UKC

hello

we've had lots of threads about climbing aims for 2008 (logically enough!), but as there's a photography section on the site, I was wondering - what, if any, are your photographic aims for the year?

In reply to CJD:
Having just purchased a Digital SLR to learn a bit more generally about photography and how to take better pictures.

In reply to CJD:



Having made a start, my main aim is consolidate what I’ve begun to learn about B&W developing and printing. I’m starting a second course later this month, so that should help.

My ambition is to take better pictures. I think I’m reasonably competent about the practical stuff, but what I need is to develop my ‘eye’ for a photo, especially the whole ‘thinking’ in black and white malarkey and to do as well as I can with composition etc.

Oh, and I must stop buying old kit off ebay just for the hell of it.

In reply to CJD:

Generally just to take more photos.
More specifically, I'd like to have a proper go at portrait photography.

In reply to CJD: Sounds silly (probably) but I'd like to take more pictures. I know quality over quantity and all that.. but i did feel happier this year and noticed a bit of an improvement in my shots after getting through a fair few rolls of film in a short space of time.. and it was quite a broad range of subject matter.

i'd certainly like to keep that up and maybe think about a definate project for a set period..

In reply to CJD:

More, more, and more.

Will seek more criticism and advice via Flickr 'submit one/comment on X' type groups.

In reply to CJD:

Learning how to use my new dSLR would be a good start for me, the user manual is the size of phone book and I am only on page 17. My old Pentax Super is postively Fisher Price in comparison.

In reply to CJD:

Not to be so lazy about changing lenses.

In reply to CJD: I have put ad in yellow pages so making some money is one of mine, and just to get better is the other.

In reply to CJD:
Decide if I should use Aperture or Lightroom on the iMac (shiny, new, lovely....)
Catalogue what I've got, dribble some of my best for critique some where.
Get a far better handle on Photoshop.
Take far more pics, though this will generally involve the weans ond the odd holiday.
Keep running yards of FP4 through the GR1v.

I wish I had all this digi shite 25 years ago...........

In reply to CJD:

Regress back to using slide film.

In reply to CJD: Learn Photoshop and find a good place to digitise film shot on my old Canon A1

In reply to David Hooper:
PS Can film be digitised as RAW files or only Jpegs?

In reply to CJD:
Take less photos, by thinking about them a bit more instead of pointing and shooting hundreds.
Try and get a better handle on composition and generalyl learn to take better photos

In reply to David Hooper:


No.


Save scanned images as 16 bit TIFFs

In reply to CJD:

I was hoping someone would say something I could agree with by saying "snap!" .. still pondering if I can afford an EOS 40D .. cos I really want one . then if so, my aim will be to learn to use it properly.

In reply to CJD:

do more commercial stuff

and snaffle the odd retained client from somewhere too.

In reply to CJD:

do more commercial stuff

and snaffle the odd retained client from somewhere too.

In reply to CJD:

PS

how are you getting on with that book you got for christmas (on being a commercial type photographer)?

In reply to CJD:

finish taking the current work and make a start on printing them up. getting out a bit more and maybe do a series of portraits.

In reply to diablo:

oh, i haven't really read it yet. The commercial world's not really my thing though the book seems to be pretty full of good ideas.

My aim's to start exhibiting again.

In reply to CJD:

My aim is to get a deck chair and sit and watch coach fulls of people arrive to see my exhibition and buy the publication....... er was it dream or aim you said.....

have fun and get more funding, got to be the aim!

In reply to CJD:


In descending order of priority:

Making good quality high key b&w prints from negatives, in the comfort of my own home.

Using a decent scanner to digitise some good old 35mm pics of mine.

Putting together a selective portfolio and building a decent website.

In reply to CJD:

I'd like to take... say... 3 photos this year that I can put on my wall.

I'd also like to get more confident with my filters - knowing approximately which one to use in different situations.

I could also do with (as ever) improving my composition and skills in difficult light conditions.

Tim

In reply to CJD:

professionally - take and sell even more pics (and hopefully with a D3 from Easter or so if profits are OK this year)

personally - and much more interestingly - to take far fewer but much larger pics with a Speed Graphic...and if I get ONE that I'm happy to put on my wall I'll be happy

Ian

In reply to CJD:

Mine is is to take more photos, develop my "eye" read a bit more around the subject and learn to use the flashgun I got for christmas.

Any other aims other than exhibiting?

In reply to John Wood:

no, that's the biggie for me. I'm toying with various ideas around colour work, but the key thing is developing my rationale and working towards exhibiting. (remember I'm from a fine art background so everything has to have a rationale, ha ha)

In reply to CJD:

indeedy

In reply to CJD: Take my ultimate photo that I've been wanting to get for the last two years. Location is down, but the only time I have ever seen it in PERFECT lighting condition was the time I had no battery in my camera!

Such is life

In reply to CJD: Finish the housebuild. Get the darkroom up and running.
Go freelance.

Thankfully Vlad can keep our heads above water.

I'm just trying to escape the 'cube farm'...

