The start of a new year gives me time to reflect about the coming year and also about the year past. What went well and what didn't. The last year was a tough one for the family and I. This time last year I had a single goal, to find a new job. I accomplished that goal in the middle of July and I'm happy to be fully employed again, unlike many people in the current economy.
My creative photographic output also suffered for the first half of the year. I guess Maslow knew what he was talking about. While I was unemployed I took consulting jobs to help pay the bills and I also toyed with the idea of taking some paid photographic jobs. I shot several events and portraits last year with the idea to build up my photographic portfolio. This portfolio could be used to help launch a photo business. During these small odd jobs I quickly confirmed something that I already knew, I don't want to make a business out of my photography. I like having my photography as a hobby and creative outlet. Turning it into a business and becoming a professional photographer is just not for me. I'm happy and proud to call myself an amateur rather than an aspiring professional.
Back to my goals for this year, I have found that the goals that have the highest likelihood of being accomplished are the goals that are written down. So with that thought in mind here are my goals for Twenty 10.
My creative photographic output also suffered for the first half of the year. I guess Maslow knew what he was talking about. While I was unemployed I took consulting jobs to help pay the bills and I also toyed with the idea of taking some paid photographic jobs. I shot several events and portraits last year with the idea to build up my photographic portfolio. This portfolio could be used to help launch a photo business. During these small odd jobs I quickly confirmed something that I already knew, I don't want to make a business out of my photography. I like having my photography as a hobby and creative outlet. Turning it into a business and becoming a professional photographer is just not for me. I'm happy and proud to call myself an amateur rather than an aspiring professional.
Back to my goals for this year, I have found that the goals that have the highest likelihood of being accomplished are the goals that are written down. So with that thought in mind here are my goals for Twenty 10.
Focus: One of my first goals for the year is to simplify my life and
focus on what is most important to me. In the past I have had so many
different projects and ideas I tried to accomplish. I found that I
was unfocused and nothing was accomplished. I was suffering from the too many balls in the air
syndrome. I have decided to pair down my outside interests and projects
with a goal for the year of being focused. I have already killed off
several projects and websites that were sitting in limbo. I have also started to reduce the many inputs that were competing for my attention. One example is I started the year off with over 760 RSS feed subscriptions in my Google reader. My guess is
over half of them sit unread with the dreaded (999) staring back at me. I plan on deleting half of them since they are a distraction. I have also started to delete and unfriend various social media contacts that are not providing value to me. I was also maintaining several social media profiles which I will delete and centralize into my main personal profile. I will continue to cull down these elements competing for my attention so I can focus on the projects and tasks that are most important to me.
Health: One of the things I learned about myself last year is I like being a vegetarian. I feel better about myself and my health. However, I need to expand my food palate so that bread and grains are not my go to solution when hunger strikes. I have also committed myself to help Michele with the meal planning and go with her on our weekly shopping trips. We have been doing this for the past couple of weeks and we both feel that it has helped since we both have dramatically different diets and meal plans. One of these days I will write a post about that. Now I just need to kick the exercise habit into gear.
Career: One thing I learned from last year is you can't be too comfortable in your work environment. You need to be prepared for the next opportunity when it comes your way. One way to combat this is to dedicate time to professional development and training. I created an Lynda.com online training account last year and have taken several online courses. I have found this type of training very valuable and I plan on spending a couple of hours a week going through additional courses. With the change to my website to a blog format I also want to write more to help improve my written communication skills and also expand my web presence beyond just my photography.
Creativity: My photography has been a great creative outlet for me and will continue to do so in the future. I have several photographic goals that I want to accomplish in the coming year.
The first goal I have set for myself is to take a photo everyday this year. I'm not planning on doing a photo a day project this year. I just want to force myself to click that shutter button at least once a day. Good or bad I want to take a photo a day. The best way to improve your photography is to be shooting. I already have a camera with me everywhere I go and I'm also actively taking photos on a regular basis for the MyDrive photoblog. So with this goal in mind I'm forcing myself to take a photo everyday to help force the habit to improve my technique, eye, and creativity.
