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02.01.2024

New Year Resolutions and Goals

I’ve recently read that only 11% of us manage to keep the resolutions that we make at the start of the year, or put another way, it has been estimated that nearly 90% of resolutions are abandoned. Admittedly, it didn’t say by which point of the year they are finally relinquised but I’m guessing it’s before the halfway point, around June. In any case, it doesn’t make good reading, and yet, here we are, making another set of resolutions that I plan to keep throughout 2024. Additionally, I’m setting myself some goals. The difference is subtle, but I prefer to work with goals, which are targets and something I can continually work towards.

One of the good things about being a beginner photographer is that there is plenty to aim for and to choose from, and the bar doesn’t have to be exceptionally high. The longest journey can still be completed, even if the steps are small. It just takes a little longer. 

Resolutions:
- Learn to use the equipment, that I already have, more, before investing more time and money in new gear.
- (Linked to above), not to fall into Gear Acquisition Syndrome.
- Keep the website updated
- Experiment more; different techniques, different styles, different lighting techniques
- Learn to use the features of the camera; exposure bracketing, focus stacking etc

Goals:
- finish the photography masterclass that I am currently enrolled in
- join the advanced photography course
- learn the ‘dark art’ of editing photos in Lightroom (not just the tooling, but the ideas and concepts behind the editing process)
- to publish photos regularly on Social Media, to get myself out there and to be open to feedback and critique from other photographers of all levels.

I’ll revisit these points in upcoming blog posts to explain my own personal, and probably misplaced, reasoning and the ideas behind them, but for now, I just want to commit them in black and white. That’s always a good starting point, right?