1. Photograph more weddings. Last year I photographed five amazing, joyous, diverse weddings. I am so grateful to the couples I worked with for taking a chance on me. I enjoyed every wedding day from start to finish, and I am more and more convinced that wedding photography is not only something I can do, but something I love to do. Now, with that experience under my belt, I feel ready and excited to ramp things up. I have a few 2013 weddings on my calendar so far, and I think this’ll be the year I invest in marketing to get out there in front of more potential clients.
2. Photograph more, in general. The best way to continue improving my skills is to practice them! Personal projects are a great place to experiment, take risks, try new techniques, and stay in touch with my passion for photography. When I finally got a smartphone last spring, I stopped carrying a dslr around as much ’cause it was so easy to snap photos with my (much smaller and lighter) phone! I do appreciate how easy my phone makes documenting my daily life, and it is fun to experiment with composition, but I want to readjust my phone-to-dslr ratio. The more practice I get with my fancy equipment, the more I can offer my clients!
3. Run a marathon. One of the biggest things that happened to me in 2012 is that I became a runner. I started from zero with a couch-to-5k training plan and ran my first 5k in June. This fall I signed up with Team In Training, a fundraising branch of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, to run the San Luis Obispo Marathon in April. My dad was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma when I was in high school, and was cured by a targeted drug that the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society helped fund; I really feel that I’m running for a great cause and I’m loving the support I’m getting from my coaches and teammates!
… which leads me to a small announcement! In order to help my fundraising effort, between now and April, I’m offering half-hour individual on-location portrait sessions, at a San Francisco location of your choosing, for a $50 tax-deductible donation to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society! This can be almost anything you can think up, from a straightforward headshot to action shots of you in your favorite outdoor habitat. I’m also offering longer couple and family photoshoots for a $100 donation. Please email me at staciafuchsia @ gmail.com or use my website’s contact form if you’d like to schedule a session!
If you’d just like to make a donation, you can visit my fundraising page. Your donation will contribute to LLS’s patient services and research programs, and may help with the develop of new drugs like the one that cured my dad.
(iPhone self-portraits. Goal #2 notwithstanding, I’m not carrying a dslr on training runs!)