With 2022 coming to a close in a few short days, I thought it would be a good time to look back over the past year and assess the goals I had set for myself at the beginning of the year.
My first two goals for 2022 were related to one relatively simple concept: to slow down and to be more deliberate with my photography. This goal came about from my tendency to press the shutter button without really thinking about the process behind creating that image. This led to creating images that seemed to be little more than snapshots—not exactly the quality I am striving to achieve.
I hoped, by slowing down and being more deliberate, I would spend more time thinking about what it was I wanted to convey in the photograph and then figure out the best way to convey it. For me, this was not only a novel concept but also a 180 degree change in my usual approach.
As it turned out, this goal was a little more difficult for me to achieve than I thought it would be, and I still found myself occasionally reverting to my typical rushed manner. But, I persevered, and I think the results were encouraging. Although I took far fewer photographs this year compared to last year, my “keeper” rate was almost double, and many of my images seemed to have a higher level of quality than the snapshot-like images I typically make.
My other major goal for this year was to get out and photograph regardless of what the conditions might be. Typically, I would plan my photographic excursions based on weather predictions. If it was just going to be cloudy with little chance for rain, I would head out. But, if there was a good likelihood for precipitation, I would stay home. It took a while, but I finally realized that I was missing a lot of great opportunities by waiting for “ideal” conditions, whatever those were, to go out and photograph. So, the objective of this goal was to go out whenever I had the chance to go and to find compositions regardless of the conditions I might face.
Fortunately (or, maybe, unfortunately when I think about it), I didn’t face too many difficult conditions. In fact, the worst situation I encountered occurred during one of my first outings in January when I experienced some of the coldest temperatures I’ve ever had to deal with. When I arrived at my location, my phone said the temperature was only seven (yes, seven) degrees, and there was still a pretty good amount of snow on the ground from a winter storm that had passed through a few days earlier.
I knew about the storm that had gone through and had been watching the weather forecasts all week, so I knew before I left the house that morning it was going to be cold (although maybe not that cold). But, I prepared as best I could and went out anyway. As a result, I captured several really nice photographs that would never have been possible if I had decided to stay home because it was just too cold to go out.
Looking back over 2022, I was able, for the most part, to meet my goals. But, that doesn’t mean I can check them off as complete and move on. So, I will look to incorporate them as part of my 2023 goals, which I will share soon.