2012 Resolutions

I've been inspired by Ania and Leslie C's resolutions for this year.  Here's what I look forward to in 2012!  I've shared the first three on my photography blog.  Not ready to share #4 with the world but now saying it out loud here will motivate me to get going! (yes I know this site is available to the world but it feels more private!)

1) Use my Point and Shoot camera: I have a great pocket sized camera in my Sony T5.  It's a regular traveler especially when water is involved.  But I tend to take fewer pictures with it just because I'm not familiar with it.  I challenged myself to take more pictures on a recent trip and with that practice I can now anticipate the shutter timing.  I was able to capture this snowball action shot!

[Having my DSLR conk out on me right before the holidays motivated me to this goal too.  My indoor Christmas shots weren't great because of my unfamiliarity of this camera.  Now that I've got timing down, time to learn all the modes so I don't always have to use the flash inside.]

Practice with the point and shoots -- either my T5 or my phone -- allows me to focus on framing.  And they are a lot less cumbersome to carry than my Nikon!

2) Design more in Photoshop: Creating holiday cards for my family and a client this year got me hooked on presentation and design.  There's always an artistic vision in mind for a shoot and this can extend into the presentation of the final images.  I seek to create more cards, books and wall hangings this year.

Here's the Garcia card this year:

3) Continue education:  One of the biggest things I love about photography is that there is always something more to learn.  Some new challenge.  Some new inspiration.  So many resources are available to us and I will seek some out this year.

I've just signed up for ClickinMoms Senior Success: http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/?u=d54daf08fec377347b22726b0&id=a55a7232a1&e=73ee56a042

4) … which leads me to #4.  As a brand new business, I've been considering my business plan and how I want to establish myself in 2012.  I've considered my immediate strengths and challenges.  At the same time, I don't want to stay square in my comfort zone.  I've decided that I want to try senior photography this year.  What played into my decision is (a) timing: weekday evenings are likely to work which help because it's after my day job and doesn't take weekend time away from my own family (b) I'm better at individual shots rather than groups -- but this age group will be something new! (c) senior photography outside the "black drape" box is essentially a new market in my immediate town.  There are photographers in the Atlanta area that do this, but it is not saturated at my local high schools.  I've been endlessly thinking through launching this from having reps, locations, sessions to build a portfolio, other marketing, and packages to offer.  It's time now to get things on paper and most importantly get some portfolio building sessions to make sure this is something I really will enjoy!

 -Greta G.