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Setting Goals as a Photographer
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Setting Goals as a Photographer

Photographers often set their own goals that they want to achieve. Developing skills as a photographer is very important.  Setting goals for your growth as a photographer is one of the most important tools in your tool belt. Without goals, passion, or creativity, you would not be able to progress to your full extent or reach your full potential.

The first and hardest part to setting goals for yourself as a photographer is finding your direction. Figuring out your style and exactly what your strong points are can be difficult and very confusing at times. To figure these things out, you have to take an extreme number of photographs. Shoot different things from different angles in different light and see what you like and what works best for you.  Do not limit yourself, and do not be afraid to try different things when photographing. As you grow as a photographer, so will your style.

After finding your direction, you must apply it. Finding a direction that you want your work to veer towards. One must work and try to master the look and style of the images that are trying to be produced.

Setting goals for yourself is very helpful. By doing this, you give yourself something to work towards and achieve. When setting goals for yourself, try to aim realistically. If you aim too high with goals that are unrealistic, then you would be setting yourself up for disappointment. Try to set goals that are reachable, such as getting a job in photography with a company whose work you find visually pleasing or getting to learn from a photographer who you admire. Getting accepted into those positions could be considered achievable goals. Achieving goals and success is a process and can be reached one step at a time.

While setting goals for yourself, there are many different things that you should think about. Three things you should ask yourself while making goals are “What do you know?”, “What can you improve on?”, and “How can you get better?”. For example, you may know how to take a photo, but it could be helpful for you to improve on placing objects in your images. You could get better by researching things like the rule of thirds and then practicing object placement in each image that you take while putting the rule of thirds to use in your photographs.

It may be helpful for you to keep track of your goals. You could do this by setting one reachable goal for yourself each month. Once one goal is met, set another goal for the next month, then the month after that, and so on. You could track your goals by writing them down on a calendar for which date you want to have your goal accomplished by. Also, it may be helpful to hang them up somewhere where they can be seen on a daily basis, so you will be reminded to never give up and to keep going so you can ultimately reach the goals that you have set for yourself.  Small rewards for goals met could be something to look forward to also, such as taking yourself out for a nice lunch or splurging on an iced coffee one morning.

As with anything, confidence is key. Building confidence in yourself and in your photography may take time, but the more you take photographs and find your individual style, the more confidence you will have in your work and in yourself as well. The more confident you become, the more goals you will most likely tend to set for yourself. With confidence, each goal will get more and more ambitious. Once each goal is met, set another, then another, and so on.

There may be a great number of things that you want to accomplish this year while working on your photography. There are numerous things that you can do to meet your goals. Figure out a plan that works best for you and your schedule. Write your goals down and post them somewhere where you will be reminded every day to never give up on what you want to achieve.