Goodbye 2016 and Hello 2017. Hope everyone had a great NYE. The first blog post of 2016 2017 is going to be about resolutions and like most people I’ve got some. Originally I wasn’t going to share these with anyone but rather work on them myself as they are more goals and areas of focus rather than resolutions but then I read Chris’s post (Page Pics) about his resolutions. Some of them not only struck a cord with me but also made me really think about what my photography goals are and where I was headed as a photographer in 2017.
Deciding to put my thoughts down on paper to see what was not only realistic but also achievable resolutions goals and focus areas. This is where I need to be honest with myself because I’ not expecting to nail all of these because we have these little events that I like to call “Life got in the way” moments. For the majority of, these are unavoidable events or hurdles that will try to slow you down trying but this year I’m determined to achieve more than I would normally achieve. Anyway these are the goals and focus areas that I will be working on in 2017.
Improve my photography skills
As one good friend of mine said to me. Look at the corners of your frame before you press the shutter button which is something that I need to not only consider but also to improve. There are distractions in the corner of some of my images.
Chris is right that we, us street photographers, (I make that sound like a bad thing, being a street photographer) need to photograph other genres such as landscape to improve our photography skills and not forget that the world is a place filled full of colour.
I’ve also been a member of The Arcanum for about 18 months now and my photography has improved significantly however I need to complete Sphere 2 and if possible Sphere 3 in the next 12 months to improve beyond my limits.
Film (Analogue) Photography
I have recently been given a Nikon F75 Film Camera. Its a lot of fun to learn how to use it but I want to take this further in 2017, maybe even develop my own negatives and learn how to develop photos as well. That’s pretty ambitious since I haven’t even got a role of film back from the lab yet!
Work on this blog thing.
I like to blog, I’ve been doing this on and off now for a number of years. I find that its a way to write what I’m thinking/feeling/going/trying about photography and to get it out there. I’ve also developed a mind set of “Blog like no one is reading it and the fear about blogging will vanish”, seems to be working because I’m pretty sure no one is reading it! I’ve also spent some cash to improve my blogging skills and hopefully that will pay off.
Work out what the name of my photography blog and business should be?
Thief Images is a good name, its catchy however it doesn’t really make people think “Photography” at all. Some research needs to be done and a decision needs to be made on what this creative beast of mine should be called.
Define my social media presence and develop a social media strategy.
There are so many social media platforms today and I seem to have a quite a few of them but there is one I don’t have…….Facebook. There is a genuine fear that I’m missing out by not having Facebook but do I really need all of these social media platforms.
- Google Plus
- 500px
- Viewbug
- Blog
I’m pretty sure that’s not all of them either but being active on all of these takes time and effort which I think it needs to be maximised. This approach will at the very least maximise the interaction with my intended audience. With that in mind, some of these accounts will be deleted, just need to work out which ones.
Read/Watch/Listen/Try/Learn – Rinse and repeat
There are so many learning resources available that are accessible thanks to the Internet such as Creative Live, podcasts and other blogs that are well worth reading. This year I want to read, watch, listen, try, and learn from these resources.
These are my 6 goals and focus areas for 2017 and if I continue to call them exactly that I should achieve quite a lot of them in some way or another.
Do you have any goals or focus ares for 2017?
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