Thursday, January 10, 2008

2008 Goals


After reading Kate Crafton's goals for 2008, I thought that was a wonderful idea... So once again, I'm copying her. I've never really gotten into "resolutions" because I like to start new things when it makes sense, not relegating them to the first of the year. But goals... well, those seem a bit different.

It's taken me a while to put my goals together, I wanted to have 5 of them and knew I could have good ones, but making the decisions on which ones was a bit tougher than I expected with family in town and Sammie getting sick. But I finally did it....

My 2008 Goals:

  1. FILM - I've been considering all the creative ways I've been using Lightroom - and all the different styles of "developing" that a lot of people are using - and it's got me wondering.... How close are these to film? Do I really understand the base concepts behind them? Are they really true to form? What else am I missing out by not knowing film very well? So I'm going to try to play around with taking photos with film this year. Chris, my husband, has an old film camera (Minolta, I think - I need to find it!) that I'll try out. If I like it, I'll look around at other options, but that's good for now... I'll let you know how it goes!
  2. RECONNECT - I feel as though I've lost connection with many people that I truly care about... Including some of my brothers as well as really good friends. This year is going to be about stepping back, figuring out who is important to me and making sure that I keep them in my life. Not just at a distance - you know, those friends you have that you don't chat with for years and yet it's always so easy to chat with them no matter when you do it? I don't want it to be months or years between connections.
  3. WRITING - While reading others' blogs and self portrait descriptions, I've come to realize how amazing some of them can write. Their descriptions inspire me, their comments move me and they way they express themselves amazes me. So I hope to improve my writing. I don't have any specific goals beyond having more interesting blogs and descriptions for my photos, but who knows where that can lead! As someone who has always hated writing and English (in school), this is a bit of a surprise to me - and I'm excited about it!
  4. SMUGMUG - I actually have two SmugMug sites - my professional one that most of you know of, and my personal one, which is protected. I've been quite good in the last year about editing and updating my professional one, but my personal one is sorely lacking. I'm literally about a year behind in updating it with photos of the girls.... I've gotten behind and just can't catch up. But I will this year! Even if that means slowing down on photoshoots. My personal site is just as important - maybe even MORE important - than my professional one!
  5. ACTIVE - My final goal is to remain active. I live in an amazing place, but I'm definitely at the low end when it comes to being in shape here. But with my life as a mom and photographer (my girls are only in school 2.5 days a week and lately it's been less with illnesses), it's often quite difficult to get out to ski or hike or bike or whatever. But my goal will be to remain active - whether it's doing 5 minutes of yoga, doing a 60 minute skate ski or even telemark ski for 4 hours - I plan on being a very good example for my girls!

I'm not going to put specific time frames or even specific goals around any of these because I'm not sure what they need to be yet. But I'm going to remind myself on a weekly basis that I have a lot to accomplish this year - and that I'm really excited about each and every one of my goals!

And as Kate asked, what are YOUR goals for the year?

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Gil, Cooper and Henry



Some of you may remember my photos of Henry in the woods a few months ago.... I was excited to have Lauren, his mom, ask me to shoot some more photos of his older brothers Gil and Cooper. It was quite a different shoot, but relaxed and fun just the same! I enjoyed myself very much meeting her older sons as well as her husband, Brad.

I do have to say, though, that it was really hard choosing photos for my blog! I had many, many others I wanted to include, but didn't want to overwhelm everyone! LOL!



The main goal of the shoot was to get some good shots of Gil, who is going to high school in Santa Fe, NM. (They recently moved from there and he wanted to finish school with his friends.) He was so easy to chat with, smart and a lot of fun. Because of his interest in acting and other arts, I thought I'd play around a bit more with the photos of him.











Cooper, who is 16, is autistic and was interesting to shoot. At first, he wasn't too happy with my pointing the camera at him and many of his expressions were too forced. But once I was able to engage him and get him interested in what I was doing, he really opened up and I had a great time photographing him! I love how he expresses himself with his face as well as his hands and actions.











Henry is a card! When we were in the woods, he was a bit quieter - as well as a few months younger. He's changed a lot in such a short time... In his own environment, he's so funny! He's lively, intent and very easy going.









Thank you so much for the opportunity to take photos of your wonderful boys, Lauren and Brad!