“Everybody's coming back to take stock of their lives. You know what I say? Leave your livestock alone.”

- Debi, Gross Point Blank (1997)

It’s that time of year again. When everyone looks forward and makes a lot of resolutions and promises for how things will be better in the New Year.

Now that I’m in my 50’s, I’ve finally learned that making something a “resolution” is a sure-fire way to NOT accomplish what I set out to do. I prefer to use the word “goal”, or maybe even “plan”. With that said, grab a drink and let’s dive into what’s on my list for 2024.

FRUGAL FILM PROJECT

I’ve read about this project over the last few years, and decided this was the year I was going to participate. The goal is to shoot the same camera, and same film, for the entire year. And to hold myself accountable, there is a Facebook Group to post your monthly results. Now, this of course won’t be the only camera/film I shoot for the year, but participating in the project does a few things.

1.      It shows that film photography doesn’t have to be expensive. The rules state that you have to have to use a camera that cost you $75 or less. In a world of ever-increasing film camera prices, this can be a challenge. I’ve picked a Nikon F80 from my stable that I didn’t spend any money on other than swapping out a door from another free donor camera, and a 50mm f/1.8 lens that I paid only $40 for because it had a botched filter thread that I fixed in about ½ hour of work. My film of choice is 12 rolls of “EZ-400” I that I purchased from Ribsy at a close-out price of $4.61 a roll. So for Camera and Film I’m in for just under $100 for the whole entire year – I’m developing the film at home as usual.

2.      It gives me the chance to get to know a particular camera and film well, and hopefully show improvement in technique and results over the course of a year.

3.      Camaraderie with fellow shooters that are doing the challenge.

4.      A deadline with accountability helps me accomplish things and pushes me.

5.      I plan on doing something different every month – architecture, reflections, long exposures, photo-per-day, etc. This will help me stay focused and not get bored.

6.      Posting about my results every month gives me blog content.

Wish me luck! Look for the first post sometime late Jan or early Feb depending on when I complete the first roll!

SOLO SHOW

I have a solo exhibit at Sinclair College in May. This is a major show for me and will showcase work from my Light at the Edge series of images. To say I’m excited about it is an understatement. May is right around the corner so I am now busy selecting photos and deciding on printing, size, etc. Stay tuned for more to come on this as the date approaches.

BAN ON NEW FILM AND FILM CAMERA PURCHASES

I’m self-imposing a ban on purchasing any more film or film cameras in 2024. The only exception to the rule will be my staple film stocks that I may be using for a project and therefore need more of for consistency. This means EKTAR and HP5+ are the only film stocks that I *may* purchase in 2024, and as it stands now I have a large supply of each so that may not even happen.

There are a few goals going on with this one.

First, I just have too much film. Way, way, way too much film. So much so that If I shot 4 to 5 rolls a week from now until 2030 I’d probably still have some left. I need to start burning through it. I made a joke the other day about the fact that if I was hit by a car, Renee would have enough money in film stock laying around that its worth more than my life insurance pay-out. While that’s not true of course, it does illustrate the problem. The side benefit here is that I have a lot of weird, no-longer-made and one-off rolls that I’ll have some additional blog post content for certain when I do shoot them.

Second, I don’t shoot all of the film cameras that I have. I pretty much rotate thru 5 or 6 on a regular basis, while the rest only come out to play occasionally, or maybe never at all. It’s not good for cameras to sit around going un-used, and its stupid to add to a collection that is already out-of-hand. I wanted to start selling off cameras in 2023 but only sold a few, so 2024 is the time to cull the herd. I just shipped out a camera yesterday, so here’s to hoping that 2024 is off to a good start.

Note that I stated “film” – digital is another matter all-together. I do need to purchase an additional body and a new 24-70mm lens for the event and other work that I do, but that’s about it. I have a lot of digital gear as well – its just not nearly as bad as the film gear problem. 😊

WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY

I’ve cleared my calendar for the second week in May for the Biggest Event in American Birding. I plan on making 2 trips up there – a day trip with fellow local photographers and a multi-day trip with Renee. The one day I spent up there in 2023 just wasn’t enough.

I’ve also got some additional time allocated to a few small trips to Killdeer Plains, Big Island, and Michigan Dunes.

Along with that, I’ve got time committed to doing the Great Backyard Bird Count in February, the Sandhill Crane count in April, and the Christmas Bird Count in December. I also plan on leading or co-leading a Spring Migration walk with Beavercreek Wetlands in late April.

All of those mean additional opportunities for wildlife photography.

THEATER/MUSICAL PHOTOGRAPHY

2023 was a busy year for me with theater photography. I do enjoy it even though it can be very hard work most of the time.

But, the majority of my work over the last 7 years has been pro-bono, with the paychecks few and far between.  When I started shooting theater, I told myself it was for a good cause and with every event I was adding to my skills, resume, and exposure – all in the hope that it would lead to some small steady earnings and work for some of the larger area theater companies. That’s just not materializing for me.

I reach out several times a year to multiple area theater companies and almost never get a response back. On the rare occasion that I do it’s a “well we’re happy with our guy” response, even though the quality of the work I see from their “guy” is just, well, let’s say it has room for improvement.

It doesn’t help that sometimes I put in 30+ hours for an event and deliver some great photos, only for those not be seen by anyone other than the actors and their family. No images blasted out by them on social media or other means. That’s happened to me a few times in the last few years and its disheartening.  There are two organizations that I work for that are great at putting my images out there (with attribution), and that’s much appreciated.

I’ve worn out equipment recently doing it (a body and a lens), and combining that with my travel expenses and time, means that honestly, theater photography has become just an expensive hobby.

That’s just not sustainable.

So 2024 may be my last “hurrah” as far as theater photography goes. At least in regard to the way I am doing it now. No changes in store as far as how I am doing things at the moment, but if things don’t improve and I get more paying gigs, there will have to be a hard decision to make for 2025. Right now I have existing commitments into 2024 and I want to abide by those.

INFRARED PHOTOGRAPHY

Every year I work in some digital infrared photography during the Summer months. I’ve been shooting infrared for nearly 9 years now but its all been on digital. In 2023 I purchased several rolls of B&W infrared film to try my hand at, but haven’t shot it yet. So look for some infrared film work from me in the future. I’m looking forward to the challenge! Also now that I’ve had a look at the datasheet for the new Harman Phoenix color film and know that it has sensitivity into the IR spectrum above 720nm, I’m going to shoot some of that with an R72 filter to see if there are any color IR results to be had. Stay tuned!

WORKSHOP(S)

Well, what can I say. I talked about it in my last post – 2023 was a year of plans that didn’t happen regarding a workshop. That’s water under the bridge.

I’m having discussions at the moment with two fellow local photographers regarding putting on some sort of workshop as a team effort in 2024. More on that to come soon hopefully. Stay tuned.

BLOG

Look for even more posts in 2024. With all that I’ve got planned I should have plenty to write about. And you know I love to write!

CONCLUSION

So 2024 should be a busy year from a photography standpoint. I’ve got a few other things I want to do with my non-photography goals like dropping some weight, de-cluttering, and some home improvement/upkeep.

Whew, that all sounds like a lot!

Good thing I didn’t make any of that a “resolution”. 😊

What’s in your plans for 2024? Please comment below and let’s chat.

Happy New Year!

Jeremy

PS - I’m finally giving in to the fact that AI is here and that I should use it more often in my digital workflow. The fireworks image at the top of the page was generated in Photoshop with AI commands as an experiment. It looks unrealistic once you start looking at it, but was a fun experiment nonetheless.