Instead of asking forward-facing questions like, “What do I want to do with my life?”, we dream backward and ask, “What have I done in my life that I’ve loved?” And the answer we get is not a bottomless, faceless list of options that could apply to anyone. It’s a personal, small, uniquely tailored to our hearts and our souls, handful of life experiences that made us feel alive.

And finding those—dreaming backward—gives you everything you really need to move forward.

Looking back at your shared instagram photographs will trigger a lot of feelings, thoughts, and maybe even tingles. This is true with most photography but iPhone photography, or mobile photography in general, is a new breed of reflection.  When did I seem most inspired to photograph? What did I photograph often? How was I feeling most of the time I shot my iPhone off?  What is missing? Where did I feel most alive over the past year and do the images correspond with that?

This reflecting or dreaming backward helps to show me where I should go for 2012. This year I’m not openly discussing exactly what I’m planning to do as I mentioned in a previous photography resolutions post this week.  But I do want to share my Top 50 Instagram Photos from 2011 using a cool video created with Animoto.

Unfortunately, going over so many images and trying to pick 50, I missed a few I would have loved to include. I was going thought Instagram and tagging the 50 images I included and wondered how I missed these few. They are architectural instagrams.  I really noticed my desire to shoot architecture iPhoneography and professional architectural photography this 2011. While the images created with my DSLR are clearly higher quality, I found it very inspiring to first shoot with my iPhone or explore with my iPhone as a tool to study everything.  With an iPhone 4S, who knows where or when that line of quality actually doesn’t exist anymore. Here are the honorable mentions that I somehow skipped over:

I am not a celebrity Instagram user or someone that’s built a following giving me hundreds or thousands of likes on the platform.  I’m more than okay with the great people that do like or comment on my images though.  Even if I never get another liked Instagram photo, I’m not going to stop sharing images nor am I going to stop taking the images.  If I were someone to stop because of a lack of engagement via likes or comments, this blog would be long long gone.  I know that not everyone is comfortable commenting and I am the same way.  I still benefit from inspiring images that come from the people that I follow and don’t comment on.  It doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate their great work.  That said, I did get a really awesome comment this year from Chris Stern (@chris_stern on Instagram) and it may have been some unexpected fuel.  So if you feel inclined to say something, do so because you never know where it could take someone.  Here is what Chris said ( it was regarding the last image above too ):

Your architecture shots reminds of what I love shooting. Want to to try minimalistic shots like Aquatic series. Thanks for the inspiration.

I am really grateful for the comment, Chris.  I believe it was around this time that I really started to notice that I adore architectural shots and giving my images a bit more thought.  I started to look for more graphic, textural, and pattern imagery within the architecture and city. I notice how easily I could get lost in photography at ANY moment of time because of carrying my iPhone.  And if I have my iPhone on in camera mode, I know that I’m in a creation mode of living – I feel more in touch with who God made me to be.  I can feel this way with my DSLR camera too, but it’s not always with me.  If in a funk, I can easily switch on the iPhone with a double tap and snag a shot.  Traffic jam? So what.  Slow checkout at a cash register? So what.  Stuck at a red light FOREVER? So What.  There are little to no boring moments around us and Instagram is continually proving this every day.

Take a look back through your Instagram photos from 2011.  What were your best? Don’t worry if you have to create  a blog post 3 weeks into 2012. You’re still allowed to post about 2011 once the year is officially history.

With Resolutions, we tend to make a laundry list or give little to no thought. In the past, I’ve done month long reviews here and tried to map out my year. How did this work out? Well, I feel as if I ended up with a laundry list that was left in my pocket and run through the laundry. Yea, I made a great list with beautiful intentions but that’s where it was left off. In my mind, I created the perfect fluffy list of New Years Resolutions for my photography and life. I have a sinking feeling that you may have done the same – hopefully not with a 365 photography project that I warned you about.

What Exactly are Fluffy Photography Resolutions?

