2015 arrived while I was sleeping. Happy new year, everyone! A new year, time for a new challenge. Obviously there’s plenty to keep me busy with the British Animal Challenge. But I’ve also resolved to take more photos.
Preparing for the craft fair in November made me realise most of my best photos are years old. But I also got some really encouraging feedback. Not only did people give me lots of complements, they put their money where their mouth was and bought some of my photos.
Going to the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition was humbling. It also reminded me there are loads of photographic techniques that I could try out.
Reflecting on those things made me decide to do more photography in 2015. That’s easy to say, but I know if I left it at that I would soon run out of ideas and lose interest. So, to push myself, I am going to set myself a new challenge each month. Hopefully this will encourage me to try new techniques, and actually get out more with the camera.
The list of challenges may well change a bit over the course of the year, as I get new ideas and opportunities. But here’s the first draft.
- January: winter nature
- February: still life
- March: birds in the wild
- April: spring nature
- May: garden
- June: insects
- July: summer nature
- August: woodland
- September: seascapes
- October: autumn leaves
- November: landscapes
- December: portraits
There’s also a number of techniques I want to experiment with over the year, including:
- Using flash
- Low-light / night
- Macro
- Using my 50mm prime lens
- Using my USB microscope
- Timelapse
- Motion blur
- Black & white
I’ve put these into my calendar, and hopefully it will spur me on to improve my photography skills and boost my portfolio. I’ll try to post any good photos I manage to take…
Wild South 