Staying motivated is probably the hardest thing about following through with any New Year’s resolution. One way to escape that trap is to periodically review what you have achieved compared to what your goals are. If you are meeting or exceeding your goals, you know all the hard work and commitment are paying off. If, on the other hand, you haven’t quite achieved what you wanted, you will be able to make some adjustments to get you back on track. With that in mind, I thought I would review what I have accomplished for the first three months of 2020 and see where I stood on meeting my own resolutions.
My first resolution was simply to shoot more photographs. So far, I have gone out at least once each of the last three months. I didn’t always get very good pictures, but that’s ok because I went out and tried. If I go out, I may not always get good photographs. But, if I don’t go out, I won’t get any images at all.
My second resolution was to slow down and explore my photographic location. Quite honestly, I have not done so well with this one. I’m still finding myself getting to a location, getting a few shots, and then hurrying on to the next spot. I’m not really taking the time to discover other subjects and photographic opportunities a location may offer.
Photographer Rick Sammon recently tweeted some great advice I think perfectly captures the idea of slowing down the photographic process: “Before you shoot, think about the 1 picture you would take if you could only take 1 picture. Consider composition, settings, exposure, lens, background & focus before you take that 1 shot.” This is definitely an approach I am going to try the next time I go out.
The third resolution was to be prepared. In other words, always have my camera with me. For the most part, I have been accomplishing this goal and it has paid off at least once so far.
While running an errand a few weeks ago, I got out of my truck and noticed that another vehicle had leaked some oil in a small puddle creating some very interesting color patterns. Grabbing the camera that I started keeping with me, I grabbed some quick shots of the various patterns and colors.
While the images did not turn out as well as I had hoped, I was happy that I had been prepared by having a camera to capture them to begin with. Just a few short months ago, my camera would have been sitting at home, and I would be kicking myself for leaving without it.
My final resolution was to write at least one post per month. So far, I have been able to exceed that goal. And, I have varied the topics I write about. In addition to writing about some of my latest photos and how I created them, I’ve also posted about such things as what photography means to me and my thoughts on photographic manipulation. Expanding my topic list has certainly opened up a whole new world of writing opportunities.