want to make 2010 the bestever?

If you want to make next year a great year, you have to plan for it…and that requires setting realistic, realizable goals.

I keep mine very, very simple. At the end of the year, all I want is a calendar – 13 images – that represent the best work I was able to produce through the course of the year. Towards that, I want to try to take at least one really good photo every week; that way I’ll hopefully have four images to pick from each month. To make it easier on myself, I resolve (and this is really the toughest part) to go go through my images after I take them, rather than letting them accumulate. There will be some weeks where I take lots of photos and wind up with nothing to get excited about; and there will be days where I might feel like I shot a complete calendar. Despite the ups and downs that will surely come, as long as I keep plugging away, I know that I’ll have a nice short stack waiting for me at the end of the year.

Another thing I do is have some really simple projects on the calendar. Rather than try to over-plan and overload myself, I like to have maybe four things that I can count on doing during over the next twelve months. I might plan a taking a day-trip here, making a weekend there, or a attending seminar or conference somewhere else. I might plan out a series of photos to shoot on a single afternoon. The point is to have a handful of special things to look forward to without over-booking yourself silly.

Lastly, in order to maintain a balance between work and family, I have some parameters. Even though it is almost impossible for me to put my camera down, even when it’s just family, I try to make sure that they are much more than simply subjects. I include them as much as I can, and give them space away from the camera when they need it. I take pictures for them when they ask me to (like when my daughter texted me at a NASCAR event to get her some shots of Tyson Ritter, lead singer of the All-American Rejects). I make prints, buttons, and gifts for them. I don’t want them to feel all I do is point the camera at them. And, I do find time to put the camera down.

You don’t have to have grandiose plans in order to have a great year. Plan out a few things, have some simple goals, and make the most of the opportunities that come your way, and next December you should be very happy when you put together your year-end review.

Good Luck! And here’s to your successes!!