Every year I make a set of business resolutions. If you’re interested, here are last year’s. How did I do on them? Let’s just see…
– Do more inspiring things to be more inspired. I didn’t do so well on this one. I tried a few new recipes and took a few more walks than usual, but I didn’t really change any habits or drastically change my behaviors. I did get to travel a lot more than usual, so that really helped with the inspiration, but in everyday life I didn’t make any major changes.
– Shoot more in a way that excites me. Nailed it. I really feel like this past year held a lot of personal growth for me, both in how I shoot and how I act while shooting. Hopefully the results show in my work.
– Cultivate existing relationships. Fail. I kept up with photographer friends and went to some networking events, but I didn’t really go out of my way to reconnect with people in the industry who I’d like to keep in touch with. Is it the curse of being too busy and not having enough time or just being lazy? Who knows…
– Print more personal work. I started out strong on this one, ordering prints every month and sitting down to look at them with my wife when they arrived. It was awesome! Then I got busy and working on personal prints took a backseat to paying work. I still ordered some random photos throughout the year, but not on a regular basis. Regardless, the joy of holding a stack of prints and looking through it is enough to make this a permanent habit, just on a less than regular basis.
So what’s on my list for this year?
I’m keeping it simple, but by no means easy. I want to become a better storyteller.
I feel like I have a good idea of who I am and what my style is. But why do I do it? There are the moments, the love, the light and the spontaneity, all of which create a unique, once-in-a-lifetime day. Isn’t there more than that, though? There are relationships that have more history than I’ll ever know, but can I capture their essence in a single frame? There are fleeting moments that perfectly display someone’s authentic personality, but will I know them when I see them?
There are other stories on a wedding day besides the one of the two people getting married. I want to learn how to capture them, to tell them, so that years later when a couple looks back on their wedding photos, they don’t just see what happened on that particular day… they see the history of the people they love, people who were honored enough to share such a day with them, so that they don’t forget how they got to where they are and who helped them on their journey.