1. Photography. I will continue to improve my skills at photography. To that end, I will be concentrating on both learning new ways to look at the world and sharing what I learn with you here through blog posts. I know this sounds very nebulous but I will make this clearer throughout the year.
2. eBook. My good friend Mitch of the I’m Just Sharing blog has mentioned to me I should do an eBook. I will be looking over the last four years of posts and see what I can pull together. I am great at taking photos and writing information but designing and laying out a book is not one of my strengths. Any ideas or suggestions for an ebook or how to make one looking good?
3. Blog Update. I have been looking at a few premium themes which would better fit towards promoting both the blog and my stock photography business.
4. Promotion. Continue to promote the blog and my photography via all the Social Networking outlets I belong to. Will be adding a few extras like the accompanying photographic prize with the bi-monthly assignments I introduced this week. (Had to start it before this post due to the timing of this month’s prize.) As mentioned yesterday, I almost doubled the number of monthly visits last year. This year I hope to bring it up to an average of 7,500 visits per month.
5. Photo Editing. I have purchased an interactive program to learn more about my main photo editing and management software, Apple’s Aperture 3. After I finish the program, I have a new editing program to learn which extends Aperture called Pixelmator which is a Photoshop like program for the Mac. Very excited about doing these tasks as I feel the digital darkroom is my weakest skill. Might find other fun apps along the way.
My annual pledge to you.
Here is something from my post from January 1st, 2009 that won’t change (with one addendum in italics):
- I will continue to add relevant links to my postings to encourage further research for those so inclined. It is something I like to do when visiting blogs and websites.
- I will continue to visit other blogs and flickr photostreams and leave comments I hope are encouraging and helpful to the blog authors and photographers.
- I do not mind people using my photos on their blogs or websites. All I ask is for you to give credit and a link back to this blog. If you want to use any of my photos for commercial purposes, please, contact me.
- I will do bi-monthly photo assignments to challenge those who participate.
Onward into 2012! Do you have any goals this year?
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Scott, before you plop your money down, you might just take a look at Suffusion: http://aquoid.com/news/themes/suffusion/ It is extremely flexible and he has a plugin called Photonic that handles photos and integrates with SmugMug (and others).
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I shall do so Larry. Currently I am on WordPress.com.which has its advantages over WordPress.org. One being it’s free versus having to pay for hosting services, etc. I am weighing all the options.
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These are wonderful goals. May these goals spiral out in ways in hadn’t imagined in creativity.
We are similar as to the photographic goal as to both learning new ways to look at the world and sharing what we do. One high-end goal I have, on the top of my wishlist, is to get a Mac computer. I may redesign our sites in a few months and also put together a few books. No telling what 2012 will evolve creatively. All the best to you, Scott.
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You are going to love the Mac. Check and see if any of your PC software can be upgraded/converted to the Mac. I think PhotoShop can but not sure if any other vendors do so.
Goals are good but I am aware things change over time and new directions open up.
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Wow. And all I have on my 2012 goal list is “learn to meditate”. 😉 I’m happy to keep visiting and do all I can to get your numbers up there.
Thanks for taking us along on your ride.
Sybil in Eastern Passage, Nova Scotia
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You would think I would learn, Sybil! I started out two years ago with 10 goals, last year 7 so I am going in the right direction. Maybe I should just set 3 and make sure I meet them, eh? Thank you for joining me!
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Scott, I follow a self-published author named Catherine Ryan Howard (she wrote a book about working at the Swan/Dolphin called Mousetrapped.) Anyway, she’s been very generous with tips about self-publishing, including ebooks. None of her stuff is photo-heavy, though, so I don’t know how much is would help you. Search her name or her blog name Catherine, Caffeinated. Her twitter is @cathryanhoward. Hope this helps.
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She certainly had an interesting experience working at WDW, didn’t she? Vacationing at Disney and working at Disney are very different experiences. I will review what she has done. I think today she would have gone the ebook route but her account of creating the book should be very relevant.
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One of these days your example is going to inspire me to set more ambitious goals for myself. Maybe more articulate goals. I have this vision of where I would like to go, but the details of the journey elude me. I stagger onward, rejoicing.
Have you bought some eBooks that you really like and would recommend to other people? Seems like the vendors who produced those would be good ones to explore. I’ll be curious to see how your eBook plan unfolds.
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Goal setting has been referred to as Dreams with a deadline. I urge you to set your vision down on paper and give yourself a timeline to accomplish it. You are good at research and finding resources which will open up avenues for you to journey down. Staggering is fine but to see a path or paths is illuminating. Than once you get to your destination, you make new goals and travel on.
I have several eBooks which are beautifully done. I will be asking the authors for tips on how to create ones similar to them. I am sure the journey of the first ebook will be very interesting. I bet I get a few blog posts out of it. 😀
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Do you know about blurb.com? They’ve added an e-Book feature now, but I haven’t checked it out to see how it works. I know their software for the printed books is really nice with lots of book type categories and templates to guide you through. That might be an option for the e-book you’re considering.
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I am aware of Blurb.com but not their ebook features. Will definitely looking into them again. Also, Apple looks like they are going to make self-publishing easier because of competition from Amazon. Looking like a good time to considering this project.
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Scott, your goals put me to shame! Sigh. I really need to set some for myself, both personally and profressionally. It’s time to pull myself up, dust off and figure out what I want to be when I grow up! 🙂
I wish you the best of luck!
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Thanks, Tracy! Grow up? I never said I would do that. 😉
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These are very good well-thought-out goals. You done good. (And you WILL do good!) I want to keep following my heart where it leads, through briars and brambles and valleys and mountains and other unknown wanderings. I don’t want to follow the voices which keep me in a known path, a safe path, a usual path.
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To each her own, Kathy. 🙂 Who said I would be traveling known paths? They are full of interesting caves which will need to be illuminated along the way.
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I never once thought about whether you would be traveling known or unknown paths, Scott. I was just trying to answer the question you asked about our goals. I am sure you will be following where your heart leads.
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