For the past several years, whenever I’ve sat down to begin selecting my favorite images for this year-end blog, I’ve gotten an overwhelming feeling of worry. I’ve always second-guessed whether I’ve shot enough things throughout the year that stand out enough to be featured together in a best-of collection. Typically, my worries go unfounded, and I’m left struggling to narrow down 50 or more of my favorite images to a palatable selection.

This year, however, was different. As I culled my images (iPhone included) from 2015, I realized that I shot significantly less stills assignments than in previous years, and in the end, I was left with only a handful of images that I felt a personal connection to. This was, of course, discouraging. Nobody wants to realize that one of the things they’re most passionate about slipped away from them a bit, and on the surface, this it exactly how it would appear.

I later realized there was a good reason behind having a lesser amount of images to chose my favorites from. First, my stills work in 2015 shifted towards a different clientele. Three or four years ago, editorial work used to keep me busy with three or four assignments per weekend. I found myself this year shooting more for commercial and corporate clients a handful of times per month. While this may seem like a negative thing at first, the commercial and corporate work has proved to be far, far more lucrative for my business. In short, I’m working less and making more.

Tazia Williams poses in her makeup and costume for the musical “Cats” at the Hammond Academy for Performing Arts in Hammond, Ind., Saturday, March 14, 2015.

Secondly, the lighting design part of my business saw a dramatic increase in work over the past year. I was happy to be retained by R&B singer Anthony Hamilton as his full time designer, traveling across the United States more than 26 times this year to light his performances in a variety of venues. In addition to work with Anthony, I also traveled to Dallas this summer for a week with the lighting crew from Live International to program and tech at pastor T.D. Jakes’ bi-annual Megafest convention. All that lighting design work was in addition to designing shows for my regular clients back home!

With so much travel and time this year devoted to the craft of lighting for the live stage (which was always my first passion), the downturn in stills assignments started to make more sense. As much as I’d like to be some mutant creature with eight arms and four brains, I have to occasionally face the reality that I can only be in one place at one time.

Snow swirls in the front yard of a house at Magoun Ave. and 143rd St. in East Chicago, Ind., during Winter Storm Linus early Monday, February 2, 2015.

Portraits and nature dominate the images I’m most proud of from 2015. From running home to document crazy cloud formations in my neighborhood sky, to staking out lightning in the middle of the night near a 33-foot-tall steel statue (probably not my wisest moment), Mother Nature offered up some great looks for my lenses this year. And, with so much more of my client-based work being commercial, it’s natural that portraits were something I was asked to create fairly regularly too.

Lyft ride-sharing service driver Angelica Griffin in downtown Chicago, Ill., Tuesday, March 24, 2015. Griffin, originally from Georgia, is studying for her law degree at DePaul University.

My favorite portrait is the one above of Angelica Griffin driving her car through the streets of Chicago (shot on assignment for the ride-sharing service Lyft). I suction-cupped a Canon 6D with a 15mm

Sergeant Chris Clark (right) and Sergeant First Class Teigh Statler with the U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team jump from the team’s Fokker C-31A aircraft over Lake Michigan during their performance in the 2015 Gary Air Show in Gary, Ind., Saturday, July 11, 2015.

As the U.S. Army Golden Knight’s Fokker C-31A aircraft became light on its wheels and floated aloft from runway 12 at the Gary Chicago Airport, the team of skilled aerial performers seated ahead of me in the plane performed their ritual of donning their helmets in unison. It’s a ritual I’ve had the privilege of photographing each year since 2006 that the team has performed in Gary, Indiana, and I was thrilled to be back in the air for another opportunity. While theatrical lighting work this weekend prevented me from photographing and enjoying the air show as thoroughly as I typically would have, I was thankful to have a small portion of my schedule free to cover one of the Golden Knights’ morning jumps in this year’s 2015 Gary Air Show.

Members of the U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team rehearse their free-fall formations in a “dirt dive” at the Gary Chicago Airport prior to their performance in the 2015 Gary Air Show in Gary, Ind., Saturday, July 11, 2015.

Pilot Brian Rontante with the U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team sits on the team’s Fokker C-31A aircraft at the Gary Chicago Airport prior to taking off for a performance in the 2015 Gary Air Show in Gary, Ind., Saturday, July 11, 2015.

Sergeant First Class Teigh Statler (left) with the U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team secures his gloves as the team’s Fokker C-31A aircraft taxis down the runway at the Gary Chicago Airport prior to their performance in the 2015 Gary Air Show in Gary, Ind., Saturday, July 11, 2015.

Fellow photojournalist Jonathan Miano, seated across from me, readies his cameras prior to the team’s jump.

Spectators line Marquette Park Beach on Lake Michigan during the 2015 Gary Air Show in Gary, Ind., Saturday, July 11, 2015.

Sergeant Travis Downing (left) and Staff Sergeant Chris Clark with the U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team check wind conditions on the ground prior to their jump over Lake Michigan as part of the 2015 Gary Air Show in Gary, Ind., Saturday, July 11, 2015.

