Well hey howdy hey.
Look who's back with sharing her goals!
I haven't done this since April.
I have to admit that that was sort of intentional and sort of not...
I fully intended to share my May goals and then, well, the month got away from me...
And then I decided I wanted to keep my summer month goals to myself since they were more of a personal nature.
But September is here (which I honestly cannot believe) and I want to get back to sharing them with you guys! So here we go.

This month I've decided I want to pursue a passion of mine.
I had a hard time deciding at first what I wanted it to be. I have so many passions. In fact, when
I was reading The Happiness Project, Gretchen talks about the way to find your passion is to think about what you did as a ten-year-old, or what you would choose to do on a free saturday afternoon.
I literally had like ten things pop into my head all at once.
There are so many things I'm passionate about, reading, knitting (along with about 78 other forms of creating and making art), my faith, exploring new places, traveling, eating good food, spending time with family, music, making lists, going anywhere that involves dressing up, vintage/thrift shopping, making new friends and meeting new people, adding to my various little collections that I have, watching british tv series... I mean the list goes on and on.
But I finally decided to choose photography.
Namely because while, yes, I do it for work and as a means to make a living, it is also very much a part of me and something I really am passionate about.
That being said, because I do it for work and on an almost daily basis, I've found myself over the last few months neglecting it as a whole when it's not work related (with the exception of my travels).
The ever present threat when you do something you love for a living. Your play turns into work and the fun can be taken away from it and you can get burned out.

In The Happiness Project Gretchen also talked about how periods of deprivation sharpen the enjoyment and pleasure of things we love.
It's the whole "absence makes the heart grow fonder" spiel.
And I realized that that's what had happened with my photography. While, yes, I've still been shooting and working on photos almost constantly (I currently have fifteen folders of unedited photos on my desk top...) I haven't gone out to shoot just to shoot.
I used to bring my camera with me everywhere, just because, for no particular reason, because I was always excited at the prospect of capturing something new.
But I was thinking about it recently and I couldn't really remember the last time I did that. Or the last time I took a walk around my neighborhood with my camera. Or the last time I took pictures of anything that wasn't for a paid job.
And this thing in my head, of how I always see things as a photograph and having a mind like a lens, well it'd sort of faded and wasn't very present all the time.
And sometimes it was hardly even there at all.
Of course I keep up with Instagram, I'm always taking photos with my phone, but that's not really the same thing. And I often find myself just using my phone to capture something more so out of laziness than anything. Which is ridiculous.
So.
All of that being said, I am going to pursue my photography this month. Because it's something I love, something I'm passionate about, and a skill I want to not only maintain, but develop and grow in.

September| Pursue A Passion

Inspiration

The satisfaction gained from the achievement of a large undertaking is one of the most substantial that life affords.
Life is way too short NOT to follow your passion.
An atmosphere of growth brings great happiness, but at the same time, happiness sometimes also comes when you're free from the pressure to see much growth. Often, the opposite of a great truth is also true. So in that vein, don't think so much about the pressures of making something perfect. Just enjoy the art of shooting. This isn't for anyone else. It's for you. But also challenge yourself and make an effort to grow in what you're doing.
Go catch up on some favorite photography blogs. Get inspired.

Try New Things

Make a purchase that will further your goals (Buy a new lens and update photo editing software)
Gretchen's passion that she chose to focus on was reading, and she also resolved to write a novel. Find some sort of photographic equivalent. Perhaps a specific photo project?
Try a new photography method I've never tried before (suggestions/inspiration welcome!)

Make Time

Take a walk at least once a week with my camera and look for new things I've never noticed before.
Be intentional about making time for it. Find ways to integrate my passion into my ordinary days, and stop measuring myself against some irrelevant standard of efficiency.
Treat it as a real priority instead of an 'extra' to be fitted into a free moment (because let's be honest... free moments?? What are those...)
If I see something I would normally take a photo of for Instagram, use my camera to take a photo of it instead.

Quotes

"A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you, the less you know." - Diane Arbus
"If you aren't making any mistakes, it's a sure sign you're playing it too safe." -John Maxwell
"To desire is to obtain, to aspire is to achieve."- James Allen
"It turns out, you become a photographer when you decide you have a voice. One that only you can have. Our wish for you is that you continue to create art that we can be privileged enough to see through your eyes. You are the only person with this very exact view of the world. Be brave in making it yours."- Artifact Uprising
"By believing passionately in something that does not yet exist, we create it."-Nikos Kazantzakis
"One thing that makes a passion enjoyable is that you don't have to worry about results. You can strive for triumph, or you can potter around, tinker, explore, without worrying about efficiency or outcomes."-Gretchen Rubin