What's your 'PHOTOGRAPHIC" New Year's resolution? To catch up on your 15 year olds scrapbook which left off at the first day of Kindergarten? To organize all those digital pictures? How about putting the old 35mm film negatives in a safety deposit box?
With 2012 hanging around the corner- there is plenty of photo resolutions I've been thinking about.
1. Take more 'everyday' pictures.
Capture what life is really like in your house. Don't worry about the pile of dirty dishes in the sink in the background (hey, that's life, right? - at least in my house it is) Capture those ho-hum everyday moments that seem mundane, but is a little time capsule of life as you know it. This is a goal I'm working on personally. Forget about the perfect picture. Forget about the perfect lighting. Capture the moment. I practiced this goal a few weeks ago when my daughter and toddler son fell asleep snuggled in my bed. I didn't want to disturb them by turning on the lights, so I cranked the ISO on my camera and ended up with a grainy, terribly noisy snapshot...that is 'perfect'.
Here are a couple blogs that you might find inspirational about capturing the everyday moments in your life.
Everyday Moments
Memories of the Everyday
2. Organizing those photos
I've got a great workable system for all my client photos. I've got externals and folders with in folders organizing my workflow from images straight out of the camera to edited to proofs to resizes and web images. In fact I just patted myself on my back with a client requested to purchase a disc of images from her 2006 session and I located it within a couple minutes. SO WHY are my own personal images not organized so well? Sometimes I seriously consider buying a 35 mm film camera and go to the days when I can take one shot, develop the film and keep the negatives in a box and feel organized. Of course, I'm still very miffed at the lab that lost the film from my oldest child's first birthday party...but that is a whole nother story.
if you need a better system like I do- you might find this link helpful. Of course- the hardest part of this resolution is actually implementing it...but I encourage you to do so!
ORGANIZING TIPS
3. Apocalypse Prediction
No, I am not talking about the Mayan prediction of the end of the world in 2012- but you might feel that way if your computer with all your digital photos on it bites the dust. They say it's a matter of WHEN- not IF- and I can vouch for that. Last year about this time I had not only an external hard drive failure, but the 'back up' to the hard drive failed as well and I lost years of personal photos. Hospital and birth images of my children, birthdays, etc. It cost me (let's just say a lot) to recover the drive- but truth be told I was happy to pay it to have the images back.
So put at the top of your resolution list to get a back up system in place. Save important (all) images in 2-3 places and at least one off site location. There are various internet backup sources that offer this service at a fairly reasonable price.
Before Your Computer Dies
4. PRINT it!
Another area of 'need' for me is to PRINT those pictures. Do you take a hundred photos at an event and fail to print even one?
Thinking that day will come. Well, the day is today. Print, baby print. I think about the fun of growing up and grabbing the shoe box or tattered album from the closet that contained snapshots of my childhood, or shots of my home farm and how it looked before I was born, and the entertainment that box of images offered. If you don't print some images, your pictures are living their 'full life".
5. DELETE it!
That's right- you heard me. DELETE IT. You don't need 15 pictures of Suzy smelling that flower. Pick the best one and delete the rest. Remember the days of film when taking a pictures actually 'cost' film? You had to be a little particular about the shot and make it count. Well- in the days of digital, snap away if you like, but keeping multiple images of the same thing bog you down space wise and organizationally as well. Pick the best- purge the rest.
6. PUT the camera DOWN!
Seems a funny tip from a photographer- doesn't it? But I'm taking this advice myself more and more. I long ago tried to force myself to not have to lug my 'nice' camera to every event because sometimes I found by the time I got home I realized I felt like I spent the whole time trying to take pictures and I only 'saw' my child's performance thru the lens of a camera. So the fancy camera stays home- I'll throw in the point and shoot and I don't need a pictures of every move my kid makes. Snap a photo and then put the camera down and ENJOY the moment. See it through the lenses of your eyeballs.
So Happy New Year and Auld Lang Syne to you and yours. Make 2012 your year to accomplish those photographic resolutions!
OH, and I almost forgot the most important resolution of all----- schedule your portrait session with Alison Stumpf Photography. :)
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