What A Year

Well, the end of the year has come and gone. I think it is time to look back and see what I have learned from it.

In this blog, I want to touch on a few things. First, I want to talk about how 2024 was different, and why I made changes this last year. Second, I want to talk about one of those changes: Photo series. I want to discuss why I did them and what I learned from them. Lastly, I will discuss what I am going to be doing moving forward into this year, 2025.

So, let's get on with it. One year of photos, coming right up!

What Changed In 2024

So what happened in 2024 that inspired a change in my photography? If I am being honest with you, I will say burnout. I was tired of photography and almost sold my camera. I was gaining no enjoyment from it, and saw that the quality of photography I was putting out was declining in quality. As I reflected on this, I made the realization I only picked up my camera if I was getting paid. The camera just collected dust on the shelf if there wasn't money involved. This was such a sad, and wasteful view of the art, and I see that now. This caused burnout and made me feel less than as a photographer, and it was because I wasn't "creating". I was just doing a job when I was paid to do it.

At the start of 2024, I opened up about this to my friend. He told me what I already knew, I needed a change. I decided to start pursuing photography as an art form, rather than a way to make some extra money. I wasn't ready for the way it changed the way I view photography, for the way it changed my life. I consider myself lucky I made it to this point in my photographic career, where I was able to change directions rather than going further down the path I was on. The change I decided to make needed to get me out shooting more, and more intentionally. I needed to give myself projects to focus on and to produce meaningful work that I was both proud of, and that taught me lessons along the way. That is when I landed on the idea of photo series.

What's The Deal With Photo Series?

I chose photo series because they would allow me to put in the focus on a project, and it would give me a reason to go out shooting for myself. I had a responsibility with these photo projects, I needed to complete them, not only for myself, but also to send to you all. This is where things kind of took a turn.

These photo projects did what they were supposed to do: they got me out shooting, and I focused on getting pictures that fit a certain criteria. I also learned new skills, the main one being honing my photographic eye by looking for specific photographic opportunities. All of this went to plan, but I learned something: I didn't resonate with everything. Whether that be a specific photo series idea, or just the act of only photographing a specific criteria, I found myself, at times, not even enjoying the photo series, or worse, not taking images I thought were cool because they didn't fit the criteria. This was a big lesson for me. The few things I learned were this:

1. Photo series/projects are great and important and can bring a lot of value, and help teach new skills.
2. Don't let a specific criteria prevent you from creating art that calls to you.

The act of pursing photography in this way opened up the craft for me, and turned it into more of an art. I look at images more deeply now, but I will get into that in a different blog. Since my eyes were opened to this new world of photography, I found the call of creativity more alluring. When I first began photo series, it wasn't that loud, but as I continued, I trained not only eye to see good compositions, lighting, etc., but also my creative "soul", if you will, to feel certain things out. To see if things resonated with what I wanted to create. This is where things get a little abstract, and I still struggle to find the words for it.

All of this to say, photo series helped me in many ways, but the main one teaching me that focus is great for learning skills, but it is okay to not focus completely on something in order to get the images that are meaningful to you. The way I like to think about is this: we never know when the "muse" will call on us to create something meaningful. All we can do is prepare ourselves, whether that be training a specific skill or putting ourselves in inspiring situations, to answer when the "muse" calls on us. AKA, we never know when an idea will strike, so make sure you are ready when it does. This revelation is what will guide me moving forward.

Moving Forward To 2025

So what am I going to do this year after everything I learned in 2024? Well, I am going to work on the skill of pursuing the muse's calling. I learned a lot of skills, and I know I have much more to learn, but moving forward, at least this next year, I am going to choose to learn in a more organic nature just by shooting everyday.

In 2025, I will go out and photograph every day and post it somewhere. This allows me to work on the skills I know, figure out the skills I need to hone, and also put myself in a good spot to create meaningful art when an idea, or inspiration strikes. The more I shoot, the higher my success rate for creating awesome photos should be. In doing this, I will continue to better the craft in a more meaningful way, because now I am attaching it to my identity rather than just something I do to get paid.

Being a creative is who I am, and photography is the medium I chose to do it in. In photographing everyday, I am capturing the world around, the moments I experience, and documenting my own existence with every shutter click.

I look forward to this challenge. I will also continue client work, and the occaisional photo series. The photo series will be more intentional and less directional this time around however. I will take my time with it and really be thoughtful on what I want to say with it. So moving forward, you should expect to see me post once a day, I plan on doing one blog a week, and I am planning on getting more into video by posting at least once a month. This outline will have me creating everyday, and even though they won't all be at the same quality, the big thing that matters is that I am acting on this and creating. Quality will come with time, but right now, it is time to be consistent. It is time to create.