I mentioned one of my goals for 2010 in my previous post, and while I do have many others, it turns out I have one big, over-arching photography-related goal for this year and that is simply this: to blog more. Why?  I realized that while I started my blog last spring and had all the intentions of being consistent with it, I didn’t end up sharing nearly as much as I wanted.  Part of it is that blogging required way more time than I originally anticipated, but now that I understand the commitment, I’m planning on sticking to it!  By blogging more, I’m also simultaneously accomplishing a few of my other goals, which are:

1) to really force myself to shoot more.  This is the perfect space to share my recent images, whether professional or personal, and I don’t think I’ve taken advantage of it nearly enough yet.

2) to write more, therefore reflect more (and, therefore, have more of a record of my year). While one of the main goals of starting my blog was to serve as a portfolio of my work, it was also to keep track of my progress, and to keep track of my life throughout the year. I’m excited to create a more complete photojournal for 2010.

3) to share more. I’m hoping this will open up a space where I can share more non-wedding photography related images. Where you’ll get to know more of me through my personal images and my descriptions (even if the writing is the part I dread the most!).

4) to really spend time on my own work instead of looking to others’ work for motivation. This is not to say that I won’t look to others for inspiration–far from it–but I’ve found myself guilty of wanting to be better than others than working on how to better myself. This is definitely a tough one, and one I will really try to get right this year, not just professionally but personally.

So, what does all this mean exactly? It means I’m hoping to start blogging at least twice a week this upcoming year. I know it doesn’t sound like that much, but for someone who has been slacking and blogging barely once a week or once every two weeks, it is quite the goal. It also means that I want all of you–readers and followers–to hold me accountable to this. Leave a comment, or send me an e-mail when I’m missing. Oh, and thanks so much in advance. :)

In addition to this, I do have some personal goals that I want to work on this year, one of which is to really practice gratitude. Back in December of 2008, I started a daily gratitude journal where I wrote five things that I was thankful for each day. I kept it up for a while, but slowly started getting less into it as the months wore on, and officially stopped writing in August. While I don’t plan to formally start up a journal again, I do want to continue the practice of reflecting on what I have, appreciating even the littlest things in life, and being more open and receptive of people. I remember my change in perspective when I was practicing gratitude, and it’s something I want to get reacquainted with. It really is that the more love you give out, more you receive in return.

And, lastly, a few photos to start this blogging train off.  For a change, these are photos not taken by me but by my brother, who kindly got some precious images of me with my nephew B on Christmas Eve.

Here’s to an exciting new year! :)