To wrap up my three-part look at 2014 and the Best of the Blog for this past year, I put together my picks for my favorite episodes of The Grid (our live weekly talk show for photographers, which airs each Wednesday at 4:00 pm ET).

These are the episodes (in no particular order) that seemed to really resonate with our viewers (based on comments, emails, etc.) along with some that I just felt were really helpful, or fun, or hopefully both. Ive embedded the episodes right here in the post so you can just hit play, sit back, and come along on a weird and wonderful journey (that sounds better than just well, here they are). ;-)

Joe McNally | Open Q&A
Anytime Joe is on the show, its always special, but this one was particularly fascinating and Joe was so on. Having our viewers ask Joe literally anything created some really fun, interesting, revealing and sometimes hilarious moments. Really a special episode.

Blind Critiques with Gregory Heisler
Gregory is one of the most interesting photographers out there. Heck, hes one of the most interesting people out there, and his critiques were insightful and eyeopening. What a truly great speaker, a fantastic guest, and a brilliant teacher.

Kevin Gilbert on backing up and the launch of Mylio
I shared Kevins wonderful Tedx talk earlier this year about the importance of protecting our images (not the copyright stuff, the not losing a lifetimes worth of irreplaceable images stuff) and it was a big hit, so we had Kevin take viewers questions about this topic and to show a little bit of Mylio (technology for protecting and accessing all your images across all your devices). Everybody who cares about protecting their images should watch this episode (and Kevin was just terrific).

Tony Corbell, along with RC & Me revealing the magic behind Photoshop for Video
For me, this was the most important episode we did all year because it made an immediate impact in a lot of photographers lives. You just cannot believe the comments, emails, even phone calls we got after our five-minute reveal of a little known secret about creating mini-movies right inside of Photoshop, using just Photoshop and the video clips from your DSLR. That was the first part of the show, then lighting guru Tony Corbell came on and hit it out of the park.

Linday Adler: When Inspiration Becomes Imitation
Lindsay is always a great guest because she is a mixture of super-creative photographer with savvy businesswoman and gifted instructor. Thats a combination that makes for great TV, but the stuff she uncovered and unpacked in this episode made it a jaw-dropper. Just some really eye-opening stuff that you will find hard to believe is happening. A really interesting, fun episode with lots of learning moments.

Joe McNally: Taking the next step with your photography
I could listen to Joe talk about milk. His stories, his unique insights from a lifetime behind the lens hes just a treasure trove of valuable information and his stories are just so captivating and real. Great teaching moments throughout this episode definitely one of our best. Youll dig it.

Ask Peter Hurley Anything Day [plus, a farewell tribute to Matt]
Peter is a blast. Just a blast! Hes smart, funny, a great teacher, great photographer, great guy all around, and we let the live viewers drive this episode by asking Peter anything, and it was a great episode from start to finish. Also, this was Matts last episode of The Grid as he was leaving us that week to join OnOne Software, so I did a little look back at my personal and professional life with Matt as we wished him the best in his new career.

How to become a better photographer in 2014 with Karen Hutton
This was one of our first episodes of last year, and man, having Karen on started the year off with a bang! She was an absolutely excellent guest, and has such a creative, artistic, and just wonderful look at photographers and the art of photography and there were some really great ideas and inspiration throughout. Even though this kicked off 2014, it could have just as easily been our kick-off for 2015 the info is still 100% valid and valuable.

Photographers State of the Union Address
Matt and I looked back over the past last year and tried to offer a realistic, truthful look at where we are as an industry, and where photographers stand at this point in time, with an emphasis on the emotional state of photographers now, and where we see things going in the future. Worth checking out.

Pete and Brad on What Photographers Do in the Winter
I was up in Canada for some meetings, and people were texting me in the middle of my meetings to tell me what an incredible job Brad and Pete did on this episode. Then I read the comments. These two not only did the show proud in my absence, they did one of the best, most useful episodes of the entire year. Both inspirational and informational.

Stacy Pearsall on Photography
If youve never seen Stacys work (shes an award-winning military photographer embedded in Iraq) its amazing, but Stacy is more than that shes a real life hero, and her stories and images are just stunning. Plus, Stacy is funny as all get-out, and it was an amazing hour. Youve gotta see this one.

Sport Photography with Elsa Garrison
There are only two women on the entire planet that shoot sports for Getty Images. One lives in New Zealand and the other is Elsa. Wow. Just a wow show from start to finish. Shes a brilliant photographer, a funny and engaging guest, and she shared lots of valuable knowledge (and I picked her brain on everything from camera settings to shooting positions). You know I had to love this episode. You will, too.

There ya go, folks a look back at the best of 2014.

Weve already kicked off 2015 with some great episodes (including one that will probably make my picks for 2015 with Joel Grimes, which aired just last week). Our in-studio guest this Wednesday is one of the best wedding photographers in the business Cliff Mautner, so I hope youll join us then, live at 4pm (heres the link). Thanks for watching. :)

Best,

-Scott