2014 Goals

Normally, I'd be putting together my favorites of the year post.  I still may do so, but I'm not in a rush.  Many of my favorites I probably won't post-- some are from very early in the year, some are very recent.  Most are portraits.

I, instead, decided to look at my goals post from last year and finish updating it, and think about things for this year.

First the look back.  The items I didn't accomplish I do not feel any loss about.  One, I realized, isn't that important to me.  The other two, I'd like to do, but they are nearly purely recreational.  I can invent reasons about how they help me and aren't just leisure, but all those reasons sound pretentious.

The rest I accomplished.  Some, barely good enough to qualify as success, and others I think I went above and beyond.

And again, 2014 PERSONAL goals that only involve me.  Of course there are others for family and jobs-- but I don't feel like making those public.  In no particular order:

• Keep reading.  I don't put a number next this on purpose, but it seems I'm hitting about 20 books a years.  I read a bit more than that number may indicate, but a lot of that is magazines, newspapers, etc.  I like where I am with books, though.  That number allows me to read fiction, non-fiction, old classics, and new novels.  I'm hoping the next Song of Ice and Fire novel comes out in 2014.  It is what we've been hinted at to expect, but of course, words are wind.
• Really get the house organized.  We got started a bit on that this year, and we have been doing very small things here and there for the last 5 years.  But, this year we will be systematic and start from the basement up to our top floor.  I have already begun the basement, and I'm surprised we actually moved some of that stuff here to begin with.  Anyone want a 25 year old word processor?  I'll throw in the disk of the papers written with it too.
•  Do some exercise on a regular basis.  I'm pretty good about doing this on an irregular basis, but I think a routine would be more beneficial.  This is somewhat tied into getting the house organized.  The equipment is in the basement storage area, and when I go down there to use it I spend just as much time being irritated at the clutter as I do using the equipment.
• Better picturing.  Like last year.
• Better guitar playing.  Like last year.
• Bible.  Like last year.
• And, finally, the strange one.  I want to really look at what photography gear I use, and try out other stuff.  Mostly for fun.  It seems many people go through their "gear" phase early-- I'm purposely causing one now, sort of.  I already know different cameras won't make me better, so I won't be falling down that rabbit hole.  Currently, I primarily use a pair of DSLRs.  I don't for see that changing.  But, there may be some lenses I no longer use enough to justify keeping (see the part about organizing above).  I want to play around with some other cameras and formats.  I thought about renting a medium format digital camera this year, but the cost of doing so is way too high to just play around.
• I want to try large format, and have been looking at pinhole cameras as a first step.  If that works out, and I don't find myself lazily ignoring the processing side I may evaluate a real 4x5 camera.  I probably won't know until the end of this year if I will do that.  I still am unsure if I will get a pinhole camera to even begin this process.  Film is such a pain.  There are many good reasons NOT to pursue this (expense, time, smelly chemicals... to name a few), but I haven't been able to completely forget it after 3-4 years of ignoring this idea.
• I also have been interested in the opposite scale too, smaller high quality (digital) cameras.  I recently picked one up, and have been going through the process of learning it.  I will have more on that later. 

Last year's goals seemed to work out.  Hopefully this year's set will be fun and successful too.