Giving Little to No Thought for Goals in 2012 and Beyond

One type of fluff, in my eyes, would be when someone gives little to no thought about what they want to achieve – related to photography – for the New Year.  The way to know if you’ve not given it any thought is to imagine someone asking you about your New Years Resolution for 2012.  How do you respond? When you’ve not given your photography resolutions any thought, you’re response will likely be flaky, one eye squinting and a response filled with um & uh, and never scratching the surface to take you where you really want to be.

Now, I don’t want to discount anyone’s photography resolutions for 2012 but I want to challenge you to go deeper.  I’m coming from a place that is feeling as if I didn’t go deep enough for 2011.  A lot has gone on for me in 2011 and I believe it’s a big reason for why I feel as if I finally have a higher calling with photography and moving forward.   Despite my dry humor of trying to get you to avoid a boring 52 week project or 365 project, I really just want you to look at what the 365 project will stand for or what the purpose behind it will truly be to you and others.  Give purpose to your photography and your photoblog.  Make a resolution deeper than taking more photographs for yourself this year.

If someone asks you about your resolutions, have a response that you’re proud of and confident in pitching :)

The Laundry List of Photography Resolutions

If you don’t fall into the first type of fluffy resolution issue, there is a giant chance you’re a classic case of photographer with great intentions. You have such great intentions that you over-commit to making 50 resolutions work out for the new year. These resolutions feel important but if you look at them objectively, I bet they’re just full of fluff.  There are many important things to get under control when it comes to photography, but they don’t need to be on your true list of resolutions.

This time I am going to list out a bunch of ideas that might be on a huge list of photography resolutions for you and for me.

1. Shoot more photography for myself
2. Get better at lighting
3. Lose weight (lol just had to)
4. Do a 365 photography project or 52 week project
5. Finally finish that other photography project idea
6. Shoot more food photography
7. Blog more about my photography
8. Update my portfolio and website this year
9. Organize my Lightroom Catalog better
10. Spend less time in front of the computer and more time shooting
11. Print more of my photography to hang
12. Read more photography books
13. Remove clutter from home to focus better on my photography
14. Get more clients
15. Shoot more Landscape Photography

The list could go on and on. Most people will tell you that listing these resolutions and ideas will help you become accountable to them but I feel it might be better for us to not talk about everything we want to do.  I mentioned on Twitter that we should sometimes consider not mentioning what we’re doing because it can be more exciting.  I wrote that when I was doing something that felt like it was just between myself and God.  I didn’t feel the need to tweet out something for once! Truly a new thing for me. :P

In response to my tweet, Jorge mentioned an article by Derek Sivers that advises us to Shut UP! Here is a quick blurb:

Four different tests of 63 people found that those who kept their intentions private were more likely to achieve them than those who made them public and were acknowledged by others.

Once you’ve told people of your intentions, it gives you a “premature sense of completeness.”

This advice and information isn’t just more fluff.  This advice is so true in my own life and probably your own.  I actually relate this information back to girls. I’m a pretty shy guy initially and I would lay in bed going over how I would talk to a girl in my class.  I would go over how I might ask them out.  I would plan out my intentions over and over and I was probably training my mind that it was already completed.  When I went to school, I would chicken out or find some way to avoid it.  Even though I didn’t tell others, I still relate this information to a psychological issue for not completing projects.

When you create a long laundry list of photography resolutions, I feel it’s just a list of things that would be nice to do.  I remember seeing a blog post in which a photographer’s resolution was to shoot more landscape photography but they ended up not shooting any!

I looked at my 2010 Annual Review posts and found so many problems. I didn’t list everything in one single post, but I essentially created a laundry list of resolutions.

Un-Fluff Your Photography Resolution for 2012

I hope you’re grasping what I’m trying to put in front of you right now.  I believe you can have the best year in photography during 2012! Solidify your photography resolutions as goals for 2012 and limit them to only a few.  Make this year about finishing something related to your photography or completing something that you have to show for a successful year.   Break those few resolutions down; it’s what I’m doing behind the scenes right now.

Feel free to publicly share your photography resolutions and photography goals for 2012 despite the advice from Derek Sivers to shut up.  Perhaps you’re someone that embraces the public display of what you’re out to achieve. There are benefits to both sides of this debate!  Take the article by Jon Acuff about resolutions: Don’t Overkill Your Resolutions and Dare You To Do this With Me - a very open approach and could be massively motivating.

