Where do you want to be?

Marc

Marc

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Ok, how about a good discussion for the weekend.

Purely with regards to photography itself rather than the ability to earn money out of it, what is it you want to achieve with your photographs, how do you plan to achieve it and how far along are you towards your goal? also, what help do you think you need in order to achieve that goal? Obviously, this is aimed at all photographers, amateur or professional.

For myself, my goal is to consistently take photographs that, first and foremost, are pleasing to me. I don't mean when I've just taken them but also when I look at them a month, maybe 6 months ore even a year later. I have a handful of photos that make this criteria but an awful lot of dross in between. Physical health issues have made it difficult for me to get out and take photos but I have a new determination at the moment so I think that is going to change.

So, over to you. :)
 
Fairly similar aims regarding consistency. I'll try to get out of the 'oooh, that looks nice' click,click,click,click mentality. I've never been a machine-gunner but I've noticed a certain laxity creeping in :) .
I've recently started using film more than I have done in the past year and this will, I think, help. The number of shots I don't take has increased hugely :)
Hopefully I can carry this over to digital.
I'll be taking more time to do more than just look lovingly at inspiring photographers work, I'll be more analytical of it. Change from 'I wish' to 'how can I'.
 
To be better able to express myself more creatively through my photography.... I am not creative naturally, or maybe I block it I don't know, so find it very hard to make the idea I had in my head, come out in the final image.
And also to improve my analysing of my own images, and critiquing of others images
I read and study a lot of books/material recommended to me by those that are, or have, helped me.... at times that in itself is hard work, and not a little boring at times....but I do feel my outlook and approach are improving....and certainly I have 'moments' of creativeness, not often, but it is better than none....
 
Right now... I'd like the time to actually take some photographs.

Long term... probably exhibit more.
 
i personally have two main goals. the first is to take a portrait of my wife that SHE is happy with! the second is to take a photograph that i would be proud to put in a frame and hang on the wall. not just a family snapshot but a subject that people would look at and think that maybe it has been bought and not taken by me. i feel i need to practice more and also to experiment more. it is all too easy to take the camera with me when i take the dog for a walk and shoot the same things over and over again. i would like to get into nighttime/street/architecture photography but i really dont have the confidence at the moment to walk up to some stranger and stick a camera in their face. i shall keep reading, studying, practicing and of course visiting this site and see where my photography takes me. a very interesting thread. cheers pete
 
I think for me is to develop a signature 'style' and create a consistent portfolio. And of course get out more, which I often lack the motivation to do. However recently I have had a lot of people asking for me to do shoots, mainly portraits, which is odd considering that I havn't got any portraits in any of my collections and have no interest in doing them. However it gets me out and gives me practice.
 
I try to take pictures that I'd be willing to frame and mount on a wall and include in my best shots folder.

Of course like many people I don't print much these days but being good enough to print and mount is my aim. I also have a folder I put my best shots in and if I can go out for a day and get some shots good enough to put in that folder I'm happy :D
 
My preference is landscape photography but with a growing toddler and another little one due soon, i have had to curb the days out and be a litte less selfish with my time. Hence my main subject is now my family.
I would like to reach a point with this style of photography similar to that of my landscapes where i have a few printed and framed around the house.
 
For me to take time out and actually read and learn the technical stuff more, find some decent reading material.. i've started shooting film which i'm really enjoying and not just realing off thousands of crapness and i think this will help me understand or at least feel in control of how i get the shots i do, (that may only make sense to me lol)

Oh and learn flash too.. i only use natural light which to be honest i love but to know and understand how to use flash would be ace
 
For me, photography demands time I'm finding really difficult to create.
Achievements are gonna be kinda thin on the ground without the time to fulfill them.
 
I'm pretty much where I want to be photographically. Yes, there's some kit I would quite like but nothing that I will afford (at the moment!). I would quite like a darkroom again but there's nowhere to put one here and I really don't want to move! Besides, I can do pretty much everything going the digital way without the fixer headaches... At the moment, all I want is a good night's sleep and my driving license back - hopefully not too long for the latter!
 