I want to be good enough that I NEED to upgrade the kit, as I'm better than IT is. Not happened yet, sadly.

In reply to Tim, the Grey:

I think people overlook that! I did when I started but think I'm catching up! Or was, seems to have come to a stand still lately, doing Animation at the moment instead :S

In reply to Tim, the Grey:

good point. I'm still wombling along with the basic stuff...

In reply to CJD:

To actually take some pictures... keeping an eye on Toddler tends to distract from any photographic ambition...

In reply to Vlad:

"There is no more sombre enemy of good art than the pram in the hall."
Cyril Connolly, art critic. 1903-1974.

In reply to CJD:

learn the manual controls on my new toy and try to get away from point and pray with lots of memory space to bail me out.

In reply to CJD:
I'm still wombling along with the basic stuff...

hmmm

intriguing: never thought of you as a womble before . . . ?

In reply to CJD: Well, I've just got the forms back for a submission for RPS awards.
Although I already have it from years back I think I'll submit for LRPS first and hope to make ARPS by end of year (only a very outside chance). One day, I'll knuckle down and string a portfolio together good enough to apply for FRPS (I'll never get it). At least they send you constructive criticism on the prints that did not make it, and I think you can re-submit those that did as part of your re-submitted package next attempt.

In reply to CJD: I intend to return to film. I spent a delightful couple of hours recently with a friend looking at photo albums.
Not that my digital camera will be going in the bin of course but still I find images from film printed using light and chemicals enchanting.
Holding a photograph in my hand that was taken years ago is much better than inserting a disk into a computer and looking at it on a monitor.

In reply to CJD:

oh

forgot to say:

guess what ?

it's nearly ready - (for an unsuspecting public)

In reply to diablo:

what, your website? looking forward to it if so.

In reply to CJD:

it is

(now getting rather exciting: especially as i sacked the guy that was doing it for me just before xmas)

new bloke is a real whizz: it's his real full time job - so he knows his onions, unfortunately he knows how to charge for them too

In reply to CJD: I want a 4 or 5 star rated photo in my gallery!

In reply to CJD:

Take pictures. Of cool stuff. Underwater.

In reply to CJD: I think going for an RPS award would be a spot on aim for you CJD, its really exciting building and planning your portfolio.

In reply to CJD:

Borrow a film SLR and have a play with it and see how the photos I take with it compare to those taken with my digi point-and-click.

In reply to CJD:

Really, dull.

Get all my older images imported into Lightroom AND keyworded........

Make more money! :-P

In reply to CJD:

Think a bit more about what I want to get out of photography. I love what I am doing, but at the moment it is very hit and miss and also quite eclectic...I feel like a need to develop a theme or a style to work with to give my work some kind of consistency and also to keep myself inspired.

Other than that, I want to learn more about printing. Particularly toning and alternative printing methods, but I need to become more familiar with the basics first. When I get to Canada, I want to build my own darkroom. I have an image that I want to print in a certain way....by the end of the year, I want to have made my own paper and printed the image on it.

I also want to find more time to play with the TLR. I love it, but I tend to take the Oly out because it is smaller and less time-consuming. I need to make more of an effort with the TLR...maybe come up with a project specifically for it.

In reply to kathrync:


Hi, maybe think about a narrative, a series of images that relate to each other, direct each image and only put in what you want from it, no happy accidents.

play to the camera and its strengths and allow for its weak areas.

build up a sketchbook of ideas, images, film etc that most intrigue you and then hone down some kind of look that you want to pursue, if you have a mental image of the end result already then work on that.

maybe mix the background you already have and exploit that within photography?

most of all have fun with it. your aspiration towards the process of paper making sounds great and very interesting.

In reply to Removed User:

that sounds like cracking logic to me.

life without a notebook permanently to hand is barely worth living, to my mind...

In reply to CJD:


hehe

In reply to Removed User:

no but *really*

In reply to Richard Carter:

With the rate you lust after gear Richard you'll need to!!!!! :0

In reply to CJD:

tripod accessory

In reply to Henry Iddon:

I don't lust after gear that bad, come on my favorite camera is a D40! I only buy what's beneficial to my business and it all goes against my tax bill anyway

In reply to CJD:

I'm going to buy a flash and learn how to bounce the light using it outside.

In reply to CJD:

Hello to you too.

An Illustrated Inferno

In reply to streapadair:

oh wow, that sounds cool!

In reply to CJD: Just got a Nikon D80 and dropped my Fuji 7000 on the street and did a bit of cosmetic damage. My aims for 2008 are to do a bit more portrait work. Also to explore the Dinorwig quarries more extensively, outside llanberis and catch a few more shots of the old buildings before nature takes over too much. Colin.

In reply to Removed User:

Thanks very much, interesting thoughts. I bought a shiny new note book specifically for photography-related notes yesterday I seem to be doing more thinking than actual photography at the moment, but it's still feeling quite productive at the moment.

In reply to Colin Barwell:

oo, that's what we tried to do on the N Wales phot meet just before christmas, but the weather conspired against us...