Year In Review

When you're trying to move forward, it's important to look back to see how far you've come and twenty-ten has definitely been a year of firsts for me. My first blog post, my first client, my first second shooting opportunity, my first solo wedding shoot, my first business card, my first upgrade to a "professional" camera (Canon 5d MarkII!!!), and my first photography conference. This also makes you realize how far you have to go though... a business plan, logo/blog/website design, more engagements, more wedding bookings, more networking, more second shooting opportunities, more referrals, more classes, more conferences, more equipment - it's enough to make your head spin.

I feel like I'm on the right track, but it's daunting nonetheless.  Sometimes I wonder if my end goal of being a full time photographer, shooting about 25-30 weddings a year, plus lots of family and baby portraits is too lofty - there's so much talented competition and it seems like everyone a photographer nowadays, BUT I have confidence in myself that I can do this. I can meet these goals. So my top ten goals for 2011 are (I'm scared to put this in writing, but here it goes)...

 1) Book 6 weddings (if you know of anyone in need of a wedding photographer, send'em my way. My pricing starts at only $1,500 - it's a steal!)
 2) Reach out to more photographers in my community and start second shooting! My goal will be to second shoot for 5 weddings
 3) Redesign my blog, create a website & Facebook group page
 4) Reach out to wedding vendors & start networking. My goal is to send vendors a disc of images for their use after every shoot
 5) Enter a photography contest
 6) Blog at least 2-3 times a week - this is going to be tough, but I can do it... fingers crossed
 7) Slide shows! Everyone loves a good slide show, so my goal will be to create a slide show for all wedding/party shoots
 8) Collateral - create brochures, CDs, trinkets to handout (who doesn't love freebies and I happen know good salesman, who may be my husband), and a sample wedding album
 9) Participate in online photography forums - so much to learn and at no cost! Score!
10) Twitter. I have an account, but really only use it to follow people and rarely ever tweet myself, so it's time to step up and start tweeting

So there you have it. It looks like it's going to be a very busy year for me - I better get started now!

Here's a recap slide show of my year. More slide shows to come!