As I photographed this expanse of green foliage and swamp land with a railroad track cutting through it somewhere below us near Portage, Indiana, I fantasized about a set of shiny new red diesel locomotives pulling a train trough the frame. #photographerproblems

Staff Sergeant Chris Clark (left) and Sergeant Travis Downing with the U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team share a laugh while flying in the team’s Fokker C-31A aircraft en route to a performance in the 2015 Gary Air Show in Gary, Ind., Saturday, July 11, 2015.

(Top to bottom) Sergeant First Class Corey Hood, Sergeant Chris Clark, and Sergeant First Class Teigh Statler with the U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team free-fall over Lake Michigan during their performance in the 2015 Gary Air Show in Gary, Ind., Saturday, July 11, 2015.

Members of the U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team fall in formation over Lake Michigan while performing in the 2015 Gary Air Show in Gary, Ind., Saturday, July 11, 2015.

A B-17G Flying Fortress sits on the ramp at Porter County Regional Airport in Valparaiso, Ind., Tuesday, July 30, 2013. The World War II era aircraft, built in 1945, currently tours the country as part of the nonprofit Collings Foundation. Three 600 watt strobes were used to light the aircraft.

When the opportunity presented itself to capture some dramatic portraits of a B-17G Flying Fortress I recently flew on, it was one I absolutely had to take. After all, how often do you end up with a World War II bomber as your subject with few, if any, restrictions? The propellers in my mind started turning on just how I could grant visual justice to such a deserving piece of American history.

Fresh from my trip to the O. Winston Link Museum in Roanoke, I realized this was a great chance to capture the very streamlined aircraft in a clean fashion

A view looking towards the tail of a B-17G Flying Fortress in the sky over Porter County during a demonstration flight near Valparaiso, Ind., Monday, July 29, 2013. The World War II era aircraft, built in 1945, currently tours the country as part of the nonprofit Collings Foundation.

From my seat in the B-17G radio operator’s compartment, I peered out of the iPad-sized window above the left wing as runway 27 came into view at the Porter County Regional Airport. The aircraft lumbered to a stop at the end of the runway, and a few moments later, the pilot ran all four 1,200 horsepower radial engines up to takeoff power. The old bird roared and shook, as if it were a monster being provoked from a comfortable nap. The hot, exhaust-laden air rushed in through the open skylight above me, whipping my long hair in every direction.

With the engines still at takeoff power, the pilot released the brakes, sending the plane shooting down the runway with a jolt even more intense than the 737’s I’m more used to flying on. I had to grab the small wooden desk in front of me to avoid sliding off my seat as we quickly gained speed and rotated from the runway. An old, lumbering bird this B-17 is not! I experienced first hand the power and speed the B-17 was designed with to provide World War II bomber crews the edge over the enemy.

As luck would have it, on my flight, three of those World War II airmen were along for the ride. Despite all three of them being right around 90 years old, their youthful enthusiasm radiated through the smiles that remained on their faces from takeoff to touchdown. It was quite powerful witnessing all three of them reliving their memories of the aircraft.

I tried to imagine what it must have been like for those veterans on an actual B-17 mission, freezing cold at up to 20,000 feet in altitude with the enemy taking aim at the aircraft all the while. I tried to imagine the radio operator who sat at the very desk I was seated at, missing family back home – worried that he might not make it back there (most did not).

The first time I toured a B-17 Flying Fortress in 1997 (coincidentally, at the same airport which hosted my flight this week), I left respecting the aircraft mostly for its sleek looks. This time, I left respecting the aircraft for its impressive power, but more so, with respect for the veterans who endured the tough conditions on their flights with skill and bravery.

The World War II era B-17G on runway 27 at Porter County Regional Airport.

Pilot Mac McCauley of Seal Beach, Calif., flies a B-17G Flying Fortress over Porter County during a demonstration flight near Valparaiso, Indiana.

Two of the four radial engines aboard the B-17G Flying Fortress, producing 1,200 horsepower each.

World War II veteran Harold Chubbs, 89, of Crown Point, Ind., flies on the B-17G Flying Fortress. Chubbs was a flight engineer on the same type of aircraft in the war.

The B-17G Flying Fortress passes over the Porter County Regional Airport in Valparaiso.

The view from the bombadier’s seat in the nose of the B-17 is fantastic, though I can’t imagine sitting here freezing cold at 20,000 feet while being shot at.

World War II veteran Henry Jacobi, 92, of Highland, Ind., makes his way through the bomb bay of the B-17G Flying Fortress.

The B-17G Flying Fortress taxis to the ramp at Porter County Regional Airport.

World War II veteran Henry Jacobi (left), 92, of Highland, Ind., talks to B-17G Flying Fortress pilot Mac McCauley of Seal Beach, Calif., following a demonstration flight at Porter County Regional Airport in Valparaiso, Ind., Monday, July 29, 2013. The World War II era aircraft, built in 1945, currently tours the country as part of the nonprofit Collings Foundation.