I’ll leave you with my favorite photograph of the year!

It’s very cliche to send a post of the year on the last day of the year or a couple of days before. I wasn’t going to make this out, but have been sick as shit for the past couple of days and this has been on my mind for a couple of weeks.

What About the Photographs?

Well, you know, I’ve been busy with what I’m about to talk about. I was going to send that out, but other things were more important. But, since we are on the topic right now, I had a blast this year. If I didn’t push myself to get out there (my fiance was the one to get out of the house), I wouldn’t have taken the images that I took and wouldn’t have learned all of the things that I did.

It is in me to take photographs and is something that I’m looking forward to doing this coming year.

Back in November

I was thinking about what I wanted to do for the upcoming year. I wanted the year to be done already, but knew that I had to finish a couple of things so that my New Year could start off right. I was able to get my photoshoots done and out to the people who helped me to build my portfolio. But the thing that always came ringing in my head was how was I going to start the year out right and how was I going to do the things that I want to do for myself and family. There isn’t a secret at all about my passion for becoming a photographer full-time. I want that as a profession more than anything. But the thing that kept me wondering about how I was going to do that was this blog. Not so much about the things I have been writing about, but the actual phase, “Life is What You Make of It”. This phase kept ringing in my head and I knew that was to be the perfect New Year’s Resolution for me.

Everything that I do and want to do in the field of photographer is up to me and the way I make it is going to be a big journey. Nobody will stop me. No reasoning from others telling me to get something I don’t want to get is not going to stop me. As I wake up every single day I will see something that I need to work on. I will ask advise from people who have been there and will just put all of my effort on the pavement. That is going to be my mission this coming year and know that as I put all of the effort in this I will have to do everything in a smart, thought out way. That is what I’ll be journaling about. That is what I will give back to my readers and all.

Why Journal About It?

Well, it was a couple of months ago when I wrote a post. I don’t even remember the post, but I got a comment back from a friend who said that it was smart of me to realize that I have to do something in order for others to start to change. It hit me so hard because talking about being successful in my own right has to be something that people aren’t doing or striving for. If I’m just talking some words and living the same way as somebody else who is in the same position, then most of what I got to say ain’t much to them. That is just the way we are hard-wired as human beings. So, while I bus my ass and continue to fail, all of it will be documented–the best way I know how. I hope to learn plenty of things, just as I have learned so much about myself and others the past couple of months.

What Type of Photography Am I Going to Venture Into?

I have been giving that some thought and glad that I have spent the past couple of months building up the portfolio and getting testimonials. I’m going to angle myself as a portrait photographer. I will be focusing my attention on family, individual, pet, and corporate photography. This should be tons of fun. Even though I talk in a negative tone about people and how they piss me off, that is the most interesting photography to me. People are all different and getting them in different elements and showing them the best way possible is what fascinates me the most. The challenge to make an overweight person look fucking awesome without the aid of photoshop pushes my creativity to another level.

So, that is my market, have plenty of ways to get started and actually have a couple of paying gigs coming up soon because of my previous work. However, the trick of the matter is to get people who I don’t know to fall in love with my work. Again, I have some good ideas and going to start them early. I already have my business card made and updating my photography website right now. The other thing that I’m going to be doing is joining an organization called SCORE. It is made of CEO’s and businessman and women who have done quite well in business. The mentoring is free, but the seminars you have to pay for. I’m ready for all of that. It is more motivating and encouraging to take the advice of somebody who has done it before than a friend who is working a 9-5 and doesn’t know how to run a business. Again, I’m not playing around with this, I’m going to soak up so much information and fail that I don’t know how different of a person I’m going to be, but I know that I’m going to be in a place that will just keep me sane and ready to do all of the things that I want to in my life.

Why The Hell Do I Keep Mentioning Failure?

I thought this word was bullshit and something that nobody should go through if they want to succeed in life. However, after failing at my first venture years ago it has only kept me away from starting another business. I learned so much from that business, but now realize that it is only the start. Over the past couple of months I read a book called, Failing Forward. It was all about failing and finding the ability to keep going and to learn from our failures. I was almost crying because shit wasn’t going my way when I was taking photographs the last half of the year. But I learned and know that with all of the lessons that I’ve learned I will continue to go through it. I will never stop failing and have to continue to learn from them and know that I’m getting closer to that carrot I so want to bite off. So this book will be a big part of my development for the upcoming year.

There you have it. Got luck to all for the New Year, I’m sure going to need it.