘Fire Dragon’ was highly commended in the largest drone-photography-focused contest in the world, the Siena Drone Awards.
This image, which I captured last summer in the Icelandic Highlands, received Bronze on the Belgian Photo Awards and also ‘Best of Nation’ on the World Photographic Cup. It is currently also in the running for the Nature/Landscape category in the World Photographic Cup.
This ‘Ice Swirl’, which I captured on this year’s East Greenland expedition, received the ‘Snow & Ice’ award on the ILPOTY awards.
A Few Tidbits
While the previous list contains the most important moments/achievements, there are a few smaller tidbits I wanted to add which took my photography (business) in the right direction:
- I wrote and published 59 new blogs this year, which is just over one a week. Last year, I decided I was going to write more blogs and I am glad that I did. I love to write, which seems to be a rarity in the landscape photography world these days with more and more people producing videos. Spoiler alert:I may too in the new year!
- Because of the work I have been doing at the Sundhnúkagígar eruptions, I have been published a lot in international media. It has been pretty interesting to see my name pop up all over the place. While this used to be a rarity, a few times a year, I was published considerably more – with some of my footage going viral too.
- Some footage I recorded during the 2021 eruption of Fagradalsfjall made it into the second season of Rings of Power. As a ‘Lord of the Rings’ fanatic, I felt it was pretty cool and rewarding!
- I also turned a small childhood dream into reality. One of my photographs of the 2022 eruption of Fagradalsfjall was published in a brand-new National Geographic book, called ‘World From Above‘.
- This year, I also had the opportunity to give a few lectures, one of which I did for the Icelandic Photography Association, Ljósmyndarafélag Íslands. It was a real pleasure to get this opportunity to speak in front of Icelanders for chance.
At the time of writing, this reel has been watched almost 8 million times on Instagram.
A sneak peek at my footage as seen in the second season of Rings of Power.
I had the pleasure of lecturing on the Christmas event of Ljósmyndarafélag Íslands, the Icelandic photography association. Takk fyrir Gunnar Leifur for taking this photograph.
Bring On 2025!
Well, that was it for me in 2024! It was such a good year for my photography but… I think and hope 2025 may become even better with a lot of exciting projects in the pipeline!
Finally, I want to thank all of you who have been following my photography, supporting my work and more. It means the world to me and I am eternally grateful. I hope I get to meet even more of you in 2025!
Happy holidays and a happy new year!
Support Jeroen’s Work
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Man, man, man… wat een jaar!!
Dat beloofd voor 2025!
Nice work. Your awards are well deserved and your online courses are informative but are well presented to engage the viewer and have them wanting more, I look forward to seeing more in 2025.
I hope you have a prosperous and exciting new year.
Thanks so much Warwick. Glad to read you are enjoying my educational content. I too wish you all the best for 2025!
What a year! Looking forward to next year’s videos!
Thanks Jon!