Welcoming 2023
Hey ya’ll. It’s about that time. The start of a new year. Where everyone makes their goals and eventually drops them after January. Not us though! Let’s make our goals and sustain them throughout the year and continue to build good habits to eventually lead us to our final goal. For 2022, my goals were the following:
1) Get better at photography and keep growing in this aspect which includes more specific goals to achieve this by:
-Going out to shoot at least 3 times a week (hopefully 4)
-Refine compositional skills and seek out creative ways to develop other skills
-Posting daily onto instagram to encourage shooting as much as possible
-Continue to grow towards my ideal editing style while pursuing new creative ideas
2) Start posting videos on youtube in hopes to get better at video editing and going into the world of videography/vlogging
3) Creating a better website to ensure my “central hub” is as good as possible
I checked these every quarter of the year and tracked my progress. With the first goal, I vaguely set the an obvious goal of wanting to get better at photography. With the hopes of doing that, I set out some more specific goals that were actually trackable such as the posting onto IG and shooting a set number of times a week. For a good part of the year, I actually did shoot at least 3 times a week. However, in November and December, that dipped down to two and sometimes even only once a week. The boredom and the lack of inspiration in my hometown has hit me hard. With the amount of times I shot throughout the year though, I definitely felt my growth of my photography through my overall skills and have definitely taken more pictures I’m happy with.
The posting daily onto my instagram was actually something I felt was a bit detrimental towards my overall progress as it didn’t have the effect of wanting to shoot as much as possible just to post. I eventually decided to not care about IG and to find ways to shoot more through another way.
My continued growth in terms of editing and my editing style was definitely thanks to the amount of times I shot. I was able to test what I liked and what I disliked just through looking at what photos I took and what I was able to create through them.
With this goal, I definitely can say I improved as a photographer and am heading in the direction I’m happy with.
“Start posting videos on youtube in hopes to get better at video editing and going into the world of videography/vlogging”.
This goal was getting myself out of my comfort zone. Talking to the camera and having it go on social media felt very strange. I have done it with my instagram before, but that was realistically only going to be seen by friends. Putting up videos for public felt different. But I knew I wanted to try. This goal definitely took some time as I didn’t post my first video until December! However, I completed my goal (albeit very delayed). I learned a bunch about Final Cut Pro as well as other editing programs and how others edit videos. The delay in posting my first video was no waste of time as I spent a lot of time learning about video and making lots of mistakes about videography in general.
With my website, I knew I wanted to upgrade from what I had at the beginning of the year to something better. For some background, I had been using siteground as a host for my old website. However, I didn’t like the complexity of everything on there and it was so difficult to get the site to look how I wanted it to look. With squarespace, it was fairly simple to get everything to look clean and professional. There are still some things I am trying to get to work on squarespace, but overall, I am really happy with the way my site works and how it is simple to navigate around.
All in all, I can consider 2022 a success in terms of obtaining my set goals. I could’ve definitely shot more, but in an efforts to not burn out too much, I think I approached that portion of my goal correctly.
For 2023, I have some big goals as I’ve stated before in my older blog posts that I am getting ready to start a nomadic life very soon. For 2023, my goals are the following:
1) Post a video every week (besides this week because I can’t film due to having family over)
2) Make one travel video this year
3) Shoot more with a wide angle lens
4) Get more intimate with subjects (not necessarily people, but more descriptive shots like close ups/isolation shots of certain objects/subjects)
5) More story telling with shoots (like the roman fox method, establishing shot, subject, descriptive)
6) Shoot at least 4 times a week/video 2 times a week/1 day of full rest (during my nomadic trip, before that, is downgraded to 2 times a week)
7) Write a journal every day of the year.
The first two goals are very straight forward and a continuation of last year’s goal at getting better with video production, but also with video editing and filming.
Points 3-5 are more detailed ways for me to get closer to being a more rounded photography. It is also a way to balance out my portfolio as I’m most comfortable with the more telephoto lenses, not so much the wide shots. Also, I tend to focus a lot on an overall scene. Points 4-5 more specifically targets that. Also speaking of point 5, I tend to post pictures I think go well with each other on IG and have that be it’s own story. However, I want to try this method by Roman Fox who says to try and tell stories through an establishing shot (usually a wide shot), a subject shot, and a much descriptive shot of a location. This helps show the viewer what the location is, what is happening, etc.
Point 6 is again, another way for me to help me improve by being consistently in the field and refining my skills and getting better.
The last point of journaling is really just for me to be able to reflect on everything. I’m hoping this will not only let me be more in the moment, but it’ll also force me to have that 10-20 minutes of just “me” time. I won’t be on the phone, on the computer, or be busy thinking about anything else in life. I will just be focused on journaling and be in my thoughts. It will also be interesting to read years later haha!
Overall, 2022 was a great year and I have started to see my ultimate goal form in the distance. 2023 is another year of trying to chase that goal and hopefully, get even closer after 2023.