Fluffy Resolutions, like listed above and like described if you don’t even think about them, really won’t get you too far.  I have spend the last half of the year with much more focus and I believe I’ve been preparing for 2012.  With 3 days until we enter 2012, possibly our last year on Earth, I still feel as if I need to sit down in a Cafe and zero in on this more.

Don’t be your own destroyer due to fluff.

Go after what you want in photography for 2012! 

###

top photo credit: eltman
middle photo credit: scott webb
bottom photo credit: charlyn w

I know that it’s now 2011 and I should probably be wishing everyone a Happy New Years and creating the post around that, but I didn’t get around to sharing the top articles from 2010 here on Nuwomb.   Over the course of 2010, nuwomb.com battled with it’s identity and the full focus on photography came in the latter part of the year.  It’s tough to battle the fact that you want to provide to do service photography in London Ontario, but discuss photography globally at the same time.

Before looking at my top articles from 2010 I thought that I would find some that didn’t have anything to do with photography.  Thankfully that wasn’t the case and these top 15 articles all have something to do with photography!

1. Photography Business Card Series: 23 Photography Business Cards to Check Out
2. WordPress Themes for Kickass Photography and Photoblogs (Part 3 of 3)
3. Photography Business Card Series: The Letterpress Edition
4. HDR Photography Workflow Series
5. Photography Business Cards Series: Moo Cards Edition
6. 8 Rad Locations for Creating Stunning Car Photography
7. Photography WordPress Themes Released Recently
8. *I Quit My Day Job to Blog With 60 RSS Subscribers
9. 1-25 Photographic Reasons to Add a Fisheye Lens to Your Camera Bag
10. WordPress Themes for Kickass Photography and Photoblogs (Part 1 of 3)
11. HDR Photography Workflow Series: Tone Mapping that HDR
12. HDR Photography Workflow Series: *Bonus HDR Tutorials and How To
13. *3 Words David duChemin Said to Make Me Cry
14. *Panasonic Lumix Commercial – You Don’t Have to Be a Great Photographer
15. HDR Photography Workflow Series: Sharpen like a Ninja

Something interesting is within this top 15 from 2010: Only 3 articles were written in 2010.  All the rest have gained their position over a longer period of time.  I’m not going to pretend like Nuwomb gets massive traffic, but it doesn’t totally bomb out like when starting a website from nothing.

If you’re newer to my website, these are some older articles that may be of interest – something you haven’t see.

A bit of encouragement? Even if it feels like your blog isn’t getting attention, don’t stop.  You have to keep going.  Keep writing and have somewhere that you can store your ideas.  If you’re struggling for blog post ideas related to photography, maybe I can help out sometime. The fact is that things always take time.  I say this because I still need more time too.  These are my top articles but they are not sitting in the number 1 spot on Google.

I’ll talk about SEO in the future – a realistic look at Search engine optimization (at least from my perspective).  I’ve been seeing some wild information and seeing that information in action.

Until the next post, I’d love if you wanted to share this with others. There are a few options at the top of the article.  Happy New Years!

iPhone Photography really took hold in my hands during 2010.  Perhaps you’ve realized that the blog thumbnail images are all iPhone photographs going forward? If not, now you know. I love the speed at which I can get a shot that may relate or just go with the blog post.

I believe we’re seeing something special with “phoneography” – my interest is with iPhoneography though.  Many of my thoughts on iPhone photography haven’t been communicated yet on the blog, but I have started envision the possibility to take on major camera companies.   I am certain that Apple has taken note of the attention Instagram has achieved and the financial success [in a short time] with Camera+.

My interest in iPhone photography sparked the start of a website called iPhone Made Photography and I encourage the sharing of awesome iPhone photos.  Let us know here in the comments if you wouldn’t mind us sharing your iPhone photography on that website [with attribution and links back to your website].

Here is some of my iPhone Photography from 2010:

My issue is this: I don’t process everything shot in the same year.  A lot of photography I shared this year moving through archives. Weird? I know or maybe not. I don’t think it’s that weird; However, it’s something I’m working on internally and motivating myself to get on for 2011. After all, I want to take photography in London Ontario by storm one day!

