I can't believe this is the last video
of 2022 and in what a year it's been
it's not the easiest year but
nonetheless I I think I definitely grown
as a photographer and as a person as
well and I never meant for this to to
become a thing where my final video of
each and every year is always dedicated
to setting yourself up for photographic
success in a New Year where most folks
are talking about maybe highlights or
memorable moments or their their
favorite photos they created during the
year ending where we're always talking
about on this channel photographic
Improvement or I guess stated
differently photographic advancement in
the new and upcoming year I actually had
to to go back and confirm this trend
where my final video for each of the
past four years is always about this
topic so in order to keep that tradition
alive and well this final video of 2022
is all about how Instagram of all things
will set you up for photographic
Improvement and photographic success in
2023 now I want to preface this by
saying I I have always been a a a big
proponent of goal setting now this is
perhaps a carryover from my my long
career in the corporate world where goal
setting was always a very very intricate
part of my uh of my kind of uh I guess
planning for each and uh every upcoming
year so that kind of carryover has been
uh something that I have taken with me
since my career in the corporate world
has come to an end and every year
usually about the week before the new
year begins I spent some time creating
goals around what I want to achieve and
what I wanted to accomplish in the
upcoming year now once you've been doing
this with photography for a few years it
becomes a bit of a challenge sometimes
to constantly be coming up with new
goals or things to improve upon in the
New Year outside of saying things like I
just want to get better at photography I
want to get better at composition or I
want to get better at editing those are
all very those are all very important
things but they're
they're not very specific and it's kind
of hard to quantify whether or not you
actually are getting better at such a
such a a goal I should say so I think
that trying to figure out a way to
create meaningful goals for the upcoming
years of the utmost importance and this
kind of brings me to to Instagram now I
am not a a huge proponent of social
media now I don't consider YouTube
social media I consider social media for
me uh things like Facebook Instagram
Twitter vro things like that and anyone
who follows me on any of those platforms
probably has has seen this before where
I don't really put a ton of effort into
social media I put a ton of effort into
the photographs that I post on social
media but I'm not out there chasing the
the algorithms I post on Instagram and
Twitter and Facebook once maybe twice a
week at the very most and I usually will
just copy and paste the text that I put
on one social media platform and then
share it across the other I don't uh I
don't put a ton of effort into it I
guess that's ultimately what I'm trying
to say but what is so
amazing about Instagram is that and I
think that Instagram does this hands
down better than any other social media
platform out there is just the way that
it's designed so you can go to a
photographer's website for example and
you go to their website and you have to
go to their portfolio you have to go to
their Gallery it takes a few extra steps
to see that photographer's work
cool thing about Instagram is you can go
to a photographer's Instagram grid and
within one swipe you can see all of
their recent photographs and within a
matter of seconds be able to tell you
know what type of work this photographer
happens to be into whether or not you
like this work whether or not you think
it's good work or poor work or whatever
the case may be you get a very quick
idea as to the type of Photography a
person is into within a matter of
seconds now how you can use this to
create goals for yourself and remember
you know when I was saying that I used
to struggle trying to come up with
photographic goals because like I said
it's it's hard to every year come up
with something that is uh meaningful and
a little bit different from years past
outside of things like just get better
at this or get better at that so what I
have been doing the last few years and
this has really helped me to come up
with ideas to uh for for goal setting
from a photographic perspective is to go
to your Instagram page and this is kind
of there's there's two parts to this the
first part is go to your own Instagram
page and look at the first 15 or maybe
20 lines of your grid now depending on
how often you post I only post once a
week so when I go to my 50 top 15 or 20
lines on my Instagram grid that pretty
much is going to show me for the most
part everything that I posted in the
year prior because everything in your
Instagram grid is in chronological order
and what I do is I spend maybe five or
ten minutes and I go through these 15 or
20 lines and I try and identify my top
five favorite photographs and once
you've identified what these five
photographs are get a pen and paper and
write down what you like most about
these five photographs
once you've done that write down what
those top five photographs have in
common what are the commonalities
between those five things and then the
third portion of this is to write down
the things that are are absent from
