What are your 2022 photography goals?
I'm curious what goals or direction you have for your photography in 2022! Is there a technique, subject, or goal that you're working towards?
This year, I explored some different camera equipment getting a full frame camera a few older Canon EF lenses. As expected, it did not revolutionize my photography 😂 but it did put to rest some of the thoughts that perhaps I was "missing out" on something special. For the moment, I'm pretty content knowing that gear is gear and it's far more important to work through the cycle of shooting, editing, and sharing.
The other big thing this past year was getting a feel for Darktable. It took a while to feel comfortable in editing in the program, but now I'm quite happy with it being my primary editor. If you're interested in getting into Darktable, I would highly recommend Boris Hajdukovic's videos (https://www.youtube.com/user/s7habo).
Looking forward, I'm really not quite sure what to work on (hence this discussion!).
In 2022 I'm looking to get into Medium-format. I'd love to get a Pentax 645N or something of that variety. As well as just generally working on my photography subjects. I've been trying to explore more interesting subjects and cool composition with those subjects.
beyond attempting to find more interesting subjects I also want to create interesting images from mundane subjects that you might see everyday, which has been the general theme of my photography for the last few months. Pictures of rocks, houses, fences and so on. I want to develop a better method of capturing those subjects that makes the photo more interesting than the compositions that I'm getting currently.
I vow to organize my Lightroom catalog. Probably won't happen.
Not suck at Photoshop. Unlikely.
Find a cheap place to develop and scan film. (Also Unlikely)
Think of a good reason why I am still thinking of shooting film. < that's a joke. < No, It's not.! Not at all. < actually a good practical reason.
Get rid of all the really spiffy 35mm film cameras I have, other than Nikon
Drive less.
Start a YT channel (Probably not) .
Quote from KankRat on December 8, 2021, 12:49 amI vow to organize my Lightroom catalog. Probably won't happen.
Not suck at Photoshop. Unlikely.
Find a cheap place to develop and scan film. (Also Unlikely)
Think of a good reason why I am still thinking of shooting film. < that's a joke. < No, It's not.! Not at all. < actually a good practical reason.
Get rid of all the really spiffy 35mm film cameras I have, other than Nikon
Drive less.
Start a YT channel (Probably not) .
I feel this in a big way 😅
Quote from Beau Carpenter on December 8, 2021, 1:17 pmQuote from KankRat on December 8, 2021, 12:49 amI vow to organize my Lightroom catalog. Probably won't happen.
Not suck at Photoshop. Unlikely.
Find a cheap place to develop and scan film. (Also Unlikely)
Think of a good reason why I am still thinking of shooting film. < that's a joke. < No, It's not.! Not at all. < actually a good practical reason.
Get rid of all the really spiffy 35mm film cameras I have, other than Nikon
Drive less.
Start a YT channel (Probably not) .
I feel this in a big way
Last roll of film I shot sat in my camera for maybe 4 years. Ilford pan F 50. the worst possible film to do that with. My kids grew up on that roll. I sent off via USPS to a reputable place. they claimed to never received it, though my cart said it was "in process". Long story short it's gone.
My only interest is in black and white and I follow Ilford on Instagram. Holy cow there are some great photos they post. That's got me intrigued. I know how to develop film, wet print etc. It's just pretty impractical to do so.
The other thing is I have just accumulated to much stuff between my other hobbies and photography.
Cycling, fishing , fly tying a truly obscene amount of gear.
I have an 80's film camera from Pentax, Canon, Olympus, Minolta and Nikon (3). Recently got rid of a Vivitar.
I have the Peter Parker (Spiderman Yashica) < Maybe I'll keep that one 🙂
I always come up with these elaborate photography goals and somehow never get around them. I suppose that’s the story with New Years goals for a lot of people. Funny enough, I don’t do too bad with other life goals. Just hobby related ones. I think with hobbies I bounce around my interests too much. It’s all for fun for me anyway, but it’s still nice to have some direction. You can accomplish a lot more with a goal.
My goals for this year are related to more shots I’m interesting in getting. Last year was not good for milkyway shots for me. Almost every time I got out into the country far enough away from city lights it was cloudy. So, I want to keep practicing and growing in that area. Particularly with two exposures - keeping the foreground and sky separate and blending together afterwards. I still haven’t tried that.
Another set of goals would be related to wildlife photography which I am finding really fun where I I’ve right now. It’s a good mix of planning, technique, adventure and luck. And just being out in nature observing wildlife is really awe inspiring to me. I don’t have a particular shot I’m looking for, except I’d like more birds in flight and then maybe find some of the migratory birds as they pass through my area. That necessitates some more research into my local bird scene, which is something I’ve been meaning to dive more into anyway.
My goal is to simplify my gear. I have Minolta gear, Sony gear, and now Olympus gear and I feel like I have too much stuff, and I don't get to use enough of it each time I go out. So with the big increase in 35mm prices I figure I can just get out of 35mm altogether. I will keep my Minolta 7000 AF and a 50mm 1.7 around just in case, but if I want to shoot film I can just do it in medium format. As a TLR shooter those just don't take up much space. The Sony A and E mount gear can go and finance a CLA and new leather for my Minoltaflex. I figure my Ricoh R-1 can probably just get replaced with a tiny micro four thirds camera. Just m43 and medium format I think can do everything I need. This means I need to primarily transition from Sony A/Minolta AF to M43 and towards that end I already picked up an Olympus EM-1 MK II and a few lenses, but it will take a bit to build up a m43 lens collection to match my Minolta one.