As important as it is to take photographs, it’s equally important [ to me ] to build post-processing skill.  I achieved growth in both areas. 2010 also brought upon new challenges in wedding photography, child photography, and newborn photography. Essentially I was went head first into some portrait photography work and found how I can use it to enhance my architecture, and landscape photography interests.

Not all of these images were created with the help on onOne Software, but I wanted to note that I worked very hard in learning ways to adjust images in the digital darkroom and Photoshop is not a crime.  Seems that onOne Software may have noticed my hardwork and wanted me to see I can get it done faster.   They said “hey try our photo editing software out.”  I have now and I’ve been blown away.  I still do things outside of software like onOne PhotoTools from time to time but I’ve been able to really speed up my workflow.

Tools like onOne FocalPoint 2 have opened up a layer of creativity too. I don’t see these tools as cheating photography or doing anything a photographer shouldn’t. There are reasons for everything I end up doing within my images and these tools help achieve those results.

Here are a number of my best photos of 2010:

Back to the prompt of today: Beyond Avoidance. I’ve got to bring up a personal photography project that I am ashamed to say is still not close to complete. I am sure there is a reason for it and everything is on the right path; however, it still doesn’t mean I’m not a bit ashamed of my progress.

December 20 – Beyond Avoidance
What should you have done this year but didn’t because you were too scared, worried, unsure, busy or otherwise deterred from doing? (Bonus: Will you do it?) (Author: Jake Nickell)

Beer Can Photography Project

Honestly my personal photography project, consisting of crushed beer cans, is one that excites me.  Why would a project that excites me so much be one that is still unfinished?

Have you ever had such high hopes for a project that you just never execute? I’ve tried time after time to shoot this project but the time has never been right.  There are layers to such a photography project and I’m still trying to learn about how one goes about locking in a gallery exhibit.  This project is one that I want to be something special – one I see as something special. It’s about much more than just beer cans.

All of that is pointless though without the photography.

I talked about the personal photography project a number of times here on my blog. I let everyone know where the idea was planted in my head, and I gave the project a goal deadline.  I hoped that I could ride the excitement and get shooting.  Yet here I sit at the end of 2010 and no finished product in sight.

I did enjoy drinking more tall boys and adding to my can collection though.  Creemore Springs even caught wind of me talking about the project and sent me gift certificates for 4 free tall boys of their Creemore Premium!

What Happened? How Will You Make Things Happen in 2011?

I lacked overall focus.  I was building the project up in mid April, but I then got caught up in photowalks, shooting real estate photography (which was much needed and welcomed), tried starting a newsletter, and started writing a photography eBook.

While I was focused on photography, I wasn’t focused on anything specific within my photography.  I was all over trying do interesting things but getting nothing interesting done.  Sound familiar?

I’ll be documenting my progress on a regular basis in 2011.  I’m mainly looking at the assistance of a massive whiteboard or wall painted with whiteboard paint.  I can’t rely on just a whiteboard to make my ideas happen in 2011, but it will be a big part of my success.  I can’t really specify much more.  Simply being aware, of where I am at and where I want to be, gives me the ability to experiment with my own management.

Next year, I’ll be celebrating this personal photography project with some beer! Who wants on the VIP list?

But what if if someone doesn’t like you? Do you spend even more time and energy trying to win them over? What if you didn’t bother? That’s where I’m going today.

December 18 – Try
What do you want to try next year? Is there something you wanted to try in 2010? What happened when you did / didn’t go for it? (Author: Kaileen Elise)

Since this question has been answered in a number of prompts – ie Mind and Body – I want to take a bit of a different approach by talking about something I won’t try in 2011.