those photographs or stated differently
where the the variety is lacking what's
really cool about this is when you write
down the common things things you like
about these five photographs that's
basically going to answer the next thing
which is the the where the variety is
lacking so for instance and this is from
my own personal experience I would look
through my top um you know my last
year's worth of Instagram photographs
and I would be able to quickly realize
that almost all of these are wide angle
photographs so that might be something
that I really enjoy about it but it's
also going to tell me that there is
something where that that is something
where the variety is lacking and maybe
that would be a goal for the upcoming
year is to focus more on intimate scenes
whether that's with a macro lens or
maybe with a telephoto lens or maybe you
look through your your top five
photographs in the previous year maybe
they're all black and white photographs
or maybe they're all in color whatever
the case may be identify why you like
those five photographs what are the
common themes and where is the variety
lacking and that is going to give you a
very clear inclination or very clear
idea as to what potential very good
goals could be for the upcoming year as
to how you could improve your
photography now the second portion of
this and I think this is super super
powerful is to take a few moments
and write down your top five favorite
photographers whoever they are and then
go to their Instagram grids and look at
their 15 to 20 lines their top 15 to 20
lines which could basically be
everything they posted in 2022 maybe
it's everything they posted in the last
five years or maybe it's everything they
posted in the last month it's really
dependent on how often that person posts
photographs to Instagram nevertheless go
through their recent work and go through
the same exact exercise write down or
identify their top five photographs that
you really enjoy write down what are the
things that you like most about them and
then try and figure out what those
common themes are and then you basically
take all that information what you wrote
down about your own Instagram grid what
you wrote down about your favorite
photographers Instagram grids and take
that information and kind of commingle
it and that it will basically give you a
ton of information as to what you really
enjoy in your own photograph and it'll
help you to identify areas of your own
photography that are lacking it'll also
help you to identify what you really
appreciate and admire in the photographs
of the people of the photographers that
you look up to most so that is a great
way to get new and fresh ideas and real
solid goals that can help you improve
your Photography in 2023 because anybody
who is into photography
more than likely your goal for the
upcoming year is to improve the only
real question is what do you want to
improve on and how are you going to
improve upon it so that's kind of the
goal setting aspect that I'm going to go
through this year I've gone through the
same kind of exercise the past few years
and it has greatly helped me to get a
little bit more creative and think
outside of the box when it comes to
setting goals because I have documented
my last four year Journey uh on YouTube
and anyone who's followed this channel
for any amount of time has been able to
to realize that I have completely pushed
myself outside of my comfort zone in so
many different ways and I'm glad that I
have because not only has it made me a
better photographer it has made me
better at my job it has also it made me
a better person just by getting outside
of what I'm comfortable doing and just
pushing those boundaries and I think
that's very very important to real
long-term and sustainable growth in in
anything is to make yourself as
uncomfortable as possible and you'll
ultimately be able to achieve things in
a much more effective and a much more
improved manner I should say so I hope
that that information is is helpful and
I do want to say that just thank you
honestly for the last four years for
everything that you all have done for me
in 2022 it's been absolutely incredible
this ride has been I get goosebumps
you've been talking about it has been
something that I never in a million
years would have ever thought would
happen to me and I owe all of that to
you so thank you so so very much in the
bottom of my heart I very much
appreciate you watching the video
sharing the videos taking the time to
subscribe to the channel or or leave
comments on the videos I might not be
able to respond to all the comments but
I read almost every single one of them I
can't it's a guarantee I read them all
because they they come in at all
different times
I should say since the videos are
posting or have been posted I I digress
you you get what I'm saying it really
really means a lot to me so I just
wanted to thank you for that and I'm
really looking forward to another
incredible 2023 I've got a ton of uh new
and fresh ideas for this YouTube channel
that I hope everybody will enjoy so
wherever you are in the world hope
you're having a an amazing holiday
season Happy New Year to you all and I
wish you all nothing but success and
good health and uh and a peaceful and
exciting and happy 2023 so thank you all
so much for taking the time out of your
day to watch this video and I will see
you all next Wednesday bye