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The importance of goals and breaking them…

June 1, 2020
Advice, Development, Macro, Opinion
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The humble bee knows what it needs to do. It doesn’t need to think about it at all.

At the grand old age of… (nearly 50), I am quite late to the party. I’ve always been pretty ambitious. Probably more ambitious than many people who know me realise. My ambition has been fortunate though. I never seemed to reach my full potential. I always felt I could achieve more. Don’t we all feel like this at times?

I never used to really set goals, I never really had a plan or strategy to get to where I wanted to go. I had a vague idea on the destination but lacked the visualisation. You see a vague idea is fine, I guess. I suppose that is a goal, but it’s not going to drive you.

There are times for a bee when it seems there is plenty, it’s all right there for the taking.

A dream or a goal is fine, but just having that is not going to get you there. I don’t even mean you have to have a super dream or goal. It might just be ‘to be happy’. That seems simple enough? Is it?

Write it down!

Now be it!

Easy right?

Didn’t think so. So what have I learned on my [nearly] fifty year journey? It’s taken a while, but I’ve learned that to achieve any goal, you need to analyse it, find out more about it. Break it down into bite size chunks and tackle each chunk one at a time. Make a strategy and a time line that you can work towards. Be realistic and have honesty with yourself. Don’t just pick a goal because, well, someone else has it or you think it’s what is expected. Have your own goals, set them, really analyse them. How can you achieve them?

Breaking them down into chunks, is the first step. Now comes the really hard part…

Do them.

As Lao Tzu said, “the journey of a thousand miles starts with one step”, and it’s true. Also some goals will feel more like a thousand mile journey too.

There is nothing quite as exciting as reaching a goal that has taken you time to achieve.

A change of perspective and the search for a new presentation.

May 1, 2012
Development, Opinion
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A change is as good as a rest, so they say.  I am leaving video behind at least for the time being and as I look to get back with my beloved stills camera, I have been trying to work in ways I do not normally.

Out came the 60mm Macro lens and on a perfect morning in England with dew sitting on the foliage I experimented.  I have shot macro before but it is not really something that a do much of, neither is the nature shot.

I was lucky also to find a couple of bugs (this now seems to be what my kids now call them), crawling around.

I have also been looking at ways to present images better than just straight edges.  A part of me is reluctant as I do feel that in many ways these presentation methods are employed too often to make mediocre images seem better than they are.  This also goes for some of the post production so many photographers seem to be using now.

The search was down to looking for ways I could present some of my Afghan work in a book or for an exhibition.  So I looked for a few choices and have so far settled on the ‘Photoframe’ software that integrates with my Adobe software so well.  I am using it on a trial basis and at this stage I think it’s important to make visual mistakes, so there are a couple of frames that I don’t think work, or I don’t like.

I hope you like the images.