New Year’s resolutions are easy to come up with but sometimes hard to keep.
This is the third and final day that I am sharing the 31 New Year resolutions that Rich Harrington wrote up two years ago. The links will take you to his articles which contain videos discussing each resolution.
They are still excellent suggestions.
The last 11 resolutions
Use artificial intelligence. The robots are not the enemy. Now, I was just as scared of “Terminator” as a kid, as many of you probably were (or perhaps some of the sequels). But AI is amazing. It’s great for saving time. So many of the tools we use for photography and video and design benefit from AI.
Embrace automation. Almost every software tool has batch processing or batch automation. I get paid for results these days, not how many hours I work. So it’s all about speed.
Join communities. Not just online ones. Those are fine, but the reality is so much better. You’re going to want to find communities where you could be a member of user groups, people that share a similar interest in a tool. They can help answer questions when you have them as well as expose you to new ideas.
Invest in lenses. Good glass lasts a long time. I see people continually churning and buying new camera bodies when what they should be doing is investing in good lenses. Lenses control the light, whether it’s photography or video, and they’re the most essential ingredient in image quality.
It’s time to master RAW. It’s both the now and the future. This is such high quality, and for photography, it is the standard. I realize that there are a few shooters that need to shoot JPEG but change your workflow.
Learn project management. Every video and photo job can benefit from the practice of project management. It lets you take control.
If RAW video is not an option. The next best thing is shooting log or logarithmic because it gives you a lot more flexibility. With log, it’s all about control. It gives you more flexibility and capture because it’s going to make sure that you don’t crush the shadows or blow out the highlights.
You need to understand copyright. Nothing is more critical to your success long-term than understanding what this means when it comes to copyright. It’s about control, and you can decide to give up that control through options like creative commons, but you need to make that choice.
It would be best if you acknowledged ignorance. I don’t mean to acknowledge the people that you find difficult or tell people they’re ignorant on Facebook. What I mean is to realize that there is a lot left to learn.
Volunteer and make a real difference. This one’s important.
Learn every day. You don’t know what you don’t know and learning is going to unlock these skills. 15 minutes a day should be spent on learning a new skill. Bare minimum. Give up some television, and get up 15 minutes early. It doesn’t matter. You can make the time every single day, seven days a week.
Inspired?
Hopefully, this list has inspired you to come up with your own resolutions. Or, maybe it has sparked just one change you can make for 2023 that will improve your work, your business or yourself.
