New Year's Resolutions - Image Making

[Michael Slade]

Ok, so NO posts about what gear you're going to buy. I don't care about that crap anyway.

But, what I DO want to know is what you plan to do to improve your own photography. What do you plan to do to improve your seeing? How will you more clearly convey your vision? How will you tell better stories? How will you gain more enjoyment from your photography?

Me? Ok, well, it's always a struggle to balance out the shooting and the back-end, but this year I plan to work more on actually printing and exhibiting the backlog of negatives (both processed and unprocessed) that seem to be stacking up.

I also want to try to be less documentary and more interpretive with my image making. I'm not sure how I'm going to execute that, but maybe I'll have to channel my inner Wynn Bullock or Minor White for a bit and see where it takes me.

That's enough hopeful promises for one year don't you think?

 

[Root Moose]

My new years resolution is to get all my digital (and scans of analog) pictures and video stuff sorted, subset'ed (is that a word?), easy to display on the TV.

That, and actually get out there and take pictures of stuff besides just the kid's events.

 

[Sexy6Chick]

Now that I have a Tripod (Christmas gift..woohoo!) I plan on really working to get some quality pictures. I want to figure out long exposure pictures for the silky water effect. I want to better my PP technique and I want to learn how to do HDRs. I want to get out a lot more this coming year than I did in '09. OH, and to figure out how to stitch panorama's together

 

[Lost Canadian]

I have a couple.

First thing is easy, and it will be to continue my efforts to expand upon my own visual catalog, for reference and recall. This simply means more reading, more looking, and more seeking of visual knowledge. Nothing new here with this, it's just a commitment to continue with what I've been doing.

The second, which is much more difficult, will be to try and sort my emotions when shooting, to better define/refine my vision. Answer those questions, like what am trying to express with this shot, and can I identify my work as mine alone. The goal ultimately would be to have someone else look at my shots and recognize my finger print, and perhaps bear witness to my perspective on the world and not simply see my shots as a copy or interpretation of work that hase already be seen or done by someone else a million times.

Basically I plan to make a lot of mistakes in the coming year, and I'll hope to find something defining beneath the mess.

 

[Michael Slade]

Basically I plan to make a lot of mistakes in the coming year, and I'll hope to find something defining beneath the mess.

Art and Fear baby... Art and Fear.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Mine is simple really.

Take more photos on trips. I'll concentrate on taking 'better' photos once I can acheive that.

 

[stevenmd]

1 - Transfer everything from 8mm to DVD
2 - Learn how to hold the new fandangled camcorder thingy still while taking video
3- Learn how to take pictures that aren't fuzzy (the camcorder has a picture feature)
4 - Keep shooting away until I get it right!
5 - Lose some weight... I just saw myself on video...:Wow1:

 

[99wj]

• Read more photography books
• sort out all my photos
• upgrade some equipment
• become a photoshop whiz! (not to make up for any poor photography work, just to refine things more by using digital tools)
• travel more
• and lastly not get stuck at all this year (if i can pull that off, i must be a god haha )

 

[nwoods]

My goals are to work on my existing archive of images for potential publication, sale, or stock use. I really would like to have my photography start to be self-sufficient, with enough income generated to be able to, for example, replace my no-longer-consistently-functioning 20D with perhaps a 7D.

With regards to actual image taking, I want to work on my candid portraits. I reviewed my online statistics, and I can post 100 photos taken on a trail run, and the images with the highest hit count are almost always featuring people.

Example (of popularity, not of good photography). These two images are among my most viewed images:

Compared to others in those galleries that I think are much more dynamic images:

 

[photoman]

Interesting topic.

Vision- Continue to expand on capturing dynamic light in landscapes and true emotion in people photography.

Style- continue to develop my own artistic style through unique compositions as well as post process work.

Photoshop- have a ton to learn here! Goals- Landscapes = merges, masks, and stitching. People = masks, textures, composits.

Business- gallery show (or two), actually advertise and market rather than relying strictly on word of mouth or chance.

Gear- depends on how successful everything else is.

 

[photoman]

Love this shot.

 

[sinuhexavier]

I'm going to quit shooting on full auto and figure out what aperture means.

 

[Michael Slade]

I'm going to quit shooting on full auto and figure out what aperture means.

I said you don't get to talk about equipment.

 

[sinuhexavier]

You said gear I was going to buy.. I said I'm just going to figure out how to use what I have... hehe...

I'm actually going to be focusing on less commercial work and have two personal projects that I'm excited about.

My mantra for 2010 is "simplify"...

 

[Michael Slade]

I'm actually going to be focusing on less commercial work and have two personal projects that I'm excited about.

My mantra for 2010 is "simplify"...

Now that's what I'm talking about.