People start off a fresh year with a set of resolutions ( or goals ) and most people abandon these resolutions within a few weeks if not sooner. I thought it’d be a good time to sit down and write up a few things about the past year or two and then where I’d like to be at the end of 2010. The concept of this site is to let you follow along as a few photographers learn everything they can about photography and themselves. So I’ll start the year off here…

If you read my bio page you’ll find that I’ve been interested in art and photography my whole life but I’ve only recently come to take it on as a real hobby. In the past year my “photography” has consisted of reading books, browsing the web, taking photos, worrying about comments on Flickr, and buying gear. Yep… buying gear!

In the past eighteen months I’ve bought small strobes, big strobes, lenses, light stands, mono-pods, light modifiers, software, books, cables, remotes, analog camera, digital cameras, film, chemicals, and the list goes on. I’ve sold lenses to buy new ones, been through three digital bodies, and now own a small collection of analog cameras. I’m starting to feel like I trade, buy, and sell gear more than I use it. In the beginning I took photos, thousands of them, to try to work with what I had. Now I feel like I’m so busy trying to make the next deal that I don’t have the time or energy learn to use the gear I have.

Photography is always new, the world is constantly changing all around us and as photographers we’ll be learning our whole lives. The manufacturers have us on a hook, releasing a new model every few months, each model better than the last with gizmos and functions galore. I started 2009 with a Canon Rebel XTi, moved to a Canon EOS 50D, then upgraded that two months later to a Canon EOS 7D. I didn’t feel comfortable with the 50D from the start and it really took a toll on my enthusiasm for photography. I can’t explain what it was or why but making the move to the 7D has been a life saver. The camera just fits me and I truly enjoy shooting with it, worlds align when I pick her up.

So what am I trying to get at?

This year I’m going to stick with the gear I already own, no new camera bodies, no new lenses, no more strobes. Instead of buying new gear I’m going to spend my time learning how to use the gear I have, not just how to take a good picture but how to really use it.

There are a few thing I hope to pick up over the year. These aren’t technical things, they’re more like multitasking accessories to help stabilize my camera and give me greater control and a boost in image quality. I’m on the market for a solid tripod and a nice fluid head, that’s it and those items will work with all the camera I already have.

So at the end of the year I should understand my cameras inside and out, know how they will perform in bright sun, or on the darkest night. Creating the best possible picture in the camera, before it ever hits a computer is my main goal in 2010.