New Year, New Projects

Well as the first day of 2012 winds down it is time to look at the year ahead. I intend to make this a strong one as I look to continue both my personal, creative, teaching and business growth. To do this I will work on the following areas.

Personal. In this area I aim to get in to better shape and to improve my diet. No more cookies at mid-night before going to sleep. More fruits, veggies and other healthy foods. To exercise everyday for at least 1 hour. One of the results from this will be for me to run once again in the Calgary Marathon on May 27th. Though this is 5 months away I know I can do as I completed the 42.2 km in 6:o1:00 back in 2009 after training for only one month. This year I want to be done in 4:30:00 range as Cool has a Choir Concert that afternoon. Although I won't focus on this aspect in this particular blog, I will report on significant achievements.

Creative. As I just completed the 365 day project yesterday I want to try some new things as well. This will be "Project 12". A new assignment every month for the year 2012. At the end of the assignment there should be a finished result in the form of a book, e-pub, presentation or marketing tool. The first project is to produce a book on the basics of posing, something that I know my students at SAIT are always looking for. This does not mean I won't be shooting other things and posting images regularly, just in a different form. I will be doing an Istagram a day and you will see that posted separately as #instagram366 . I invite you to follow me on Instagram at PatrickSK if you are using it as well. You will find today's image attached below. You also will find another image that I shot as I will continue to challenge myself to view the world differently and post results, just not confined to a specific project.

Teaching. I take this as one of the most important aspects of my life. Since starting to teach in the Continuing Education department at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology I have found it to be very rewarding. I have had many students over the last 11 years and hope to be there at least another 10. To do this I know I have to continue to grow as a photographer, creative person and a communicator. Even as I develop the new class I will start in May, "The History, Art and Culture of Photography", I want to improve and grow my skills. To do this I am looking to finish my BFA in the fall as well as attend events to watch and talk to other people who help educate photographers. It is the least I can do to help both my students and the industry.

Business. In this I want to work to ramp up my photography business and the Calgary Institute for Photography. For myself I am going to be working hard on rebranding, redesigning the web-sites and to look for new commissions be they weddings, portraits or the sale of my own prints and books. For the CIFP it needs a new look and to get back to what it was intended when I started it 5 years ago. This was that of an education and research group that will focus on Calgary and Region. To this I will be more active on the blog in order to work at promoting the CIFP.

These are some of my goals. Thanks if you have read to this point. I am open to offers of suggestions and help if you are so inclined. I am looking at 2012 to be a year of great growth in many different ways.