It’s the New Year, the time when many of us make our “New Years Resolutions” by setting new goals for the coming year. It is also a time to look back and see how far we have come with respect to the goals made last year. With regards to my photography, I have an ongoing goal of improvement. I strive to be better this year than last, and better next year than today. I measure my progress through questions like, have I learned any new capture or post processing techniques to create new or better looks? Is my ability to plan and previsualize even better now then a year ago? Am I experimenting with something new and gaining a better understanding of how and when to use it? Am I following the pack or going my own way? These are some of the benchmarks I use to gauge my progress in the ongoing quest to be a better photographer and create better and better pictures. I say picture not photo since I believe photography is an art and not simply a method of documenting the world around us – let the photojournalists do that. Our capture and post processing skills along with artistic license give us a means to create different versions of a capture and the resulting picture is a result of ones personal vision or preference limited by his or hers imagination and digital darkroom skills.
One tangible way to of ‘seeing’ how far your photography has come is to create a folder or web gallery that includes your best or favorites of the past year. It can be your top 10, top 25 or top 100, (10 might be too few and 100 might be too many but you get the idea). It can include your best pictures of the year or instead a few of your best for each location or event, or simply the best of each genre you shoot like sunsets, waterfalls, buildings, portraits, animals… Selecting and reviewing your best or favorite work is a great way to measure your progress and take pride in your accomplishments plus it gives you a tangible benchmark for next year to compare back to. I know that some of my pictures I took years ago that I considered great at the time are now below my current standard either in composition or the post processed end result. At or around New Year’s Day is great time to see how far you have come, define your strengths and weaknesses, and set personal goals for improvement in the coming year. Strive for progress not perfection and you will rarely be disappointed.
Happy New Year and remember, if you don’t get older and wiser, then you just get older. BTW, here are some of my favorites of 2009.
One tangible way to of ‘seeing’ how far your photography has come is to create a folder or web gallery that includes your best or favorites of the past year. It can be your top 10, top 25 or top 100, (10 might be too few and 100 might be too many but you get the idea). It can include your best pictures of the year or instead a few of your best for each location or event, or simply the best of each genre you shoot like sunsets, waterfalls, buildings, portraits, animals… Selecting and reviewing your best or favorite work is a great way to measure your progress and take pride in your accomplishments plus it gives you a tangible benchmark for next year to compare back to. I know that some of my pictures I took years ago that I considered great at the time are now below my current standard either in composition or the post processed end result. At or around New Year’s Day is great time to see how far you have come, define your strengths and weaknesses, and set personal goals for improvement in the coming year. Strive for progress not perfection and you will rarely be disappointed.
Happy New Year and remember, if you don’t get older and wiser, then you just get older. BTW, here are some of my favorites of 2009.
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