Happy New Year!
We hope you had a great New Years Eve and New Years day, we sure did.
I love the new year but for so many reasons. We enjoyed new years eve at our house with some family and friends playing games and eating a yummy soup and salad bar. It was a last minute plan but it turned out so great. We all stayed up till after midnight. I was actually a little surprised, I guess that means we were all having a blast.
New Years Day was a great one as well. I had a photo session that morning in the freezing cold weather of 8 degrees, that post will be coming up! That afternoon we went to my moms house to play games and eat lunch. My family loves games and we had fun playing. Not only do I get to spend time with family and friends for new years but I get time off work to relax at home as well as new years resolutions. I am not one that always keeps my resolutions but I do make them and strive to keep them throughout the year. Last year a few of my resolutions were to take more photos of family, drink less Mountain Dew, and spend more time for myself. I think overall I did fairly good. I could have spend a lot more time for myself which is why it's a huge change in our photography business for 2015.
On New Years Day I wrote down 10 photography related New Years Resolutions I'm going to strive to accomplish this year BUT they can actually be applied to each and every one of you as well. Take a look.
1. Take more personal photos.
This one is so true and I know I had it written as a resolution last year but this year I actually did something to help me out a little more. I joined a huge community of photographers, hobbyist, moms, dads and anyone else who wanted to learn some new things and be inspired to take more photos of their family. It's called Shoot 2015. I'm super excited to use this avenue to help me take more meaningful photos of my family this year as well as learn or refresh my skills on techniques. I can't wait to share these with you so stay tuned each month to see what I've been working on.
2. Print more photos
Ah. One of the hardest yet easiest. Printing them is somewhat easy now that I use an APP called Groovebook. However, it only prints pictures I have on my phone so I still need to print the photos I take with my DSLR and Point and Shoot cameras. I WILL DO BETTER!
3. Learn a new technique
This one is going to be fun, I'm going to make it! With the help of Shoot 2015 and the Cache Valley Photographers Club this one should be a breeze. And I have no doubt I'll learn many more than just one.
4. Organize my hard drive / computer
I am pretty proud of myself on this one. It's not a hard one for me and should be done by this weekend. I usually keep my photos organized as it is. I do have to say that keeping my photos and folders organized helps me all year long to find what I'm looking for.
5. Shoot with other photographers
Another one I am really going to try hard to do monthly or quarterly at least. I learn more with hands on and talking to other people so I'm excited to collaborate with other photographers.
6. Donate time for a good cause
I think it's such a powerful opportunity when you can help people with something you have talents of. I am going to use my photography skills to help someone in need, help a good cause and preserve a memory for someone in need.
7. Document and Scrapbook my photos
This is a hard one. I used to scrapbook daily, weekly and at least monthly. I haven't scrapbooked more than a few times in the last few years. I'm going to reserve time each on or may be quarter to scrapbook and I'm going to slowly get better at documenting our life.
8. Use more black and white edits
This is slightly hard for me. I LOVE COLOR! I edit all my photos in color and black and white but I rarely post black and white photos. I will do better.
9. Use a DSLR during family get together.
I often forget to take my nice camera with me or I just don't take it because I know if I take it I'll be asked or relied on to take photos. I used to LOVE capturing memories of my family, now sometimes I feel like it's a chore. (One of the reasons for this list and commitment to take more pictures of my family). My goal is to get it back out, stop getting burned out and make amazing memorable photos of my family and friends. (If you don't have a DSLR maybe just use your point and shoot more instead of your phone camera).
10. Be in more Photos.
I think this is one of the most important resolutions I can make. I have told my mom many many times that she needs to be in more photos and now I guess I need to take that same advice. I LOVE being behind my camera, whether it is for clients or at my house, on the jeeping trail BUT I need to hand my camera off to someone else more and get in front of the lens. Andy might be the one I had the camera to and I hope he's willing to help me out!
