How far I have come
Like anybody January is for me a time of regrouping and setting new goals and targets for the year ahead, but I also really like taking the time to reflect and look at how far I have come and all the great times I have had doing shoots over the past year. This year I thought I would look a little further back.
I have been doing photography since I came out of university in 2006, having studied Film Production Technology I had learned so much about still and moving image that I wanted put it into practice straight away. I jumped right in a got my first DSLR and all the lenses my budget would stretch to.
I did photography on the side of all my jobs, never stopping but never believing that I could just do photography as a main job due to moving around the country to live and having to restart my businesses in each location. So after 13 years of moving around and trying to fit photography in around other jobs I finally settled back in my home town of Hereford and decided I wanted to make sure I was making the most of my career and put my passion of photography to the forefront....then the dreaded COVID-19 arrived ....darn it! For me this meant 2 years of restrictions and limitations and another stall in doing my photography, but I was lucky to still be working in some capacity and I took the opportunity to do home and office improvements. Fast forward to 2022 and I cannot believe how much I achieved in one year!
The photography industry has changed so much since I started selling my photography services so many years ago! I cannot believe how much software such as photoshop has changed since I first learned it in university and the amazing things that you can do with it now and how much easier that all is.
My technical knowledge has grown so much and I would say anything that I learned though education has now been eclipsed by what I have learned through experience, and yet somehow with all the continuous changes with technology I still feel new to the game! It excites me learning more each time I pick up the camera and I get such a buzz knowing that no two shoots are ever the same.
It is obvious to me from the images below how far I have come, but I still have my goals of taking beautiful pet portraits like Natalie GroBe or stunning studio portraits like Jovana Rikalo or Nina Masic, photography for me will forever be a work in progress.
As for improving other skills that I have had to learn as a self employed photographer such as marketing and sales, they is definitely things I will be working on until I retire....or get rich enough to hire someone else to do it for me!