I Won’t Try and Impress EVERYONE

I won’t mindlessly retweet Seth Godin, Chris Brogan, Chase Jarvis, or Trey Ratcliff.  I will probably retweet these big dogs at some point, but I won’t simply retweet just because.  I haven’t done this in the past, but I have retweeted people simply because they retweeted a few things of mine.  While I appreciate every response and retweet on Twitter, I know it does not mean that I am going to blindly share things because of it.   Luckily, people like Brogan, Jarvis, and Godin regularly create awesome content that I want to share.  Can we go beyond 140 characters though?  I think so:

Even if you’re a pop star, you don’t need everyone to be a fan or a customer. And especially if you’re not a pop star, worrying about whether everyone laughs at your jokes, buys your product or even likes you is counterproductive. -Seth Godin

On Twitter I’ve been guilty, in the past, of getting annoyed when certain people don’t respond or decide to follow me back. While I have been able to let go of hoping people will follow me back, the lack of acknowledgement and response irks me. Not any more. I’ve also heard Godin remind us that being remarkable also means being ignored and disliked.

As energy management is important in my life, I can’t bother to waste my energy on everyone else. My energy is to be focused on people that believe in what I believe, see life the way I see life, and have the desire to integrate their life with photography. The people that understand photography is an ingredient in the celebration of life, family, friends, and story.

Are you trying to impress everyone? Are you trying to make everyone happy? What would happen if you stopped and focused your energy on the people that are willing jump ship and paddle to your private island and work with you?

Let’s try it!

I’ve been doing a pretty lengthy review for 2010 with the help of Reverb10 – a project that get’s you to reflect on the year and manifest what you want in 2011. Today’s prompt asks us to look at a lesson learned and I’ve decided to talk about building a Photography Business Model after a year of photography (Although most of the year was spend scattering all over the map).

December 17 – Lesson Learned

What was the best thing you learned about yourself this past year? And how will you apply that lesson going forward? (Author: Tara Weaver)

What Lesson Did I learn?

Photography is not easy. Never did I think a photography business would be a cakewalk. Never.  This year has been a roller coaster trying to gain traction and get some footings in the ground.

Trying to follow a traditional model starting out has been so hard for me. I’ve been reading blog articles from other photographers, watching CreativeLive and learning about business from Tamara Lackey, and looking outside photography specifically for direction.  There is so much information, free information for that matter, to soak up but nothing that is going to automatically get the phone ringing. At least I sure haven’t found that special sauce.

Most information is actually knowledge you already possess, but seem to need to hear it actually worked for others.  You know the advice: Know you’re target market, specialize, network, call people back, respond quickly, dress appropriate, tell a story, and don’t lower your prices because then you undervalue all photographers in the market.

Here I am struggling to get the phone to ring. I was even told that $100 was too much for a newborn photography session that could include the files. Sears Portrait Photography got the business instead.

Now, I believe the $100 issue was a one off situation; however, I get the feeling that the traditional photography business model has changed or is in transition to something new.  I talked a bit about this today with clients as I was delivering the DVD full of high resolution, web optimized images, and videos.  These clients are putting through a print order as well because the quality is going to be amazing compared to the quick prints at local printers here in London.

I talked about the idea behind expecting to cash in on prints as a photographer.  Their child is now about 2.5 years old and had pictures done by another local photographer as a baby.   While they like the photographs, they felt like they made a mistake due to the amount of money they paid for prints.  I knew exactly how they felt because we all know how much it costs to get great prints today.  Unknown to many people is prep that is needed for some images going to print.  The majority of images will be just fine though.

I empathize with clients that have felt they made bad decisions with print packages in the past.  I want people to feel like they made a great decision. I want clients to receive my prints and realize they never would have selected the same paper or media that helps tell the story.  Regretting the purchase of a print package is seriously unfortunate, but perhaps these clients had no other choice at that point – they had already committed and wanted images.

What is the traditional Photography Business Model?

Breaking my rambling down, I see the traditional photography business model to look as so:

1. Book Session with a session fee or retainer fee – this commits the clients and suggests investment
2. Shoot the session and inform that it will take 3-6 weeks to process images – post a teaser image (maybe)
3. Book a sales consultation to go over a nice print order with clients
4. Set up online ordering gallery for more prints and for family to order prints
5. Post on your blog, Facebook fanpage, and twitter to create buzz or book more clients

Clearly this business model works as it’s still going strong for certain photographers.  How easy is it use this model when starting out, specifically starting out in our industry today.  Photographers with slick skill, trying to start a new business don’t have the momentum going from a model that worked well in the past.  I’m not trying to make excuses for my struggles this year but I sit with a conflicting set of models in my own head.