To take more pictures that I really like, that I like more as time goes on and that I still enjoy years later.
I sometimes think that I have a couple like that and I have some that are almost there, these are also the ones that most of my family & friends just pass over without comment :shrug:
 
To spend more time out with my kit taking shots, I'm really into my Aviation photography so perfecting my panning technique is high up the list and to be more creative with it, I'm not happy with just taking " shots for the record"
 
My aim is to get published in a peer reviewed journal with my research work.I can't really separate my personal and professional thinkings, because to me they're the same thing - the benefit of aiming for a career in something you love.
 
For me personally as Im still very much learning is to be using my camera more regularly and also come the New Year aim to start up the 52 week challenge on here :thumbs:
 
Generally to be able to spend more time taking pictures. Specifically I would like to work on my portrait photography and start to build a portfolio. Equipment wise to move to full frame so as to get the "correct" focal lengths on my lenses and also the high ISO ability and low light focusing
 
As family and work demands have increased over the past 3 years, i take fewer photographs of my usual genre (urbex / industrial landscape) and more of my daughter growing up. So I'm spending more time re-visiting the thousands of images I have in my archive.

My ambitions for these are to re-submit a panel for the FRPS distinction (the first one was rejected, and you only get 2 chances), build a new website (on with at the moment) and an exhibtion (not even at the planning stage yet). I also want to do some camera club talks, got a couple booked already so things are slowly coming together on several fronts!

I'd also like to get out and about on my own with the camera more, but I've chosen to prioritise family at weekends. I think it'll be another year or two before I can start being a bit more serious about my picture taking, the little 'un might be slightly less demanding by that point!?!?!?
 
I would really like to be recognized by my peers and be published in National Geographic or something on that level. I have been shooting for less then two years so I need to continue to sharpen my skills to the point they are completely instinctual.
 
This is a very good question, which has given me cause to have a much needed think about the answer. Having somewhat lost my photographic mojo lately I really did need to have a good think about why i do this and what I'm trying to achieve. i'm blessed with either owning or having access to (through hubby's collection of kit) a very good set of gear, I am confident in using it, but feel the results are getting progressively worse. Re-addressing some of my extensive back catalogue of stuff I realise that the issue seems to be, not what I take, but what I do with it once captured. My post processing skills are pretty shaky to say the least. So, whilst I have no ambitions or pretensions to be published in prestigious publications or hold one-woman exhibitions, I do need to get to grips with Photoshop etc and ensure that I do get the best out of the shots I take, rather than just giving them a cursory glance, dismissing them as "rubbish" and filing them never to be seen again. Hopefully by this time next year, I'll have the skills to add baubles to the logo along with the rest of you, and offering up pics for comment from the rest of you ... which I'd never do at present!
 
My main aim with my photography is firstly to take more photos secondly to improve on the composition off my chosen subject. I also want to work on my processing skills as some off my editing skills are rusty. I would also like to break away from my comfort zone and photograph things I wouldn't normally consider and learn new techniques.
 
Much the same as yourself Fabs, have a slightly higher rate of images the I want to keep and print, images that give me (not necessarily others) a sense of satisfaction, something I would be happy to hang on my wall, something that evokes or holds on to a memory of where I was in my life when it was captured.

My photographs are personal to me, they are not for profit or to show, they are more markers in my life, where I was, who I was with and what I was doing at the time.
 
My main aims for the next year or so are to concentrate on getting some distinctions.

I am booked in for my LRPS early next year, following that I am looking at doing my CPAGB and BPE also. I think these are great goals to aim for and will help me improve all aspects of my photography along the journey.
 
My main goal is to actually use my kit and take some photographs that are different to the growing-up photos of my daughters that have dominated for the past 5 years. I've not made the time (or found the energy!) to go out and indulge in my passion for sunrise landscapes, or to set up my tabletop home studio for still life images (my 2 year old would have a field day with that!).

I fear that I've lost any "eye" that I've had, and that I will have to start all over again and relearn. I can feel a New Year's resolution coming on!
 
