18 Comments
Apr 16, 2023·edited Apr 16, 2023Liked by Wesley Verhoeve

Wonderful article and wonderful images! Thank you for always giving us a strong, thought-provoking takeaway and something to ponder as we start the new week!

Goals:

1. Buckle down, finish my sequencing, and do a test print on my E.Levee Road book/zine project.

2. Build a new website that somehow accurately depicts the professional and personal work I have done in the past and present.

3. Write one Substack newsletter every two weeks.

4. Complete and print/share online one completed small personal photo project per month.

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author

Thanks for the kind words Benjamin!

Excellent goals, maybe break them down further too coz they can be big and overwhelming sometimes.

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Apr 16, 2023Liked by Wesley Verhoeve

My goal for the next months is to be consistent is reaching out to potential clients and sending at least one email per day. I have no idea if this is enough or not but I have to start from somewhere

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author

Baby steps, a great start! :)

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Hi Wesley,

This is very nice article to guide people, especially people like me who is doing photography as a serious hobby and hope to turn into business. I am a software architect and I know how its important to set “reachable” goals and work on them. I was also thinking these days that I need to set some goals and accomplish them otherwise I just shoot and shoot thats also goos but you need purpose.

Anyway I rambled too much:) so this month for me is a busy one and stressful so I will start with easy: I got a Yashica 124G to explore medium format so I will shoot 3 rolls and get results and analyze them.

Groetjes uit Eindhoven!

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author

Excellent baby step goal Brky! Eindhoven de gekste! ;)

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Apr 17, 2023Liked by Wesley Verhoeve

Those journal's look great - same size as the yellow 'notice'? Any particular reason to do 3 volumes, e.g. different topics?

As for tracking todo lists, I recommend using Habitica. A fun platform that gamifies doing chores.

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author

Vincent! They happen to be the exact same size yes (except not as thick/hardcover, since journal not hardcover book). The reasons will be revealed, it goes beyond different topics :)

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Apr 17, 2023Liked by Wesley Verhoeve

I love your writing. Grateful you continue to inspire us with your wisdom!

Goals include blogging more regularly and keep building my 'online presence ".

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author

thank you for the kind words Kate! And great goals! baby steps, every day.

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Apr 16, 2023Liked by Wesley Verhoeve

A short term goal I have is to finish my website to a point where I feel like it represents me well as a person, photographer, and artist. I really struggle with this as I feel like my creative output has so many different facets, and they seem almost at odds with each other in mood, themes, and technique.

A longer term goal is to work more physically with my photography. Printing more, and working on distressing, painting, etc to create pieces that feel like unique physical works of art, rather than files. This is in a way just the first step towards hoping to exhibit my work more (I have just scored my first "solo" exhibition!), and being more visible in the scene.

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Congrats Ellie, that's a big accomplishment! And those are excellent goals, all around!

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Apr 16, 2023Liked by Wesley Verhoeve

I need to commit to my first outdoor portraiture shoot. I overthink, and don’t execute as a result…..changing that ;)

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author

Very common situation, and you can get out of it, just be kind and patient with yourself!

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Apr 21, 2023·edited Apr 21, 2023

Good morning Wesley!

My creative goal for the next few months is to print at least 1 photo a week. I have, over the past few months, been questioning my photos and haven't posted anything since September. That does not mean I have stopped taking photos though. For some reason, I have been having a weird relationship with social media and have thinking about it in a negative way. So in order to still enjoy my photos and ensure they aren't lost on my SD card forever, my goal is to print one photo a week for 2 months.

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Apr 17, 2023·edited Apr 17, 2023

I like your suggestion for breaking things down into manageable steps. I suffer from overwhelm at times where I can see the big picture and it seems way too big or the scope too large. Good to remember to break it down and most important as you say, celebrate the successes on the way.

I am working on a web app that teaches photography and trying to get it ready for people to start using and providing feedback.

Along those lines , I see testing is a goal on your web shop task list -- I would be up for doing some early testing if you are looking for that kind of feedback on your site.

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Goal: Actually start writing on Substack!

Blocker: Myself, perfectionism, time.

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Thanks for the article - I have a zine idea of my own that I am working towards. Got stalled in March so my goal is to get back on track with the zone!

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