I just remembered something that David duChemin said in his CreativeLive workshop. I can’t remember the specific quote but he talked about massively creative photographers losing all creativity as they try and start a photography business. It’s like they suddenly try and fit into something instead of exploring their own creativity.

Not us right? Yet here we are.

How Will I Apply This Lesson Going Forward?

I might cover my walls in sketch paper to draw the biggest mind map I’ve ever seen.  I want to explore ways to book sessions and create value that inspires clients to book prints but also go beyond prints.  How can photographers go beyond prints? I’m not sure yet but that’s what exploring and creative mind mapping is for, right?

I’d love to read Lawrence’s new eBook on creative pricing and packages, but is it something revolutionary? I don’t know.  If anyone’s read it, I’d love to hear your review and thoughts.  Lawrence does some great creative thinking, never know!

I am going follow my own intuitions, create my own accelerated time lines, and trust myself – let go of doubt. I can’t fail any more than I have in the past.  Create your own photography business model.

Some people are very good at making their life appear rosier than actuality. Perhaps their life really is all it’s cracked up to be. I am not going to sit here and say that I am a great friend and we have dinner parties that would make a Friends episode look unfriendly.

I have few friends even. I’m fortunate to have Marika in my life. I know I’ve tried to sabotage our friendship in the past as well. Sabotaging myself and friendships is something that comes easy to me. Looking back, subconsciously it’s one of the things I’m best at. Clearly I never mean to hurt anyone, but it happens.

Today’s reverb10 prompt is all about friendship. I thought of writing about trying to become friends with myself – as it’s an on going battle. But that would be weird and it might seem as if I’m all great and full of rainbows inside.

December 16 – Friendship

How has a friend changed you or your perspective on the world this year? Was this change gradual, or a sudden burst?

(Author: Martha Mihalick)

I’m not even going to pretend.

I am not a good friend and I don’t have much friendship because of it.

Sometimes it’s easier for me to just disappear.

I don’t really call people to get together.

I don’t get excited to go out.

I often find comfort in bailing on plans and I don’t know why anxiety overtakes me so much.

I haven’t known friendship on a real level unless it was my childhood best friend, Chris Rutter.

I don’t know what it is inside me that doesn’t want to make contact.

I intend to examine it closer in 2011, but I don’t expect any old friends to accept me.  It’s not their job.

I know some people that are amazing and they are great friends.  I am the weakest link.

Forget about asking for forgiveness.  I know forgiveness is very energy consuming and I don’t want anyone to waste energy.

I simply say that I am sorry for being a flake, aloof, and distant.

I hope your other friends treat  you better than I.

2011 intention:

Learning how I can become a better friend to those that still allow it.

December 15 – 5 Minutes

Imagine you will completely lose your memory of 2010 in five minutes. Set an alarm for five minutes and capture the things you most want to remember about 2010. (Author: Patti Digh)

I probably could have remembered and listed more if I was typing out the memories. I still love the use of an analog journal though. Here is what I got down before my iPhone timer went off:

• The feeling of handing in my resignation to a job that no longer served purpose in my life
• Wedding Photography for Julie and Alan
• My Wedding Day, Ceremony, Reception and the day after
• My Rehearsal wedding dinner
• Bachelor hangin’ out with Dougy Fresh
• Meeting and welcoming nephew Colton
• The unconditional love from Marika, Reese, Charlie and Ginger
• The support I get from Marika
• The support I get from my Family
• The airplane view over New Orleans
• Miss Barbara and the poop on the floor of the Walgreens
• Our Honeymoon in New Orleans
• The feeling of going to sleep on our wedding night – getting out of those shoes
• Snowmaggedon
• The rewarding aspect of shooting Wedding Photography and Child Photography
• The comfort of our own bed
• The Struggle this year has been and that I am still here to tell the story
• My 30th Birthday and party in Grand Bend

Thankfully, my memory of 2010 didn’t really end at the end of the 5 minutes. I urge you to give this prompt ago – even if you don’t share it online. Feel free to share the memories of 2010 in the comments!