My big creative goal is to make better use of flash. I have a Nikon SB-26, and I am considering picking up a second one to do some proper dual flash portraits, and maybe some off camera flash macro photography. With the Olympus I have so much better control over flash than I had with the Sony, I can do things like focus bracket with flash. Also this means I have a great deal of 35mm film to shoot if I am going to be moving away from it, which is an excellent excuse to find things to take photos of. I kind of want to see if I can get some wildlife shots with autofocus from 1985, I think it would be a fun challenge.
Quote from Hikari2763 on December 22, 2021, 3:11 pmMy goal is to simplify my gear. I have Minolta gear, Sony gear, and now Olympus gear and I feel like I have too much stuff, and I don't get to use enough of it each time I go out. So with the big increase in 35mm prices I figure I can just get out of 35mm altogether. I will keep my Minolta 7000 AF and a 50mm 1.7 around just in case, but if I want to shoot film I can just do it in medium format. As a TLR shooter those just don't take up much space. The Sony A and E mount gear can go and finance a CLA and new leather for my Minoltaflex. I figure my Ricoh R-1 can probably just get replaced with a tiny micro four thirds camera. Just m43 and medium format I think can do everything I need. This means I need to primarily transition from Sony A/Minolta AF to M43 and towards that end I already picked up an Olympus EM-1 MK II and a few lenses, but it will take a bit to build up a m43 lens collection to match my Minolta one.
My big creative goal is to make better use of flash. I have a Nikon SB-26, and I am considering picking up a second one to do some proper dual flash portraits, and maybe some off camera flash macro photography. With the Olympus I have so much better control over flash than I had with the Sony, I can do things like focus bracket with flash. Also this means I have a great deal of 35mm film to shoot if I am going to be moving away from it, which is an excellent excuse to find things to take photos of. I kind of want to see if I can get some wildlife shots with autofocus from 1985, I think it would be a fun challenge.
These are good goals. I'm all for simplifying even if my actions don't show it 😄. I had that same feeling this morning when I was grabbing a camera to take on a family hike. I had to stop and think what camera, which lens, did I charge the battery last, did I put a memory card in that camera or was it in that camera. All could be avoided if I had less stuff. The purge actually started again in full swing about a month ago as I save up some cash, so that has helped.
I'm curious, did you ever mention why the move from sony A to M4/3? I really like the m4/3 cameras I do own, was just curious.
Quote from Snappy on December 24, 2021, 1:28 amI'm curious, did you ever mention why the move from sony A to M4/3? I really like the m4/3 cameras I do own, was just curious.
Ah, well it wasn't my first choice. I live in the pacific northwest, so weathersealing and 4K video is something that I want, also sometimes my A-57 shutter gets stuck so I feel like it is on it's way out. I tried the A99 and I loved it, absolutely amazing camera, but it's video performance stinks for such an expensive camera I mostly just record home movies however, I do want it to look decent. The A99 video is about the same as the 24mbps FX video mode that the A-57 already does. That really only leaves one camera that does what I want, the A99II but, right now prices are still $2-3K which is just beyond what I am willing to spend.
So, I did what made sense to me, maybe I could get what I want without weather sealing and move on to E-mount with a LA-EA2 adapter, I already had a Sony Nex-5N so I know that system a bit, and while I don't like the handling much I figured I could give it a shot. I bought an A6300 and I sold it less than a month later lol, It isn't that it is a bad camera, it just didn't work out at all for my purposes. The 4K is great, but even home movies are too shaky and jello filled to be usable, the rolling shutter just kills it. I have a few stabilized E-mount lenses which helps, but the point was to keep my lens collection and use the adapter. Also the handling isn't great with the tiny camera and big adapter and full frame glass on it.
So, right around that point Sony discontinued the A99II, which weirdly seemed to make used prices even higher, combined that with Kodak really pushing prices up on 35mm film, both my Minolta and Sony cameras were looking not so great. I already had a Yi M1, so I am not new to micro four thirds, but that camera has largely the same issues as the A6300 with the poor handling, in addition the crop in 4K is pretty high and the digital stabilization doesn't work in 4K. I did however, really enjoy the tiny lenses and the ability to use many manufactures lenses and vintage lenses that have a shorter flange distance (all you really get on A-mount is Minolta MD with a glass element, and M-42, no M39, C-mount, etc)
It took a bit, I tried a few cameras out before I committed to the EM-1 Mark II, but at only $600 for the 2019 Silver 100th anniversary addition, and being a bit better in my hand than the EM-5 it made a bunch of sense. Also the fact it can use four thirds lenses with phase detect AF really piqued my interest as those are cheaper and many are weathersealed.
So it wasn't exactly my first choice, but once I shoot the rest of my 35mm film, I will probably just keep a Maxxum 7000 and 50mm lens around for display/occasional use, and sell or donate the rest. I figure on film days I can use the Minoltaflex, which at some point I may replace something that can change lenses and has a hotshoe/PC sync like a Pentax 645. I actually really like Pentax, the Q is wonderful and the K-1 felt nice in my hands too, but I wasn't in love with the video performance on that one either. At some point in the future if I decide I really want full frame photos again I might pick up a K-1 since prices are quite reasonable for a high res full frame camera.
Same goal as last year, which I did not succeed very much in. I want to consume more media (whether books, videos, blog posts, etc) about photographs than gear. I can get super wrapped up in researching and buying or selling gear, and at some point it simply isn't helping me be a better photographer.
