My 2018 year in art was interesting. Mostly interesting because of what didn’t happen rather than what did happen. I started off the year with an opportunity to volunteer at a local organization and lead a photography group during an even for them, but I managed to bungle the paperwork process and didn’t get everything submitted in time to be able to be a volunteer at that event. I did eventually get the paper work submitted so hopefully if the opportunity presents itself again then I will be able to volunteer with them.

Below is a list of 8 goals I have for the 2018 year.

1. Have another art exhibit.
2. Publish an article without photography.
3. Publish a photography related article.
4. Take more portrait sessions.
5. Photograph more shelter animals.
6. Teach a photography class.
7. Gain more support through Patreon.
8. Write a book.

My number one goal was to have another art exhibit in 2018 and I had those plans already in development prior to 2018 so that made for a cheap and easy goal to list. This exhibit went well. I was very happy with it. I worked with the Tioga Arts Council and presented an exhibit title “A Runners World”. The exhibit featured photography all from my adventures in running. We had a good turnout at the event and I even met a couple of local runners. The only down side was I didn’t sell any artwork from the event. It is possible I will have another exhibit in 2019 as I was talking with an exhibitor in 2018 regarding possibilities.

My two goals relating to publishing article didn’t not go as I had hoped. I wanted to publish more work both photography related and non-photography related in print publications. I began the year writing article and sending out query letters to a wide variety of publishers. Unfortunately I did not make any headway in this process and it became clear to me that maybe publishing my work via this route was not meant to be right now. It is hard work finding publishers and querying them regarding your work. I really wanted to focus on writing and putting my work out there for people more than anything. So to that end I began focusing more on publishing my writing not only here but on my Medium page at https://medium.com/@krnaturalphoto. I have been writing on Medium for a while and I publish some of my content from this website there as well as content that does not fit into my work here. So if you are interested in checking out other types of content I create I strongly encourage you to check out my work there as well.

I have been saying for a while now that I want to get back to photographing shelter animals, however to date I still have not been able to make that happen. I just haven’t successfully found a way to make this work with my photography right now. I love the work there and it means so much to me I am determined to find a way to get back to that work eventually. Even though I did not get in to the shelters to photograph new animals I was able to arrange a fundraiser for our local Chemung County SPCA at one of my favorite local business that are super supportive Four Fights Distilling where we had a feature of my photography on exhibit where any sales of my artwork would result in me donating %50 to the shelter and Four Fights made a donation and the SPCA had adoptable dogs there. The best new from this event is that it resulted in some dogs finding new homes and that is the best news I could have hoped for. So while it was not truly my goal setting out the year I am calling it a huge win for those dogs and my soul thanks to the Chemung SPCA and the support of Four Fights Distilling.

Another big goal I had for 2018 was to start teaching photography classes. This is something I have been thinking about for a long time. I planned one class and then I lost momentum and it ended at that. I still have several ideas for classes in the works that I am developing on paper and in my head. This is something that I still want to do but other priorities taking over pushed it to the back burner in 2018. I am hoping to resurrect this goal for 2019. I just need to turn the ideas in my head into action. This is one of my biggest challenges, turning my ideas into actions.

Patreon is an aspect of my work that I really need to work harder to expand. I see a huge potential future there and I am hoping it is the way of the future for my work. I made small gains there in 2018 and I am hoping to expand it further in 2019. I will probably write more extensively on this topic in the future. Yet another aspect where I have lots of ideas that I need to turn into actions.

The one goal for 2018 that really subsumed everything else and took center stage was writing a book. This has been a huge idea and project growing in my mind. I have made huge strides on this in 2018. I spent some time almost every day working in some fashion on this project. I have a completed query letter to send out, a completed book proposal to send out to interested parties, and I have over 50,000 words of a book written. The book is by no means done but it is far closer than I ever imagined it being. It is to the point where I can almost actually envision it coming into being. It is much more than some dream now. It is almost an actual thing now. However, all the work I put into this book contributed significantly to my other goals not really being realized in 2018, but I think considering how much I accomplished on this front I think I can accept that.

So thinking about my book project at the close of 2018 that is where I will pick up with my goals for 2019. I have started to send out query letters to writing agents to find an agent that will help me find a publisher for my book. I have written to and heard back from a few agents already. So far none have expressed interest in my book. I will continue to reach out to agents. If you happen to know anyone who is interested in working with a new author to publish a fun book get in touch with me. So my goal for 2019 regarding the book is to secure and agent and hopefully a publisher for the book, however that may be pushing it. I would also like to complete a rough 1^st completed draft of the book by the end of the year. This is my number one goal for the year.

Another goal for 2019 is that even if I do not teach a class  in 2019 I want to write down and formalize my ideas for what types of photography classes I would teach and begin making plans to set up the process for teaching classes.

If you have read about my running goals this goal ties back into my running. I want to spend more time capturing footage of my running adventures. This includes both photography and video. Then I want to use this artwork in my writing and other artistic pursuits.

So my biggest goal for my art in 2019 is that while I am running the running itself is secondary to the enjoyment of nature and creating art while I am out on the trail or otherwise engaged in running. Running allows me to do more with my photography so it is important to me but all the aspects one tends to think about while running like pace, time, and distance are really not relevant to my overall pursuits. I need to put them in their place where they belong and focus on why I am engaged in this activity and that is to enjoy nature and capture it. I want to spend more time recording my running adventure with my cameras and then writing about them. This goes for training runs as well as my races. Everyone wants to do the best they can at a race, but for me I want to focus more on enjoying the experience to its fullest this year. The time isn’t really that important and what really is the difference between a few minutes slower especially if I get more joy out of it and can create more art. It is not like I am winning any races. I am out there trying to have fun. That is their purpose. I need to get back to that simple pursuit. I am planning several races that are new to me this year and should allow me to capture entirely new scenes this year. I will capture scenes of the nature that I am enjoying as well as scenes of my fellow runners who I am blessed to be out on the trail with. I am also running a few races that I have run in the past and natural inclination is to try to run those races faster, but instead I am going to try to run them more joyful than last year. I will likely write more posts about my plans for these events as I clarify more about what I want to do exactly. One thing I really need to get worked out is how I will make my camera gear and running gear mesh for these adventures, but I recently acquired a new running pack that I think will really help.

My other big goal for 2019 is to grow my support for my work on Patreon. This will really allow me to create the artwork and complete the projects that I have envisioned. Without support on Patreon I won’t be able to make it happen. I am developing a strategy for this with more details to come soon as I mentioned previously. So if you like what you are reading please support my work for as little as $1 a month to help me bring this work into existence. https://www.patreon.com/KRNaturalPhoto

I am looking forward to what 2019 may have in store. I think it will be really fun to pursue these dreams and make them reality.

If you are interested in following my journey in art and photography and seeing how I accomplish or fail to accomplish my goals connect below to stay up to date.