So it’s that time of year at my day job where we set our 2026 goals, so I figured I should do a check-in on the goals I set for 2026. Corporate goals may be useless… by I like to think the ones I set for my photography aren’t!
So here’s the list of goals I had set for 2026:
- Practice solo at least once per month with a single light setup.
- Well I’ve missed the first 3 months on this one. No real excuse here other then I just haven’t made time for it. This one was one of the key goals for the year as part of my longer term plan, so I need to reset and getting this back on track.
- Replicate lighting setups I admire, then experiment with variations.
- Yep! Doing well on this one. I have a few go-to setups pinned and I’ve been taking notes on a few select YouTube video’s.
- Start designing my own lighting setups for studio nights.
- Yep! Also doing well on this one. Playing more and more with adjustments and light positions during studio nights and getting some pretty great results.
- Begin building a small personal lighting kit for home/portable use.
- Almost done. To be fair I had most of the stuff already. Couple of AD200’s and Cheetahstands, an assortment of modifiers. Few “nice-to-have” things on the list still, but in good shape here.
- Get feedback from lighting mentors/peers once per quarter.
- On track here as well. Been doing image reviews at Copperflair and asking for more feedback at our Eastside Camera Club meetings.
- Begin creating BTS videos and posting them online.
- Not doing so great on this. Tried doing a few things with the GoPro, but I haven’t found anything that really resonated with me. Will keep trying though.
- Pick 2-3 repeating visual motifs (e.g., backlit haze, minimal composition, harsh shadows) and start weaving them into my work.
- So this one is exciting. It’s still in the conceptual stages, but after talking with some folks I think we have a really cool concept going for a new project. I’ve been playing with some mindmap software to try and build it out a bit more. Really looking forward to continuing to develop this idea out!
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