My second
goal is to take over 10,000 images for the year. I took a quick look at my photo counts for the past couple of years and they have been consistently in the 7000-8000 range per year. I do actively try to delete the stinker images and will continue to do the same in the future. But I really need to break out out of this comfort zone and take more photographs this year.
In years past I had several events and trips that gave me the opportunity to shoot up to a thousand photos for one event. I don't have any of these opportunities planned in the future, so I will need to rely on lots of smaller photo outings and projects if I want to meet my goal.
My third goal is to create and finalize my plan for my Civil War infrared photography project. It could be either a book, a folio, or maybe just a website. As stated above I want to focus this year, and this is one project I want to focus on.
The 150th anniversary (sesquicentennial) of the Civil War starts in 2011 and I would like to have my project plan completed before this Summer so I can plan my photographic outings. There are going to be many events over the next couple of years around this event and I want to make sure to be prepared now. So this year I plan on shooting at more Civil War locations and I plan on doing my first round of photographic production in the Winter. I also plan on researching and studying the history of the Civil War to help with this project. I will be posting more about my research on the blog.
My final goal is to print more of my photos. I have found several great online printing services that are able to produce better quality and cheaper prints than I can produce at home. I have very few photos printed in my home and I would like to experiment with various finishes and mountings to see what works best for my favorite photographs.
These are the goals that I have prepared for myself this year and I'm excited about the future. Here is to a great start of a new decade.
Health: One of the things I learned about myself last year is I like being a vegetarian. I feel better about myself and my health. However, I need to expand my food palate so that bread and grains are not my go to solution when hunger strikes. I have also committed myself to help Michele with the meal planning and go with her on our weekly shopping trips. We have been doing this for the past couple of weeks and we both feel that it has helped since we both have dramatically different diets and meal plans. One of these days I will write a post about that. Now I just need to kick the exercise habit into gear.
Career: One thing I learned from last year is you can't be too comfortable in your work environment. You need to be prepared for the next opportunity when it comes your way. One way to combat this is to dedicate time to professional development and training. I created an Lynda.com online training account last year and have taken several online courses. I have found this type of training very valuable and I plan on spending a couple of hours a week going through additional courses. With the change to my website to a blog format I also want to write more to help improve my written communication skills and also expand my web presence beyond just my photography.
Creativity: My photography has been a great creative outlet for me and will continue to do so in the future. I have several photographic goals that I want to accomplish in the coming year.
The first goal I have set for myself is to take a photo everyday this year. I'm not planning on doing a photo a day project this year. I just want to force myself to click that shutter button at least once a day. Good or bad I want to take a photo a day. The best way to improve your photography is to be shooting. I already have a camera with me everywhere I go and I'm also actively taking photos on a regular basis for the MyDrive photoblog. So with this goal in mind I'm forcing myself to take a photo everyday to help force the habit to improve my technique, eye, and creativity.
My second
goal is to take over 10,000 images for the year. I took a quick look at my photo counts for the past couple of years and they have been consistently in the 7000-8000 range per year. I do actively try to delete the stinker images and will continue to do the same in the future. But I really need to break out out of this comfort zone and take more photographs this year. In years past I had several events and trips that gave me the opportunity to shoot up to a thousand photos for one event. I don't have any of these opportunities planned in the future, so I will need to rely on lots of smaller photo outings and projects if I want to meet my goal.
My third goal is to create and finalize my plan for my Civil War infrared photography project. It could be either a book, a folio, or maybe just a website. As stated above I want to focus this year, and this is one project I want to focus on.
The 150th anniversary (sesquicentennial) of the Civil War starts in 2011 and I would like to have my project plan completed before this Summer so I can plan my photographic outings. There are going to be many events over the next couple of years around this event and I want to make sure to be prepared now. So this year I plan on shooting at more Civil War locations and I plan on doing my first round of photographic production in the Winter. I also plan on researching and studying the history of the Civil War to help with this project. I will be posting more about my research on the blog.
My final goal is to print more of my photos. I have found several great online printing services that are able to produce better quality and cheaper prints than I can produce at home. I have very few photos printed in my home and I would like to experiment with various finishes and mountings to see what works best for my favorite photographs.
These are the goals that I have prepared for myself this year and I'm excited about the future. Here is to a great start of a new decade.