Hi folks! Dave Williams here, fresh from moving house for you on #TravelTuesday. A little advice before I go on…don’t move house! It’s so much hassle! I had no idea I own a whole holdall worth of tripods and more photography gear than I think I’ll ever need.
The whole move has put me out of action for about a week, with very minimal access to my laptop and camera, while I deal with packing, moving, and unpacking. It has put me in a strange position because this hasn’t happened for a long time, and now I’m finding myself wondering which project to pick back up or what new project to start. It’s from that thought that I lay down these words for you today.
Like any other professional industry, photography constantly demands that we demonstrate our A-game, and constantly evolve to meet the flux of the battlefield we work in. However, unlike any other professional industry, photography is also an art. As artists, we combine this with constant learning and development. This learning is the key to growth as a photographer.
To this end, not only should we constantly be furthering our skillset through personal projects, but also through education. This means we should be setting ourselves goals and attaining them. The end goal should be big, but the steps should be little. Here’s why: –
If we want to get from A to Z, we pass B, C, D, E, F, G, etc., all the way to Z. If we liken this to our goals, we should have an end goal of Z and many smaller goals all along the way. Every time we meet an objective, we feel the success and we’re fuelled from it to drive us onto the next one. It gives us many successes all the way through to our goal, and it also gives us the opportunity to re-evaluate the goals as we’re moving. The other huge positive is, counterintuitively, in the negatives. If we fall, we only fall back one step rather than falling the whole way back to point A, so it’s far easier to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and push forward again.
Easy, right? So get your end goal in sight, plot your course, and meet your goals!
Dave
