43 | Reflections & Intentions
“Questioning what’s gone unquestioned gets the brain humming.”
Twyla Tharp, The Creative Habit
Hello all,
It has been a packed couple of weeks as I have worked to finalize projects for the year and prepare for time away from work.
This will be the last installment for The Practice in 2023.
I hope everyone can find peace as we move through the holiday season.
Looking back
This past Friday night, I was catching up on some newsletters and articles I had bookmarked earlier in the week (I loved this piece by Rosie Spinks). One of the other pieces I returned to was “TCW #043 | A non-woo, quick & effective annual reflection process” by Coach Erika.
I’ve long suffered from overanalyzing almost everything. Everyone appears to be in that mode this part of the year. After reading the piece, I went back and worked through portions of the process.
Below, I answer questions from Step Three in the annual reflection process that Coach Erika describes.
What sentence, word, or phrase sums up your year?
Momentum.
What appreciation/gratitude do you have of yourself and others?
I am grateful for the growth of my business in my first full year as an independent photographer. I appreciate the increasing time for personal endeavors and with family and friends.
Knowing all that you know now, what words of advice would you go back to tell yourself on January 1st?
Stay the course. Things may be slow initially, but keep your head up and move forward.
What did you learn about yourself this year?
I gained a deeper understanding of what overwhelms me and puts me into a negative headspace. I also realized I have internal scripts that can distract me when working on new tasks, ideas, etc. I’ve had to ask for help as my business expanded and shifted.
What went really well?
Building community and working in collaboration with others.
What surprised me?
The demand for my work locally/regionally.
Proudest accomplishment.
Being able to create a more sustainable work/life balance.
Biggest challenge.
Maintaining a growing business (and the many daily tasks) while simultaneously pursuing larger creative projects.
Favorite day, moment, or experience?
As I mentioned earlier, collaboration has gone well this year, and I have found this to be very fulfilling for my creative work, business, and personal life. So, my favorite day/moment/experience from my business wouldn’t be just one day but the multiple experiences and opportunities to work with other creatives throughout the year.
New self-discovery?
I enjoy the business aspect of my work more than I thought I would. I realized that much of my sluggishness in embracing the business aspect came from a knowledge gap, which I am working to lessen.
What conclusion did you reach this year?
Time is critical in creative work, business, and life.
Time is the undercurrent that influences and (possibly dictates) everything. Building transparent and reasonable timelines is inherent to removing chaos and stress when taking on tasks/jobs/etc.
Looking ahead
Setting intentions does not come naturally to me, so setting out a framework from the six prompts in the piece took me longer than I expected. However, I found the exercise helpful in exploring my aim in 2024.
I want to create a personal project involving repeatedly returning to a place or situation.
I want to feel more confident in the business aspects (quotes, treatments, contracts, etc)
I want to see more art in museums, venues, books, etc.
I want to overcome the plague of busyness.
I believe that effort will create opportunities to showcase my work on larger scales/stages.
I hope for more opportunities to collaborate with other creatives.
These responses are not meant to box intentions in with overly defined boundaries but to create a trajectory for actions throughout the upcoming year.
I hope you find time to reflect on your year and identify intentions for 2024 so that you can take on all the new year has to offer!
The newsletter going forward
I plan to improve on the regularity of these posts and delve deeper into how to explore, expand, and nourish a creative practice.
In 2024, I plan to offer more details into what has helped me build a sustainable creative practice and bring in other voices that can contribute to this conversation, too.
I initially started this newsletter doing reviews/Q&As with other photographers and plan to bring components of that back to the newsletter. Please reach out if you want to promote your work-in-progress or recently completed project!
Additionally, I plan to create more informative “how-tos” that break down photographs and the techniques that made them possible. This should be fun and also involve more multimedia to explain and demonstrate.
Recent work
In 2024, I’ll be able to share some of the commercial and video work I completed in the fourth quarter, but for now, I will highlight two recent editorial assignments I worked on for Bloomberg Businessweek and The New York Times.
Both projects were opportunities for environmental portraiture, which has always been integral to my photography practice.
How College Football Is Clobbering Housing Markets Across the Country (The New York Times)
How Sick Kids Got Contaminated Cancer Drugs (Bloomberg Businessweek)
See you in 2024
Thank you all for staying with me this year as I continue to identify the shape of this newsletter.
Links & Notes:
Why it’s ok to have no idea what you’re doing, with Graeme McGowan - The Creative Boom Podcast
I’ve immensely enjoyed Twyla Tharp’s book “The Creative Habit” (enough to quote it at the top of this post). I discovered the book while researching creative writing courses and saw it listed in a syllabus. The insight and ideas have resonated with me, and I look forward to sharing more from the book.