As 2019 draws to a close, I felt it only appropriate to create my first ever blog post reflecting on the things that happened this year and what I hope to achieve in the New Year.
At the beginning of 2019, I had mixed emotions about photography and the photographs I was producing. I would question who I was as a photographer and whether it was a career worth pursuing. I felt that my photographs were ‘basic’ and never good enough. I would put myself down and criticise my abilities. I felt that if my photographs didn’t follow a particular style or if the subject of my photographs weren’t consistent, then I wasn’t a good enough photographer. Having this dark cloud above my head meant that I had little passion for photography. Although I had a lot of plans for my photography, they were just noted on a to-do list for me to come back to when I was in a better headspace.
Summer rolls around and I am able to travel to Alicante, in Spain, for a holiday. As always, I had brought my camera along just in case there was something worth capturing. I discovered there was an abundance of dragonflies close to where I was staying and after photographing one, I was fascinated by their structure and the colours that each dragonfly had. This encounter had reignited my passion for photography. I wanted to go out with my camera and photograph things again. I knew nothing about dragonflies, but I was eager to learn more about them. I decided the best way to do this was to dedicate a whole photography project towards dragonflies as it would combine my interest in learning more about them and it would widen my photography portfolio. I have another blog post talking more about this project which you can find here.
So, what am I up to now? I have dusted off my to-do list and I am ready to make 2020 a year of productivity. Making a website to showcase my work was always in production but it never went live, but now I have stuck with it and produced a website I am proud of. Creating a blog was also on my list as it allows me to take a break from the action to reflect and organise my thoughts for what I plan to do next. So I am glad I have made a start sooner rather than later.
Making Resolutions for the new year are often seen as pointless as many people set goals that are not attainable, or they give up too soon. For me, it is all about setting small milestones that I can and will be able to complete. In the new year, I plan to update my photography Instagram and Twitter a lot more regularly, showing the process of my photography not just the end result. I plan to create a blog post every month or so to show what I have been up to. I will create fresh new business cards that reflect me as a photographer, and I will create a shop on my website to make my photographs available as prints.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post, I hope that you have an amazing new year. If you have any New Year’s Resolutions feel free to let me know in the comments, I’d love to hear them! See you in 2020.
~ Sasha Stretton
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