Do you like New Year’s Resolutions? I don’t. We always make vague references to “become better with portrait work” or to “improve my flash techniques”. There are countless others of course, but you likely get the idea – resolutions are often too vague. Even when it comes to the classic ones of “lose weight” and “eat better”. The problem lies in the inherent nature of such resolve.
While the effort and idea are splendid – they are vague by definition and thus, difficult to define success in achievement. How would you define “better” or “improve”? There is also no accountability when these statements are made. So, when making resolutions from a photographers point of view, it helps to define your resolutions clearly, and to share those resolves with others, so as to make yourself accountable.
My goals? Funny you should ask, because I have the same goal I made last year – to shoot at least one project each and every month. And I did it! Here’s the project I did for each month:
- January – All About Brighton, Baby!
- February – Meetup Group – Downtown Denver
- March –Sun, Wind, and Frost
- April –CHDK is Cool
- May –Beautiful Bokeh
- June –Nothin’ But the Tail Lights
- July -Launch of “49 Photo Tips – The Sequel“
- August –Raquette Lake Rendezvous
- September –Colorado isn’t Just for Sunsets
- October –Visiting the Pumpkin Patch
- November –Sigma 70-200 f2.8 Review
- December –Helicopter Shoot
The goal for the year was to shoot more and write less. While I still plodded away at the blog in an effort to provide continued content for the readers here (and I hope you enjoyed 2010)…more effort went into advancing my own photography library in 2010. The stakes are raised for 2011 though. As you may have noticed, some of the “shoots” weren’t as planned or dedicated photo shoots as others. The Pumpkin Patch outing was definitely a multi-functioned event!
So, for 2011 – my goal is to go on an outing with photography as the primary focus! And, here I am happy to report that the month of January for 2011 has already been covered with a snowmobile outing on January 1st!
It was indeed quite the outing, and I learned quite a bit about shooting in extreme cold weather. More to come on that as I put together the assembly for publication later this week. Another shoot might be forthcoming on the same vein, so more is also pending there as well.
Pretty exciting (although my wallet is nervous!) for 2011. Sort of a photo/travel/expedition blog post will be something to look for each month during the upcoming year! If you have any places in the area (i.e. Colorado/Wyoming/etc.) that you would like to see me capture, say the word so I can take it into consideration sooner rather than later. I’ve got some irons in the fire already scheduled for certain points during the year, but nothing affirmative as of yet.
What about everyone else? Have you made any concrete resolutions? Do share them in the comments or via email – an upcoming podcast will likely take some of your thoughts, comments, and feedback into consideration! Happy New Year all and keep on shooting!
