I decided to wait a few days before making my traditional first “New Years” post this year. I, like many other bloggers out there, like to post about all of the new things I hope to accomplish over the next 12 months. I wanted to wait a couple of days to see if I still had the same passion for all of my new ideas. It’s easy to get excited during the last few days of December, only to be let down and deflated after the first week of the new year. I’m super stoked and excited to say that I’m even MORE excited now about everything that is to come. This is pretty much a big free-form post about everything in my head, and everything that’s on the horizon.
First and foremost, I want to update everyone on the 3 ladies in my life. My Mom just finished her 5th (out of 6 total) chemotherapy treatments on Monday. She’s a chemo veteran now, and is doing very well. In addition to an outstanding oncologist, my Mom has an incredible spirit and drive to overcome all of this. After her final chemo treatment at the end of the month, she will undergo 30 days of radiation treatments. She’s looking forward to moving on, and enjoying life to the fullest! Next, both Jennifer and our soon-to-be-born daughter Elliott are doing great! We had another doctor’s visit today, and everything looks fantastic. While the doctor was listening in to the heartbeat, the baby gave a huge karate kick that nearly poked through Jen’s belly. I think she’ll either be a soccer player, or a drummer in a punk band. I want to sincerely thank everyone who continually inquire about my Mom, Jen and the baby. I truly appreciate all of your positive thoughts and kind words. I don’t take any of you for granted!
I can’t even begin to express how excited I am for everything that is to come this year. Jen and I will be moving into a new house in March, followed by the birth of our first baby in April. Those two things alone are life changing! I look forward to creating more wonderful images for all of my 2009 brides and grooms, as well as plenty of portrait clients, and several more shoots for the US Army! Here are a few more things I plan to change in ’09:
– Weight loss… Everyone talks about losing weight at the beginning of every year. Knowing the difficulty of sticking to an eating and exercise plan at the onset of a new year, I actually started working out and eating a little better back in mid December. By January 1st I’d lost 6 pounds, and I’m super motivated to keep going! I’ll likely update the blog with my progress!
– Back to the good ‘ol days of blogging regularly… After posting every single day during 2007, I kinda slacked off this past year, only posting every few days. 2007 burnt me out a bit, and I needed a brake from constant blogging. While I won’t be blogging EVERY day this year, I’ll certainly be posting more often. AND, I’m going to be adding a lot of video content. I need to keep up with all of my talented, innovative, hip friends and begin to shoot and post some videos on here!
– Broadening my photographic dexterity… This year I’m going to expand my photographic horizons, and shoot a little more outside of my comfort zone. I have a head full of ideas, and I want to have the opportunity experiment. I hope that by summertime I’ll be able to start showing some of this new work on a new site that I’m building. It’s more of a personal thing than a professional thing. I’ll announce any new stuff here first!
– More time with friends… I know I have a lot on my plate this year, but I’m going to make an effort spend more time with my old friends, as well as continue to develop the relationships with newer friends I’ve made recently. Is it sad that I have to make it a goal to spend more time with my friends???
– Start drinking more wine… I’m going to make a real effort to drink more wine, and to become more educated on the subject of wine. I like wine, but I’ve never taken the time to become REAL wine drinker. This will be an easy one!
– It’s time to be myself, more often… I know that sounds weird. I find myself holding back my thoughts, opinions and ideas way too much. I don’t know if I’m afraid people won’t like it, or won’t like me, but it going to change. Nothing radical, just a little less holding back.
– Continue to run and expand the PPT Forum… Back in February of last year, my good friend and fellow photographer Aaron Thompson started a networking group for professional Southern California photographers called Pro Photo Thursdays. In an effort to help out and create a way for our friends and members to communicate, I started an online forum for the group. It’s become a great resource for everyone to meet, share, learn and network in our industry. I hope to make it even bigger and better in ’09!
I’m a little embarrassed to say it… but I’ve finally created a Facebook account! I have no idea what I’m doing, but I’m sure I’ll learn. I just couldn’t listen to my friends complain to me any more! So, if you’d like to be my Facebook friend, please click the banner below! You can also follow my twitter updates, and be my friend by clicking the badge! Cheers to social networking!
Oh, and since Mom hates it when I don’t post any images here are a couple fav’s from last year…
One of my favorite Army images of ’08:
One of my favorite wedding images of ’08:
My favorite shot of my beautiful wife, Jen!:
And… here’s a NEW shot from a recent stock shoot with my friend and fellow photographer Emily James. I’ll be posting more in a couple of days.
I want to wish all of you the absolute best wishes for 2009. After everything we’ve all been through in ’08, we all deserve an amazing year!
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