It's hard to believe that 2009 is just about over, but I'm glad it is, it has not been a good year. The national economic conditions that have left their mark from Wall St. to Main St. have also deeply affected my street. Both in a sense of my personal situation mainly my quest for a full time job working in college student affairs, but the street I live on has also been affected. My neighbors on one side abandoned their house about 5 months ago, the neighbors across the street started moving out yesterday. I know they had been under foreclosure. There are several other houses up the street from me that have also been foreclosed and one that is up for auction. As far as my job hunt, which started before I graduated from Grad School in May 2008, I spent 2009 applying to jobs only to have almost all either be "withdrawn with out filling" or I was told "we are really impressed with your background and credentials" but then I was not selected as a candidate. It has really taken affect on me, my self confidence with my own ability to interview for jobs has been shot to hell at this point.
One good thing to happen in 2009 was getting a part time position as a graduation photographer for a company called Event Photography Group which is the corporate parent company of Bob Knight Photo, Chappell Studio, and a hand full of smaller companies. I started shooting graduations in April and have been doing well with it, it good because whenever I do actually find full-time employment I can probably keep shooting graduations. My regional manager has asked me if I wanted to move up and start working as a team captain this spring, so I'm looking forward to that.
The other thing that has been going well, though I hope it picks up a bit with the economy looking like it's getting better is my own photo business that I started and have really grown quite a bit in 2009. If you don't know about Emanon Photography yet, check out my webpage http://www.emanonphotography.com. I have mainly been shooting on-location family portraits, but have also shot some events and I am working on upgrading some of my equipment to be able to start shooting some wedding photography.
As for my Big Personal Photo Project of 2010, I'm going to complete a 365 project. Basically for those who have not heard of a photo 365 project before it's where I will take a photograph and post it online every day. A lot of other people will try a 365 project by taking a self portrait every day or a photo of the same subject. That is not how I am planning to do. My 365 project is a way for me to actively improve my photography skills. I have come up with a list of about 80 themes/subjects that I want to shoot in 2010. I will pick 7 subjects from my list each week and shoot one each day. I will be posting the photos to my flickr page and will link those photos to my blog here. I will try to post each day, though I realize that may not happen if I happen to travel, at the very least my plan is to post once a week. One thing I would like to include in my 365 project is either challenges or suggestions from my friends and followers from my various social media outlets (Twitter, FB, Blog, FlickR, etc.) so stay tuned for those when I post them. Tomorrow is the big day for the first shoot for my 365 project, my 7 themes for the week are going to be: B/W, Night Photography, Shot with my LensBaby lens, Shadows, Sand Dunes, Close up, and Numbers.
