Photography Goals; Personal & Professional
Hello again! I thought I would add a nice little positive post to my blog today. Consider this post a chance to get to know me a little bit better. An insight into what I aim to achieve in the next few years. My goals and achievements are something I think about a lot, mainly the ones I've yet to achieve. Some are big career goals and others are small personal goals. Each are important to me though, each will enable me to grow more as a photographer and as a person. Which is my biggest goal of all in this. Nevertheless I've come a long way from choosing to do photography as a GCSE subject, but I've also got a long way to go until I get to where I would like to be. (not that i'll ever be happy but a girl can dream...)
Build My Travel Photography Portfolio
As a person, I'm not very well travelled. I've been abroad twice in my 25 years but it's something I'm desperate to do more of. I'd love to get some of the Europe cities under my belt. Concentrating on street photography and architecture. I'm planning a future blog post about my wish list of places to travel too. Austria is probably top of my list, along with Rome and other spots in Italy. InterRailing is top of my list to get some of these places checked off my list. Will take a hell of a lot of planning but will be so worth it in the end.
Create an at-home Studio Space
Personally I feel like renting a space for a studio isn't the right path for me, having rent and utilities to pay would add so much more pressure to the way I work. So my dream is to have a room in my home specifically for photography. Interchangeable backdrops on the walls, equipment all in one place and a lovely sit down space for at home consultations. It would enable me to have so much more freedom creatively, it would ultimately create lovely relaxed atmosphere for clients to visit, which all adds to the customer experience.
Be Self Employed
My biggest and hardest goal to achieve I'm gonna get, is to be fully self employed one day. Currently I work while fitting my photography around my hours. It's a long term goal and I know it'll take a lot of hard work and perseverance. It'll come with it's own worries naturally but the positives will far out way the worries.
Family Photo Albums
I've always cherished family photos, personally I don't have hundreds of photos from when I was a kid but the ones I do have are so special. I'm slowly working on creating an album full of little family memories, it's always going to be a work in progress but I always have visions of my kids looking through them in years to come. I print the majority of my personal photos using Free Prints, an app for your phone where you get 45 free prints a month and just pay delivery. Quality is fairly decent as long as your photos aren't too dark. (for proper frames I would always pay and get them printed properly)
Be in More Photos & Explore Self Portraiture
One of my main reasons for loving photography, is always being able to avoid photos. I've never enjoyed photos of myself. The older and more comfortable in myself I get this is changing but I've still got a way to go. Now I try to make a point of getting my other half to take a photo of me after I take one of him, because the few photos I have of me from previous years I actually enjoy. So this is a goal I know I'll thank myself for in a few years time. Along the same lines, self portraiture is something I've always thought about but I've always been one of those "I hate photos of myself" people. I see other photographers do self portraits so well, there's no limits to how creative you can get. The lovely Kaye Ford from @Fordtography is a photographer that has really inspired me to try it out, she does them brilliantly. Photographer Alexandra Cameron from @alex_cameron is another photographer who's inspired me, she has such a great personal style to her portraits. I'll include some examples below!
Tell More Stories Through my Images/Embark on More "Projects"
During my time at University, having projects always seemed very restrictive. Always having to tell a story was something I came to resent, but after so long out of education I think a bit of structure to my personal images would do my creativity a lot of good. I think it's something I can try to combine with my self portrait goal above. I think it will be a way for me to engage and encourage myself to take more photos just for myself. Especially landscape images, a project can help to influence the mood and atmosphere in your work which would really benefit a landscape image.
Get Involved in the Photography Community
Photography can be quite isolating, it's a hobby people often use for alone time, to clear their mind in a creative way. While this is something I think can be positive at times, I personally think I would benefit from a community to bounce ideas off of, to ask advice and generally find support in when needed. Now there's groups on Facebook I've joined, ones specifically for photographers in the north east, but my problem is that I never push myself to get involved. The fear of criticism is always strong but again that can also be a good thing. Provided it's constructive and nothing personal (if your sensitive like me this is important).
