January 6, 2014

New Year, New Goals: personal

personal

Jack is 8 now and I’m always kind of holding my breath waiting for the moment he’ll be too big to hold my hand. And if I’m being honest, my emotions have not taken the move very well so I’ve spent the last few weeks on pins and needles waiting for Jack and Zoe to fall out of love with me.

Because, it totally happens that fast.

But last Thursday we all went to Knott’s Berry Farm and as we started through the parking lot towards the entrance 8-year-old Jack slipped his hand in mine and we walked, ran, spun and giggled our way into the park. I was looking through old pictures trying to find an image to include in todays post and I came across this smiling face from an impromptu afternoon drive to the snow last year. It seemed fitting for 2 reasons: 1. Because the majority of the country is covered in snow right now… even though it will probably be 80° in California today and 2. Because even if he’s not next door anymore, my heart always melts when he smiles at me. ♥

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1. Once a month, shoot for me.
There’s something about winter that makes me want to shoot film. It’s weird, but for the last 3 years as soon as December rolls around I’m practically longing to use film. Over the past few weeks I’ve realized that I love film because it forces you to slow down. You can’t shoot 97 images, get back to your laptop keep 2 and throw the rest away, you have to be very intentional with the way you shoot. And when December rolls around I feel like I’ve been holding my breath all year and I can finally exhale and take the time to slow down. This year I want to be intentional about slowing down and shooting for myself alllll year. Not just in December. Whether that’s a couple or a location I’ve been dying to go to, digital or film, I want to take photography field trips for me.

2. Thursday is blogging day.
Last year one of my goals was to blog 3x a week. I wasn’t overly successful at that, there were lots of weeks that went by with zero blog posts. I customized my day planner this year to include a space to schedule out blog posts every week, I intend to use that so I know what needs to be ready for the blog in advance and my plan is to use Thursdays to prep 3 blogs for the following week.

3. Keep track of spending/receipts.
This was also a goal from last year, I did pretty well for the first half of the year and then I dropped the ball a bit. I’ve outsourced my accounting this year, which I’m veeeeery excited about and that will help to keep me on track on a monthly basis.

4. Handwrite notes. For everything.
Several summers ago 2 of my really good friends became summer camp counselors for 2 months, while they were gone I wrote them every single day. There’s something really magical about handwriting a note and letting someone know you’re thinking of them. I want to be better about that.

5. Plan a trip to see fall.
Fall of 2012 I went to Boston for the first time and left a piece of my heart with the brick ivy covered walls. Fall of 2013 I photographed a wedding in New Jersey and was captivated by seeing the real colors of fall. I want it to be a yearly adventure. So far my top contending locations are Prince Edward Island or a trip through Washington State with a pit stop in the San Juan Islands. Who wants to come with me?

6. Go to a photography workshop.
I never want to stop learning, and in this industry there is a wealth of photographers willing to teach. Secretly I want to go to a Jose Villa workshop but at the same time I am incredibly intimidated. So, I guess we’ll see. ;]

7. Work out 5x a week/Keep track of my calories & such.
In 2013 I lost 40lbs, I would looooooooooove to continue losing weight in 2014.

8. Invest in new equipment
I very very very much want to add the 35mm 1.4 to my lens collection. Very very much. ;] I’d also like to upgrade my backup camera to a Mark III.

9. Create a post-wedding/post-session workflow & write it down.
I love creating schedules and trying to plan every minute of my life, but I often make schedules and never follow through with them because I don’t really need to do things like go to the post office every Monday. I want to create a workflow so I can develop a rhythm after weddings instead of a blanket “edit all day Wednesday”… because that’s not actually helpful.

10. Memorize 1 Bible verse a week all year.
I saw someone post recently that one of their goals for the year was to actually read the Bible this year, not books about the Bible. I thought that was really profound. I want to make remembering the Bible a priority… and I think this might be my most difficult goal this year.

Bonus Goal that I’m totally and completely stealing from last year:
Shoot a “destination” wedding and have Jennie 2nd shoot with me.
One of my very favorite weekends in 2012 was when I went to San Francisco with Jennie and Alexis. And one of my favorite weekends of 2013 was spent between Jersey City and NYC with Jennie and Alexis. I want to do that again. Not necessarily San Francisco or New York, just anywhere I have to travel far enough that it would be worth it to fly Jennie out [from CANADA!] to shoot with me again. ♥

What do YOU want to accomplish this year?

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