I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas, or which ever holiday you celebrate.
I guess you could call new goals a resolution. I’m not a wordsmith and I would definitely not wish to argue the semantics here. I actually never wish to argue anything. However, in my past, personally, I do not remember keeping many New Years Resolutions. Now Goals? I’ve seldom failed to meet a goal I set for myself. No brag… I guess I’m a bit tenacious.
Basically? I’m simply pausing to reflect on the past year. It’s been a pretty good one! I got out of the Vegas heat from mid May till October… that was awesome! I was able to explore the region around Yellowstone more in depth.
That was pretty cool. There are still regions in Idaho, and Montana I’d like to delve into more deeply, but I’ll leave that for future years.
I am definitely NOT in the club that supports seeing five national parks in five days. Our National Parks can be immense! I’d personally rather do one of them in an entire year than in one day. I’ll just bet, I still would not see everything.
First On The List
Tops on my list is preparing the infrastructure for my online classes. I’ve already been working on this one. Many of you might not realize how much website and computer work is necessary to be a professional Photographer now-a-days! Wow!
Video is also something new to me. After being a still Photographer for many decades, Video is a whole ‘nuther thing to learn.
Thankfully my beloved Apple products make this easier. Do I wish to become a movie producer? Nope! Not one bit! However, to be able to easily offer a medium that requires me to type less? Yeah baby! Bring that on! So this will be fun to learn.
A subheading of this item is also making up a years worth of lesson plans. That’s actually pretty fun! Prior to now, teaching in person offered a different format. I like the idea of going slower and more in depth with what I’ll be teaching, the same as I do going slower and more in depth exploring a Photographic region.
The LightRoom and PhotoShop classes I will be teaching shall be very specific and offer my total workflow. This is not something currently offered online. There will also be an assignment every two weeks for the students to practice, then upload their images to share with others. This offers a community environment where all are inspired and learn together as well.
Students will be able to start completely from the very beginning, and get exceptionally advanced in a very short period of time! That’s awesome! It has taken me many years to learn this!
Most online educators teach a specific technique. There are so many techniques they can never run out of topics. However? What leads you up to doing that technique? Where and how is it useful? I’ll be showing the path with many different ways to accomplish the task and why they work in certain instances, but may not in others.
Plus students will be able to download the images I’ll be working on and follow along in real time while viewing and pausing the video if they like. This was hard to accomplish in my live classes because I never knew who would be there, till I arrived and saw the list.
Second On The List
I’m preparing now to spend most of the Summer in Southern Utah. I’ve been to the Utah Mighty Five many times. This summer I’ll be exploring those five parks MUCH more in depth! The surrounding regions as well.
The cool part will be my online classes will show you some of these adventures, along with being able to illustrate techniques of capture, and editing. Online also means more contact with my students, keeping them moving forward as well. While teaching live class at B&C Camera is cool, in the Summer I’m no longer in Vegas, so this format offers consistency. Also it benefits my international clients as well!
In addition there will be free PhotoSafaris for my online students, and some campfire get togethers. I will also be heading to the Oregon coast for a couple of weeks in August. The image below is of Thors Well, on Cape Perpetua Oregon.
I’ll be looking to Photograph this again, in better weather than last time. I’m studying tide tables now. PhotoSafari anyone? If enough of you said you would be interested, I would put this together.
Another plus to the Oregon Coast region are the Light Houses and the coast line in between them. The image below is the Coquille River Light House, and one of my favorites to Photograph.
This Lighthouse is just a two hour drive south of Yachats and Thors Well. It says two hours on Google Maps. Don’t believe it if you’re a Photographer. I usually take the entire day for this trip stopping often.
Third On My List
I’m looking to vastly improve my own Photography in the coming year. I mean vastly! I’ve recently been looking over my work from the last two years, and I’m a bit unhappy. I do not think I strived to stretch my own boundaries enough.
I personally really like to take my time in a location. Become one with the environment if you will. I’ve let too many people in locations upset me too much.
Remember, I’ve always said that if you are fighting with anything at all, that will come across in your work. So now I need to remember to take my own advice. Yup! I’ll be enhancing my own calm quite a bit. Will I be drinking or smoking pot?
No I will not! I will simply be stopping more to become one with the environment. To take it all in. Let it become more of the passion in my compositions. If too many people are around I’ll simply be patient and not let that affect me.
I’m also looking to do more portraiture. With this goal my desired subjects will NOT be models! Actually I’m looking for subjects above 40, both men and women.
There are some new boundaries I wish to explore with my editing as well. Actually teaching has fed this desire. I’ll be spending more time experimenting with very advanced editing techniques. This is what the masters of the past did.
Am I some master? No, not at all. But my inspiration is that the more advanced you become, the more you stretch the limits and possibly come up with something new that has not been done yet. PhotoShop offers infinite possibilities. Not all of them have been discovered yet.
What Are Your Goals?
Have you thought of what you might like to do Photographically in the coming year? Perhaps a new location to explore? Or a new technique? Maybe simply practice more and improve your current technique? How’s about simply getting out there more often? Or in there? Maybe practice right in your own yard!
Sometimes all we need are some people to join with or inspire us to move in new and different directions. My class offerings starting the end of January and continuing an entire year could be just the ticket! I’m extending the $19.00 sign up special till January 1st, 2024.
BTW… some people think the online classes will be “zoom” type classes and at a certain time: No they will not be this format! I have students all over the world so they will be posted and you can view them anytime you like, from anywhere in the world!
