A New Year, a New Set of Resolutions.

Well, 2007 is quickly coming to an end. And with the New Year comes my yearly ritual of making New Year’s resolutions for both my personal life and my business. The personal ones are all the usual suspects - lose weight, eat better, work out, etc. The business ones are also mostly familiar - update my marketing materials (portfolio, website, mailers), get new clients, keep current ones happy, increase sales.

Many of the goals are the same year after year. Last year, I began creating a new portfolio. I got about 75% done and then got side-tracked with something else. This year, I will complete that task, although with a portfolio, you are never really done.

I also want to start doing test shoots with subjects that I want to direct my business towards. Creative people photography has always been an area I like to work in, and I would like to define my vision as a photographer more in that area. I am already a good creative people shooter - you have to be working for a newspaper. But I want to go after some higher paying clients in the corporate world, as well as magazine work. This will require going to the next level. Sports photography is also an area I enjoy and will continue to work in.

As a newspaper photographer, you have to be good at shooting many different subjects. The opposite seems to be true in the commercial end of the business. There, a niche approach seems to be the direction the business is moving. There are many photographers that only shoot one subject, like food or medical images. I have even heard of shooters who just shoot golf courses and they all make a good living. So I will have to define my niche for my freelance work and still be a great generalist for the paper.

Another goal for the year is to be better organized. I have begun remodeling my office. I want to create a more organized, pleasant and comfortable working environment to increase my efficiency behind the monitor and keyboard. Sometimes, I miss the good old days of dropping the film off at the lab and picking up my prints later. So it is time for a top to bottom cleaning, some fresh paint and rearranging of the furniture for the first couple of weeks of the New Year.

I also want to start giving more talks to local groups about my work as a photographer. I did a talk at the beginning of this year with a local camera club and really enjoyed it. I will be giving a talk to a group of Cub Scouts in January and look forward to showing them my work. Heck, if my work does not impress them, I will break out the massive 400-mm 2.8 lens we use at work and that always does the trick. Who knows - maybe teaching a paid seminar may be in the future.

These are a few of my goals for the year, and I will keep you Photo Monkeys updated on my progress. I want to wish you all a happy and healthy New Year.

Paul