8 New Year Resolutions to Make You A Better Photographer

A new year is a great opportunity to make a plan and try to keep to it. However, resolutions can be helpful in accomplishing these goals. Something about a new year seems to give us a clean slate and a possibility to succeed with all our good intentions. It’s somewhat exciting to think of the things we’d like to change or do better, and then make a plan for it!

I’ve listed a few things to consider here, but make your own list. Write down what you want to accomplish and keep it where you can see and remember your goals. The opportunity to learn, grow, or change is always there, but make 2018 the time to do it!

Learn Something New

Make a plan to learn and master a new skill for the next month or longer. Switch to manual mode on your digital and learn how to control your photographs entirely. Pick up an old film camera and work on learning to shoot with a few different types of film. Maybe you got a new camera for Christmas and now it’s time to learn!

Back Up Your Work

Not backing up work is a common bad habit for photographers. Make a plan for scheduled backups, invest in a cloud service or external drive, and make sure your work stays safe and available.

Start A Project

Create your own planned project for the year ahead. A photo essay, or a volunteer gig with a camera, something that you can commit to for the year and will keep your creatively involved! Even better if your project is for a good cause – like taking photos of cute animals at a local shelter to help them find homes!

Share Your Work

Photographs may get stuck living on a hard drive for too long sometimes. Plan to share your work more often so others can enjoy it! This also opens an opportunity for feedback that can be very helpful in learning photography!

Take Photos Of What You Love

Take more photos of your family. Personal photographs sometimes become an after thought when photography is a career, but be sure to record the life around you. Kids, pets, home, family… all of the people and things that you want to remember for years to come!

Print Your Photos

Seeing a photo in print is a different experience than on a screen. Print your work, build albums of family photos, hang your artwork on the wall, send surprise photos to friends in the mail! Enjoy it in a tangible form!

Relax

Opposite of most of the ideas here, take a break and put down the camera. Take some downtime, unplug, and the world around you! Maybe it’s a day a month, or even more frequently… but plan to just be, without being behind a camera.

Reflect

Take a moment to reflect on how the past year looked in your photo library. Looking back over the year, you may see how much you’ve learned, you may have some fun remembering certain shots, or you may see how you need to improve! It’s always good to take an introspective moment…

Make some resolutions and believe that you can do it. Here’s to a wonderful adventure in 2018, and many more creative moments than the year before!