Resolved to Photograph

I’m starting another 365 project this year. If you want to keep up with it you can click the button on the side bar to go to the photo blog. I’m embarrassed that last year’s project lasted till May 2. Oh my! Truthfully I took pictures all the time, but just stopped posting them. May was a crazy month with the start of CDO Studios and the senior portraits I was shooting. Then camp happened, and pregnancy got huge and blah blah blah… there are always a million reasons excuses for why something failed. But I’m picking it back up again, and hope to make it happen this year!

Photographically some of my goals are:

1)Shoot more! Don’t let dust gather on that equipment! I now have quite a bit of high end photography equipment and I need to use it a LOT so that I’ll know it inside and out. I’ve gotten so much more confident with certain aspects of photography and editing, but there are still areas that I’m not strong in, and need to work specifically to improve those.

2)Get more paying clients. Don’t get me wrong, I love shooting for friends and family, to whom I’ve been shooting for free and giving discount prints. I like to be able to do that! But eventually I would like to get clients and build a real sustainable business out of this.

3) Work out my workflow. I’ve been toying with the idea of switching my photo editing to Photoshop simply because all of the actions and tutorials that are already available out there for it. However, I’m reluctant because I LOVE the simplicity of Aperture! And of the things that I do want to do with layers I know that Pixelmator can handle them. So I need to figure out my own personal “style” and then maximize my workflow accordingly.

I’m also going to be reading more photography blogs and such for inspiration and tips as well. There’s so much information out there! Many of the photographers that I have come across recently who are making a GOOD living off of photography are “stay-at-home-moms” who got a good camera and just started shooting. If they can do it, so can I! 🙂

This weekend Stuart and I are going to be ‘scoping out’ a wedding show. We want to see what the booths are like and what the “competition” is doing. 🙂 I’d like to do more weddings in the future, and this may be a good way to get started. We’re looking a year or two down the road when we’d actually be able to rent a booth at a show like this and hopefully get some good business out of it.

It is exciting to look ahead, but in the meantime I need to still be growing as a photographer NOW. So there ya go. Photography resolved!