Ahhh, the new year.  That means resolutions!  Eat Better.  Start Exercising.  Get Organized.  The same ones tend to pop up year after year.  But this time around I am focusing my resolutions on my passion, photography.  I figure if I publish them for the world to see I might have to hold myself a little more accountable to follow through on them.

1) Focus on portrait photography – when I first started my obsession with photography I steered away from portraits.  In fact I was adamant about having no interest in photographing people.  I was sticking to non-human subjects period.  Then I took a photography class and it was an assignment.  Since then I have done several portrait session and it isn’t so bad.  But I need a lot of practice and need to read up on the “how tos.”

2) Learn more about lighting – Lighting is probably the most important thing to get right in photography just after picking the subject.  This particular resolution ties into the portraits.  It is not easy correcting bad lighting in Photoshop, trust me I’ve tried.  So all the more reason to get it right up front.  I have the lights now to master them.

3) Need to get to know Photoshop MUCH better – Photoshop and I am well acquainted.  I can fumble around and basically get it to do what I need.  But this is one powerful software program that I am not utilizing to its full potential.  I have the books on the shelf but need to make the time to really dig into them and learn much more about Photoshop.  Maybe a class?

4) More Photo Expeditions – OK, maybe “expedition” is a bit much.  But I live within driving distance of some of the most beautiful landscapes in the country.  I need to take advantage of that.  As well as venture beyond Arizona’s borders.  So here is my photo trip wish list for 2011:

In Arizona:

  • Grand Canyon (in winter)
  • Monument Valley
  • Aravaipa Canyon
  • Chiricahua National Monument
  • Blue River

Outside Arizona:

  • Los Angeles – specifically the Getty Museum and Disney Concert Hall
  • New York City – been too long since I have been
  • Yosemite or an equal caliber National Park

2 Responses to “2011 Photography Resolutions”

  1. Paul Davis

    on January 18 2011

    Mike

    Always interesting to read other peoples resolutions

    Do you reckon it’s possible to set out to take too many pictures in a year that just sit in LR (or whatever) and never get processed or uploaded ?

    Cheers
    Paul

  2. Mike

    on January 18 2011

    Hi Paul,
    I don’t think it is possible to take too many pictures. I may not process all the images I take right away but I often find myself going back and revisiting old images later. I may see something different when I go back 6 months or a year later. I also don’t process many because they were not “just right” but they led me to the image I was hoping for, so they were my practice shots. Of course storage can become a problem after a while. Good thing hard drives are getting bigger and cheaper.

    Thanks for reading!
    Mike

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