At the beginning of the year I wrote my first blog. I put down some goals for this year and now I'm looking back to this. What have I done? What didn't I do? And I'll once again look at the future. What are the plans for the future? What are the 2012 things I want to do?
First I'll look back to the year we still live in: 2011. I wanted to follow a band, touring with it and make a book of it. Things didn't work out, still want to do it. 2012 maybe, 2013 to be more realistic. I'm still improving my concertphotography, trying to put it to the next level. Trying to have my signature in the pictures I make. I'm now taking pictures for the site Dutch Distortion. It's a site which aims on the metal-side of music. I'm doing some of the live photography reports.
The fantasy shoot I had in mind also didn't happen. What happened is the plan to take several years for it and make it some bigger project. Character creation and storytelling. Won't tell more yet ;)
What did work out was the plan to do some more sportsphotography. Went to the Ajax youth team for most of the home games. I'm blogging about it, trying to see what players are the real talents and are the ones to make it to the first team. Visit my voetbalscout blog to see more of it.
That's not the only thing I did this year. I went to the KvK and now I'm officially running my own company as a freelance photographer. Upgraded my site seth-photography.com and now I'm working on it to improve and expand it. It was one of the big steps I have to do to be able to live my dream. Takes quite some time and in the beginning it doesn't work out that well yet. But for the next year, some shoots are planned :)
That was in short how photography worked out for me last year. For the upcoming year there are also some ideas, some wishes, some plans. First of all, I'm going to do some wedding shoots. I hope people will see that the wedding pictures are one of the most important pictures in life. You don't want to have it messed up, but well, people just don't want to spend that much money on it. Having a professional camera doesn't make you a good photographer. The challenge is to get the maximum out of the circumstances. I bet most pro photographers make better pictures with a compact camera than people who didn't take much pictures and by a €3000,- combination of camera with lenses. You have to know how photography works. This year I took the wedding pictures of my nephew and it was a real long day with only short moments to take a break. People underestimate how much work it is. And people mostly don't realize how much extra work it is to sort it all out and deliver only the quality you're aiming for. This is why professional photographers sometimes ask €1500,- or more for a wedding shoot. It has to be perfect and you don't get a second chance.
In 2012 I would like to go to Italy by car and do some landscape photography. I really love the scenery out there, the culture, the language and the country itself. On the road I want to capture the Swiss mountains, the Tuscan hills, the beauty of Rome, Milan and Florence. There are some really nice bands playing in Italy in a short amount of time this year and I hope it'll be able to shoot 2 or 3 shows out there. Visiting the Ferrari HQ in Maranello is also a wish for the upcoming year. This year I did a shoot in the Hessing building in Utrecht. The cars are really lovely and the building is a great work of architecture.
I'm currently working on a book with concertphotography. It'll contain the better pictures I took since I started to visit concerts with my camera. Some pictures made by a 2 megapixel compact camera, others made with a DSLR. Can't wait to see the result :)
2012 in short: Trip to Italy shooting landscape, concertphotography and cars. Having my first book with concertphotography ready. Doing some wedding/portrait shoots. Starting to work out the fantasy project (aiming for 2014/2015 to be ready). Doing more sportsphotography.
Posts tonen met het label 2011. Alle posts tonen
Posts tonen met het label 2011. Alle posts tonen
zondag 11 december 2011
maandag 17 januari 2011
Another year: 365 days to improve
Yet another year has gone by. Another year of achieving goals. A year of improvement.
New plans for a new year. That's what alot of people try to do. Setting the goals for the new year and at the end of the year most forget even to look back at it. Some of the plans seem to be impossible. But working on those is a good way to grow. If there are problems reaching your goals, you can do two things: giving up, which won't help you further, and just starting, trying to cope with the problems you'll see along the process. Sometimes you have to think outside the box. In that case you'll learn new things, you'll improve. That's the first thing I want to blog about :)
Easiest thing to do is challenging yourself with things you've already done. Can you still call it a challenge if you already know that you're able to complete it? If you've already done it, I think it's a no. Challenges are there to find problems you have to solve. Working on those problems helps you improve your skills. Either technical or in a creative way, you'll improve. Doing things you wouldn't normally do are the things that help you to reach a level you wouldn't normally reach. If you don't step out of your own safe area, you'll never grow bigger than the area is. Explore new things, try new things and learn from it. Even if it doesn't help you reaching your goals, it still helps you. If you never leave the small village, you'll never know how to drive in the big city.
