Photography in 2019
Soon 2018 will be but just a memory and 2019 will be staring us down like the peak of a mountain, are you ready to climb? What are your goals for this coming year? Will you be doing a 365-day photography challenge or maybe buy that full frame camera you have always been wanting but just never felt like you deserved.
Whatever your goals are for this coming new year make sure you commit to them and give them the respect that they deserve. This is as much advice for you as it is something I need to not forget. 2018 was the worst year of my life. Nothing I need to specifically get into just general life being a real bummer. But for much of my life, I wasn’t giving my dreams and goals the respect that they deserved. It took me 30 years to quit making excuses and let's be honest some days I haven’t, but largely I have used the tail half of 2018 to learn what that respect actually means.
This year I am committing to this website, and this dream of mine to be a real full-time independent photographer who learns to make his own living off his artwork. I have always worked for someone, be that a newspaper, news station or even a corporation. I have always made my living off of full-time photography work but no matter what i have done or who I have worked for I have always had this pull to carve my own path. I made excuses for years as to why I couldn't do it and why others were better than me at whatever it was I was having a fit about. But no more, this year I have committed to an art show and a local gallery.
In the coming weeks, I will have my 24inch fine art printer delivered to my new house and the massive task of printing and curating a portfolio will begin. I will have every tool available to the working professional landscape photographer. Sure I don’t have a 44 or 60-inch printer but at that size, I would need a bigger house and a second mortgage just to fill it with ink. The biggest 3:2 image I could make 36x24 and that is by all standards “large” artwork. No the time for excuses has ended and while I will always feel the need to make them I am done listening to them.
If I stick to printing, shooting and curating my portfolio and work my ass off this year I will be purchasing a medium format camera come years end. If I can meet my goals like I have the last 6 months for the next year I will be graduating from the ranks of professional and moved into the world of the masters. I am not trying and brag or make anyone else feel inadequate, but in the world of photography, everyone can admit that moving to medium format comes with a certain romance.
The larger sensor, more exotic glass and even the price and sheer expense of some pieces has an allure to it. Its why exotic cars are so attractive to so many people. I have always dreamed of using a Fuji GFX 50s since the day it leaked online. I have watched in awe at some of the phase one cameras and Hasselblad’s that photographers use. I want to stop trying to copy the medium format look and actually shoot it from the start.
No matter what your goals are for 2019 make sure that you stick to them. Get out there and keep shooting.
