Photography Goals 1.1.13

The new year for me is a chance to reflect, review and renew. One part of that is writing photography goals for the year. I did this last year and it was a great way to start the year. Thank you again to Courtney at Click it Up a Notch for the inspiration to keep up with my goals!

My goals from last year can be found here - Photography Goals for 2012. I feel like I made a good effort or accomplished 4 of the 12. I wish it would have been more, but time and budget got in the way.  I do think that there is a lot for me to learn from the goals that I didn't accomplish and why. With that in mind, here is what I am working on this year...

1. Complete a Reverse 365 - A traditional 365, even with my phone as I tried last year is just not possible for me. I came across the idea of a reverse 365 in a Photojojo Newsletter. The concept is to post a photo a day but to use photos from the past. With my schedule this seems the most doable and will be a chance to work on my editing skills and to rescue more photos from my hard drive. 

2. Complete a Project 52 - For the past year I have been shooting about once a week and posting at least once a week. Therefore, a Project 52 seems like something I can accomplish and still pushes me to be out and shooting on a regular basis. 

3. Print more Photos - Last year I set a goal to print my photos monthly and was unable to do so. I am trying this goal again in a less specific form. I have a nice collection of canvases, but I want to start either a photo album or board of my work. 

4. Photography Locations List - I wanted to do this last year, to make a list of places I want to photograph and go to 5 of them. I am going to try again!

5. Wide-Angle Lens - I became familiar with my 50mm lens this year and bought and fell in love with a 100mm macro. Next up, I want a wide angle lens for my passion of shooting vistas. 

6. Do a better job of Blog Connecting - In doing Tones on Tuesday every week I have "met" some amazing photographers. I want to do a better job of visiting blogs, commenting on photos and connecting to other people who share this amazing passion. 

7. Continue to take a "Photoshoot Time-Out" - I set the goal in 2012 of taking a 10 minute time out during each photography experience to just be in the moment. I have to admit that I don't always do this, but when I do it is a powerful exercise. The other day I was shooting a sunset at Fort Stevens State Park and I intentionally put my camera away and just took it all in. The sound of the waves, the color of the sky and feeling I get on the beach. When I look at the photo below it means that much more to me because I stopped for a small moment in time to just be.

Settings: ISO 500, 50mm, ss1/125, f/16

8. Continue to Share on My Blog - This year I did 4 posts on things I have learned on my photography journey in my Tips and Tricks posts. I hope to do more of them this year! 

"If you want to reach a goal, you must "see the reaching" in your own mind before you actually arrive at your goal." - Zig Ziglar