So today is New Years Eve here in Australia, Christmas was lovely spending time with my family, lounging around with mum and dad watching Criminal Minds and Bones because nothing says Christmas like Serial Killers, at least in our house.

I have been thinking about what I want 2012 to be, I want 2012 to be amazing in many ways but developing my photography is my number one goal. My 5 Photography Goals are

1. Complete a 50 day Photography Challenge

I really want to complete a photography challenge where I have to take photos everyday for a set period of time, this challenge I found by photographer Rick Nunn where he challenged him self to take 50 photos over 50 days with a 50 mm lens, he has done this every year since 2009 and looking through his archived projects you can really see how the constraints placed upon him have allowed his creativity to flourish.

I would love to try a challenge like this and see where it takes me photographically.

2. Flash Photography

Photographs using flashes and strobes are some of my favorite photos to look at when I surf around the internet looking for inspiration. One photographer whose work I love to look at is Joe McNally, his blog is always one of my first stops when I trawl around the internet visiting.

Two of Joe McNallys books “The Hot Shoe Diaries: Big Light from Small Flashes” and “Sketching Light: An Illustrated Tour of the Possibilities of Flash” are at the top of my New Years must buy reading list, which is getting longer by the day if I do say so myself.

3. Food Photography

I love to eat, this is witnessed by the fact that Lose weight is my number one personal goal of the year. Food photography is something I love, I own at least a dozen cookbooks and pouring over the photos is something I do far more frequently than actually cooking the recipes. This year along with slimming my self down I would like to cook more of the wonderful recipes I’ve read and photograph them.

I recently bought myself a book called “Plate to Pixel” by Helen Dujardin the author of Tartlette, the photos on her website are amazing and I’m really looking forward to working my way through the book and experimenting with food photography. I finally have an excuse to play with my food YAY !

4. Experiment with Long Exposures

Landscapes that use long exposures are beautiful. Beach scenes where the waves have turned milky white. Star trails that show you how the stars move. Light trails in cities that show the movement of cars. I love looking at photos that use long exposures. In my photography I’ve learned enough about my camera to happily switch to Aperture priority but I’m still not 100% comfortable setting my shutter speed, I worry that I’ll pick the wrong one and ruin my shot so I let my camera so the heaving lifting of selecting the shutter speed.

This year I want to learn all I can bout my camera and its setting so that I can go full manual and start to experiment with shutter speed and creating my own long exposure pictures

5. Sell a Photo/Photography service

My Last goal is probably the most important goal. I want to sell a photograph or a photographic service. This blog is all about me learning about photography, experimenting and developing my skills in an effort to one day become a professional photographer. Actually selling a photo or a service is a huge step in accomplishing my long term goal. This is one milestone I really want to make sure I accomplish this year.

That’s it that’s all there is for this year everyone.

I hope that everyone one has an amazing New Years and I’ll see you in 2012.

xxx