More motivated at night

Last year I made a set of goals for my photography. I think I threw them out in August because they were way unreasonable. I'm trying to think up a new set of more reasonable goals for 2012, and I think I've got a couple good ideas lined up.

One thing I want to do is carry my point and shoot more often - like all the time. I took maybe a few thousand shots with it this past year, and it was the greatest for documenting random events. Actually, I used this camera more than my film camera and my dslr combined.

I want to continue shooting film, but be more sparing with the scenes I shoot. I love shooting film, but it's expensive. I think it would be amazing if at some point I could get into medium format, but that's wishful thinking.

I want to see the mountains! So many of my favorite photographs from other people are of mountains, and I've never been there. I can't even imagine how big they are. As a slightly more extended goal, I would like to visit Glacier National Park, before the glacier is completely gone.

Lastly, I want to try to build up some kind of portfolio. I would like to do this for personal use, to give my photos some sort of direction, and for me to use as a base standard for my work. I want to work on different Great Lakes related projects, so this would be a good way for me to put it all together.

This is a pretty basic list, but it seems like a good list for me. Now, since this is a post about photography, it would be wrong for me not to include a few photographs. So here are five point and shoot snaps that I really like from this past year:




A bird flew in front of me while I was taking this picture, which is what that nasty looking poo smudge is.










Spent a couple afternoons kayaking until sundown. I took a bunch of shots of the sunset with the front of the kayak in the foreground, but I like this one because it shows movement, it keeps the colors of the sunset, and I like the different perspective.





This shot is from my last trip downstate in June. These trails lead south from the sand bowl. I like the shot by itself, but it reminds me of good adventures with good companions.








This was taken during an evening ride that wound through back roads north of Marquette, through town and then south towards Harvey.






This reservoir wall is so much fun, and the fact that you have to take all these back roads to get to it makes it so much better. I could ride this spot a hundred times and not get sick of it, and the potential for photos here is incredible. I will definitely be back next summer.