Wishing for… a year worth of photography
New year always comes with new wishes, hopes, resolutions, things we would like to do. We have issues in mind that we would like to accomplish like losing weight, starting a yoga class, practicing meditation but as soon as the year progresses, these short or long time goals get stuck in a drawer under so many other things that always seem more important.
So, many times, it is not enough to have in mind a resolution for the year to come, but it is even more important to establish small steps that will gradually lead you to your final goal. I have learned the hard way that unless you take a sheet of paper and write down what you want to accomplish (even if the next step is as basic as buying a flash or a new lens) and you review following steps all of the time, your resolution will become a dream to never come true.
And so, you reach your fifties still dreaming about what you should have done in your thirties, if you would have had more courage to follow your dreams.
A year worth of photography
Our long time goal is to take a sabbatical year, travel to Asia and take photographs. In order to be able to do this, the first small goal we have established for this year is to try to make a small income from photography. Until now, the work we did was for ourselves, our photographs would help us to train our mind towards creativity and different thinking.
Following our long time goal, we cannot spend an entire year abroad without being able to generate a minimum income that would allow us to live decently from one day to the other. So first step is to find some paid work, photography related, no matter the genre of photography, and try to raise up to the expectations of our customers.
Second step that is planned for this year with the same goal in mind is to try to be different. No matter if it is our landscape photography or any paid work that we might be able to find during the year, the goal is to create a unique body of work. We see in the social media a tendency to replicate other’s work just to receive immediate gratification, the likes and appreciation of communities out there. Replication keeps us in a comfort zone that prevents us from improving, growing, creating.
Let’s remember why we stated to create images in the first place. Was it to get likes, comments, stars, popularity? Or was it for the immense satisfaction of creating something unique, something that would tell the world something about us and about the story of the places we are visiting, people we are meeting along the way.
What is your long time goal, photography wise, for the following years and what are your next small steps that would help you accomplish it?