Finished with my 365 and only taking photos because I want to :D
 
Hi Marc, Great Question :thumbs: I have been walking the hills for many years and only seriously been photographing them the last three, and in that time with the camera I have taken thounsands of images too, I like to look back at my work at the end of each year and this year I have had two moments when I knew what was going on was special and I was F..ing and blinding behind the camera, so in total I have around 7 images in the last three years I have marked for my book, and at this rate I may get there before I retire to fill that book which I have in mind, and if it takes that long, not a drama, I hope the wait will be worth it, and always wanting to get out with the camera whenever I can thats for sure, just invested in a tent for pitching on the ridges etc

I hope you get well soon and all the very best for the new year ahead, and a very merry xmas to you and your family.

kevin
 
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Thank you Marc

My two special moments behind the camera for 2013 hope you dont mind me posting tried to keep them small, one with me in front of camera complete solitude, and a moment surely imprinted on My mind for ever just as the sun was rising, great place to be, and the rainbow just came out of nowhere!! like a light switch, certainly did need to switch on the....... compose yourself Kevin!!!!! approach lol before the shot lol



Garnedd Ugain - Snowdonia by Kevin OBrian, on Flickr


Autumn Rainbows - Snowdonia by Kevin OBrian, on Flickr
 
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Great question, I've accomplished many of my goals this year, one of which was having an image published. I still keep setting myself more goals though, can't become complacent. I think the day I look at any of my photos and think they're perfect is the day I will hang up my camera, never going to happen.

Next year is my 3rd year of photography and I'm hoping for it to be my best, I want to try and get some of my portraits recognised next year, part of that goal will be to do a 52, a portrait 52.

I would also like to take the leap to FF and may see me change brands totally.

Oh and hopefully win a few more photography comps :)
 
I have lots of goals, all realistic and achievable, but I haven't set timescales.

My photographic goals are:
  • To be published
  • To participate in an exhibition (that was supposed to happen this year but it got cancelled)
  • To have a keeper rate of about 1/3
  • For friends, family and acquaintances (other than my Dad or brother!) to see my shots, really like them and want to hang them on their walls.
  • For people to like my images and comment so. I really love showing my images off, but I do get fearful that people won't like them so don't share as many as I should!
  • To get at least 1 shot that I really like and I'm proud of, every year of my daughter, to go into an album.
  • For portraits of people to make them feel good about their physical appearance (not that I actually do portraits often!)

Why do I do it? Honestly, it has nothing to do with any of the above, those goals are just because I'm stubborn and set high goals for myself. The reason that I got into photography, wasn't just because of a lifelong passion for the arts, but because my memory is really bad and it really upsets me, so at least if I have images, I can initiate memories of events in my life. I love my prints and make regular orders for them, I think it would be nice to get some of them put into albums though - and maybe a 365 photobook or something.
 
For me it's not about the destination, it's all about the journey. Doesn't matter to me if I never get anywhere, as long as it's fun getting there!
 
I am very much an amateur, my main aim is to get photos that look like how I imagine they will look
 
It's happened once and I'd like it to happen again (and more regularly):
  1. to be asked by someone else for a copy of one of my photos so that they can have it professionally printed to frame and hang on their wall at home.
To me that is the ultimate accolade, don't need money just the recognition that I've taken a photo they really like.

A
 
I'd like to take photos that I'm truly proud of. Many of mine are just ok in my opinion, so I'd like to improve. I must pay more attention to composition but I'm quite pleased with my " week in explore " that I had a few months back.

I'd also like to teach my eldest son ( he's 10 ) - he's got his own bridge camera to learn the basics with so when I upgrade, I'll pass the d3100 to him. I wish I had had the opportunity to start as early as he does. He's enthusiastic so that's a good start
 
I don't shoot enough pictures that really mean something. Nature of the job. I want to work to change that.

In the next couple of years, I want to have been paid to take pictures from a helicopter. Had that one for a while now.


Most of all to make an interesting life for myself... hopefully I can continue to do that with a camera in my hand, meeting interesting people and going cool places along the way
 
To carry on taking photographs rather than just snaps.
 
To learn my new 70d inside out, I wanna get to some workshops and maybe some meets.

No use being told what to do, I've always rather been shows and explained with the topic in front of me!
 
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