Looking Forward

Now that we are in to 2019 and having looked back at the year gone, it’s time to look forward to the year ahead.

Develop

I enjoy learning, trying to develop my skill set and improve my knowledge. Whilst I would hope to see improvements in my photography there are a couple of areas I would like to make more significant progress.

On my photography, whilst I will continue to focus on subjects that bring me enjoyment there are a couple of areas which I have largely stayed away from but which I might dip my toes in. Although they may not be what I would shoot regularly, I do believe that learning and understanding other subject matters and styles of photography will help improve my work as a whole.

The enjoyment and benefit I took from participating in workshops last year has led me to consider further group or 1-2-1 workshops this year, particular if they cover subjects, styles, locations (or even run by photographers!) that appeal to me. Given my lack of time, the opportunity to fully immerse myself intensively for a day (or longer) can be very rewarding.

Explore

I am keen to continue visiting and exploring new locations where possible, in addition to re-visiting previous spots, particularly where I have a specific shot in mind when the right conditions present themselves.

Working in the city centre, my journey to and from work involves a 30 minute walk and the route, or which there are many options, is one I would like to explore more this year with a view to adding a photographic aspect to the walk.

The immediate countryside is another area I need to spend more time exploring to uncover locations that are in close proximity to where I live and which provide new photographic opportunities within easy access all year round… even in the summer months.

Further afield the list of locations that are calling out to me continues to grows. In fact I don’t think it ever shrinks. There are a few locations that are a little higher up on the list but then there are those that are a littler easier to visit and this often plays a part in deciding where to go when you’ve got a day job.

Interact

I enjoy meeting other photographers with whom I interact with on social media and whilst it’s good to meet up at conferences these often only happen every couple of years.

This year I would like to try and put some more faces to names whether that’s an opportunity to meet up for a cuppa and cake or a beer if I’m passing by (or if you’re passing Glasgow) or spending a day out with the cameras somewhere new or familiar.

Enjoy

I talked about enjoyment when I was looking back at 2018 and it’s worthy of mentioning again. I don’t rely on photography to make a living but I do have limited free time as much as I’d like to spend every spare minute doing something photography I can’t and I probably don’t want to either.

Enjoyment is what is important and that doesn’t have to mean coming home with keepers every trip (that just doesn’t happen!) but it’s about getting outside, the chase and the challenge.