Goals for 2017 – Learn to Use My Camera*

At the start of the year I wasn’t in the best head space to be making new years resolutions, not that I make any real ones anyway, I just usually set myself some goals to help improve my life. Now a month in I feel like I’m in a better place to real look at what I want to achieve in 2017. I strongly dislike January, and after my break up at the end of December I found it harder than ever but I survived, I made some good memories and I’m ready to move on. Now at the start of February it’s time to real dig my heals in, work hard and play harder. I have so many small adventures planned for us in 2017 (instead of two big adventures last last year) but they aren’t going to happen if I don’t put the effort in.

Anyway, my first goal for 2017 is to really focus on learning how to utilise my camera to the best of it’s ability. And why shouldn’t I when combined with the cost of my extra lenses it cost near to £400 and that was 2 years ago! I have a Canon 1100D, which is a little dated and I know I will need to replace at some point. When that time comes I’ll be sure to read some reviews of DSLRs within my budget but for the time being I’ll be happy with investing in a new lens. I have my eye on a 50mm one which will really enhance my portraits.

Last year I started learning my way around my camera. Going on holiday and using it on a daily basis definitely helped. I had to find ways to capture shows, parades, meet and greets, along with landscapes and indoor shots. Florida also has the opportunity of everything from night time to trying to photograph in brilliant sunshine. When I look back at my photos I can really see a difference between March and October.

However, where I have been doing most of my practising is in the house with Little Miss. I try to take photos of mile stones or if she’s wearing a nice outfit against the same white wall so I can see my progress. The top one was taken January 2016, the bottom one was taken on the same day in 2017. The weather was similar, cold and grey, but now I’ve mastered how to still make a photo work indoors in low lighting and for me that’s a big improvement.

When I look at the progress I’ve made I feel so proud of myself and that’s what pushes me to improve further. I’m also working on my editing. I wish I could afford a good program but for the time being I use Picmonkey and pay for the royalty package which is just under £6 a month.

I love taking photos, I wish I had the money to print them all out as having a physical memory of something that happened has always been something I loved. My parents were big photograph takers when my sister and I were little and I really love getting out the old albums every now and then for a flick through, and I hope that LM will be the same, even if it’s going through her Instagram account rather than a physical album.

I recently set up a Flickr account to upload all my best photos too. Mainly Disney, some Little Miss and hopefully some cosply eventually. I love how great everything looks on there.

My ultimate goal is to learn to use my camera on manual only. At the moment it requires too much setting up to be used for anything other than blog photos or food photos but I’m hoping with practise and perseverance I will get there but until then I’ll keep working with my creative auto settings which is definitely a huge step from only shooting on all the pre-installed settings like I was at the start of last year!