So, what am I going to do to improve? First of all I have the challenges at school. Besides, there are some ideas. I want to work on a book about a band and I want to do a fantasy-based photo shoot with random people who like to have a picture of themselves dressed as an elf, a dwarf, a wizard or any other fantasy based creature. Why do I want to do this? Besides I want to do it because it's cool to have such pictures in my portfolio, I want to do the fantasy shoot to learn how to combine the natural light with a little bit of studio light. How to create a certain effect by using the light in a way it makes the picture stronger. The reason why I want to work on the book is because I want to learn how to put down a good impression about the emotions that are there by choosing the right pictures, the right moments and the right combination of text and photo's. Besides that it will be a challenge how to fix the finances for it and what the full process will be to turn a nice collection of pictures into a well printed book that's for sale.
I also want to learn how to make good pictures of soccer. I already started a bit with that, going to the youth team of Ajax to make some pictures during their matches. It's a good way to get known with the technique and timing of it. The circumstances aren't the best and you need the feeling to find the right moments and the right place to stand. Practicing is of course another way to improve. To learn how to make good traveling pictures you don't always have to travel, but it's a good thing to do. Taking time to wait for the opportune moment where everything is perfect. Then learn from the things that aren't perfect. Because the perfect picture doesn't exist. There's always something to improve.
This is an impression of how my year will be regarding photography. Enough written for now, going to make some pictures now :)
New plans for a new year. That's what alot of people try to do. Setting the goals for the new year and at the end of the year most forget even to look back at it. Some of the plans seem to be impossible. But working on those is a good way to grow. If there are problems reaching your goals, you can do two things: giving up, which won't help you further, and just starting, trying to cope with the problems you'll see along the process. Sometimes you have to think outside the box. In that case you'll learn new things, you'll improve. That's the first thing I want to blog about :)
Easiest thing to do is challenging yourself with things you've already done. Can you still call it a challenge if you already know that you're able to complete it? If you've already done it, I think it's a no. Challenges are there to find problems you have to solve. Working on those problems helps you improve your skills. Either technical or in a creative way, you'll improve. Doing things you wouldn't normally do are the things that help you to reach a level you wouldn't normally reach. If you don't step out of your own safe area, you'll never grow bigger than the area is. Explore new things, try new things and learn from it. Even if it doesn't help you reaching your goals, it still helps you. If you never leave the small village, you'll never know how to drive in the big city.
So, what am I going to do to improve? First of all I have the challenges at school. Besides, there are some ideas. I want to work on a book about a band and I want to do a fantasy-based photo shoot with random people who like to have a picture of themselves dressed as an elf, a dwarf, a wizard or any other fantasy based creature. Why do I want to do this? Besides I want to do it because it's cool to have such pictures in my portfolio, I want to do the fantasy shoot to learn how to combine the natural light with a little bit of studio light. How to create a certain effect by using the light in a way it makes the picture stronger. The reason why I want to work on the book is because I want to learn how to put down a good impression about the emotions that are there by choosing the right pictures, the right moments and the right combination of text and photo's. Besides that it will be a challenge how to fix the finances for it and what the full process will be to turn a nice collection of pictures into a well printed book that's for sale.
I also want to learn how to make good pictures of soccer. I already started a bit with that, going to the youth team of Ajax to make some pictures during their matches. It's a good way to get known with the technique and timing of it. The circumstances aren't the best and you need the feeling to find the right moments and the right place to stand. Practicing is of course another way to improve. To learn how to make good traveling pictures you don't always have to travel, but it's a good thing to do. Taking time to wait for the opportune moment where everything is perfect. Then learn from the things that aren't perfect. Because the perfect picture doesn't exist. There's always something to improve.
This is an impression of how my year will be regarding photography. Enough written for now, going to make some pictures now :)
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