Time to think about something else...  get some goals, set some high bars.  I am not referring to the "to do" list I have quietly tapping it's fingers on the screen waiting for me to start checking off some mundane tasks....  the list is uninspiring, no matter how necessary... 

What am I doing?  I see all the emails from all the other photographers on how well they are doing, what they are doing, and the outstanding shots they have from fantastic locations throughout the world...  It is easy to think our life and art may not be up to snuff.  Do we ever think we are good enough?  Do the award winners of the National Geographic Travel contest look at their work and ask "is this good?"...

Do you compare your work to others?  Do you compare your work to what you did last year?  I wince when I see my work come across Facebook - seeing every flaw and what I would have done differently today...  But, that ship has sailed...  time to move on.  Keep scrolling.....

Finding myself as an artist, as a wife, mother and friend.  Thinking about what I want to say through the lens.  How can I show the world what I think and will you like it? 

Over half way through my life it is easy to look back and think "what have I done"? Anything of note?  hummm....  not really? 

Finding my voice in my life and through the lens.  What do I have to say? What is my eye drawn to? 

I love dark and moody images, whether it is movies, art work, photographs, or music ( yes, music is definitely imagery) no difference.  I am consistently stuck in my love of this look.  It fits me, shadows with a few highlights, nothing too out in the open. I love leading lines, repeating patterns, rich color.  Big images!  That is what and who I am both in life and photographically. 

What to do with this thought? This "revelation"?  Try to expand my horizon, do other things? Look more like other photographers? Be mainstream?  It is easy to fall back into our comfort zone, where we know what we are doing and continue doing it.  But does it inspire my soul? Do I look at that work and feel as though it reflects me? 

No...  finding us and defining it through life and lens...  it is how we find our clients who will love our work... hire us, purchase our art work, listen to our seminars...  Today is the day - let's develop that portfolio, the next art work, the goal.   How do I  do this?

1) Define what I love - what my eye delights in- 

2) How does what I love apply to my work? Where can I use it? Who would want this?

3) Design my new portfolio - find images that I truly love and tweak them, photograph new ones.  

4) Stop trying to please everyone - show the world what I love and not only will my work be better, but it will be wanted.   People will see my work and those who are drawn to it will be happy clients. 

5) Let the others I work with define THEIR life in the lens.  Celebrate their visions... Let them shine in their own light

6) Stop worrying about what others might say - whether they love it or they don't.  Just listen to what I think and feel.   I am not the "greatest photographer" as my friends might say and I am not the "worst photographer" as some critics might say....  Somewhere in the middle is more like it. 

Could you use some definition in your work?  Maybe reach out and just photograph what you like? Expand that into your work?  Let me know how YOU define your life through the lens.  

I am energized, enthusiastic and ready to go.  I will be me..... Let's do this! 

Happy Wednesday....