2019

 

So, this year didn’t start off quite the way I wanted it to…

I went snowboarding up at Loon Mountain on the 31st, and that was my last time going this season. I didn’t realize that skiing and riding were contact sports and, unfortunately, got absolutely decked by a skier going way too fast down the mountain. Cue knee pain, neck pain, and should pain. Not the way I wanted to kick off 2019, but I got my medical visit in on the 2nd of January after realizing on the 1st that I was not okay. Definitely not the way I wanted to kick off 2019…but here we are, hobbling along. Oh, and I beat my entire family for the first medical visit of the year.

I always get first place.

I did this shoot a while back – on December 9th, 2018 to be exact – and it almost brought me back to my old style of shooting. I’ve been getting back into my basic portrait routine because that’s what I love the most.

Just a basic shot.

I started this years ago but it took me a while to find a rhythm and a color scheme that I liked. I’ve always been a huge fan of the white and golden look and I’m trying to get back into that. I experimented with night shooting and neon as well as adding blues to my photos but I don’t like those as much.

I prefer warm tones.

So, I’m going back to that. I’ll do what I can with colors and whatnot and if it looks better bluer, then fine, maybe I’ll keep it that way. But I miss those golden Californian tones I captured whilst in Santa Monica and Venice Beach, and Malibu. I miss Malibu. And Santa Monica. I want to go back so badly. That’s another goal! I’ll make it out to Los Angeles this year. At some point.

Speaking of Los Angeles and the West…that’s where, ideally, I’d love to be. I’ve already applied to twelve companies just in Salt Lake City, Utah and I’m just getting started! I have several more on the list that I’m interested in just in Utah. I’m going to expand my horizons to Boston, Buffalo, Denver, Los Angeles, and potentially somewhere in Arizona.

I just got a journal book that details the 59 National Parks in America  – and I want to fill that. I’ve been to several of the parks already listed, but I don’t know if the visits to ones in 2005 count for me! Personally, I’d love to visit each park and clip a photograph to each page detailing my best photo from that location. And I definitely wasn’t taking any pictures when I was 8 or younger. So perhaps I’ll start with this past year, to Yellowstone National Park.

We’ll see.

So, I’d like to be able to travel a bit more in 2019 and see more of the United States. I’m hoping to have the time to because I certainly have the bug for it. Hopefully being out on the West Coast allows me to see territory I haven’t seen before! But for now, I’ll stay in Buffalo and keep taking photos of Taylor. They turn out well, don’t they?

So for 2019, what am I going to do? Obviously shoot more, but on a more controlled schedule. I’ll allow myself breaks between shooting. I’ll be sure to write blogs on a more regular schedule. I’m going to get back to my white and golden tones (perhaps after winter finishes). And I’m going to get a job out of college as soon as I can. Hopefully out west. And travel. That’s a goal. We’re going back to Los Angeles for sure. Perhaps other places yet to be decided.

But travel.

Yes, that’s a must, isn’t it Justin.

Parting shot:

Next blog: Perhaps the second half of this shoot. Or maybe something else. We’ll see!