Hi ,

 

Brand new years are so exciting, aren’t they? You stand there on the first row of the calendar with nothing ahead of you but possibility and opportunity. You begin the year with grand visions of what you’ll do this year, and then you spend the next few weeks and months getting down to business and bringing your ideas alive.

 

Sounds simple, right? 

 

Just kidding. Getting your creative ideas and photography on track for a new year can be as challenging as it can be rewarding.

 

I say start big. Dream big. Do the following:

 

1. Brainstorm

Imagine. Come up with some awesome visions for where you want your photography to go this year. Make a list of the people, places, locations and subjects that draw you and the techniques that you’d like to try out and apply to your imagery. Then don’t delay- start scheduling photo shoots, or at least getting out there with your camera, even if it’s just to sketch. Don’t let days and weeks go by without getting something lined up, because they will if you don’t get after it.

 

 

Remember all the bad habits that you developed last year? I don’t have to list them, you know what they are. Stuff that makes you not as productive as you should be, or wish you were. Areas where you slack off and let slide? For some, it’s marketing, for others, (me) it’s falling behind in your unsorted new images folder. 

 

Start the year off right. Fix those things. Get on top of problems and bad habits NOW and get in the habits that you know you want. Clean out that unsorted folder. Make some cold calls today. Send out a promo. Go shoot photos. Take a break from Twitter and actually get something done. 

 

 

Whether you do this every day, every other day or every week, carve time out towards active learning with your photography. Make the time to sit down and read those books and eBooks that you’ve been collecting. Visit someone else’s website whose work you admire and really spend the time looking through their imagery, studying their compositional and lighting techniques. I promise it will do you good. 

 

I spent forty five minutes this morning going through the entire year of fellow Alaska photographer Clark Mishler’s 365 portrait a day series from last year. You should too. He’s a great shooter and he really mixes it up in terms of approach, lighting, lenses and framing. 

 

Pay special attention to his use of light against dark and dark against light. It’s a technique that really helps to makes images pop off the page. Also pay attention to Clark’s dedication to get out there and diligently make photographs every single day. Pretty remarkable. That’s why he’s such a great photographer. That’s what it takes. They say that it takes ten thousand hours of practice to become an expert at something. Put in the hours in your photography and watch yourself improve.

 

Also, don’t just learn from the same old reliable sources. Branch our your learning material, as I wrote a couple of months ago on The Photoletariat. It will do you good.

 

 

So, with that, I wish you a very happy new year and the best of luck for your success in 2012. As I’ve said before I’d love to see your work, so post a few new shots in the Outdoor Adventure Photography Flickr group or the Fast With Light group. And stay tuned to my Facebook page, where I’ll be holding more contests this year and giving away a variety of books and photography gear, in addition to posting brand new work and other photo related content. Like me, if you haven’t already done so, and then leave a comment sometime!

 

Thanks for reading. Enjoy the recent posts, and don't forget to share, tweet, G+ and stumble them to your other photographer friends! 

 

Best regards,

Dan