It’s hard not to feel reflective around this time of year. It’s the end of one year and the beginning of another. It’s a time to gather your thoughts and assess your achievements. Learn from the challenges and set new goals and targets for the next year.
I’m not big on creating New Year Resolutions as I feel like they are a waste of time. People often set unrealistic targets and then feel deflated when they don’t achieve them. I don’t think that’s a particularly positive way to go about it. You can make changes in your life or set new goals any day of the week, it doesn’t need to be at this point in the year.
I haven’t been blogging much recently and I’m ok with that. I’ve been lacking inspiration and there’s no point in churning out posts every day or every week just because that’s what you ‘should’ do. Instead, I’ve been living life and enjoying each moment rather than trying to capture each moment just so I can share it with the world and show off how much of a great time I’m having. By doing this, I’ve started to find inspiration again and often in unexpected places. Slowly but surely ideas are building and new posts are being created. I’m finding myself frantically searching for a notepad to write down an idea or a post title that has come to me in the heat of the moment.
Another reason for the lack of blogging is due to the lack of daylight hours and the challenge that poses in being able to get out and take pictures. It’s dark when I go to work, dark again when I come home and the weather conditions at the weekends have not been favourable enough to get out and take decent photos. This has been frustrating but on the other hand it has allowed time to gather ideas and inspiration for creating new content.
I have also found frustration with my photography skills (or lack thereof). When I started blogging I bought a Canon 600d with two lenses and a tripod. I had no photography experience other than using a digital camera. It’s easy to believe because you have a good camera, your pictures will automatically be amazing. This is certainly not the case and even now, over a year later, I’m still not confident using my SLR. I recently purchased a Canon EOS M for convenience when travelling and to allow me to learn how to use my SLR properly but still be able to take decent photos in the meantime. I have to say, I highly recommend the Canon EOS M for everyday and travelling. The picture quality is excellent and it is extremely user friendly. It is light and compact but still has the option of adding different lenses to suit. I have used it in a variety of situations including travel photography, concerts, a night out and indoor and I have been really impressed by the results. My main goal for this year is to learn how to get the most out of my 600d and to improve my photography skills in general. This is something I have wanted to do for a while now but never really made time for. In turn, improving my photography will also help develop my blog which wouldn’t be a bad thing…
x