Resolutions

Since the number "7" is perceived by many (myself included) as a lucky number, I'm hoping the seventh year of this new millenium will be a year where luck will help achieve some of the resolutions I'm making. I'm not counting on luck to achieve the things I want to achieve in the coming year, but a little help from Lady Luck certainly wouldn't hurt.

Besides the obvious things that many resolve to accomplish in a new year, which are also on my list of resolutions, e.g., losing weight, getting in shape, quitting bad habits and that sort of stuff, another key resolution, for me, is to expand the scope of my photographic pursuits and to do it in ways that helps others as well as myself.

My wonderful daughter, who is a married, mother of two, has been more than a little bit interested in photography since high school. She has always been most focused on people photography and she possesses a good eye, understands the basics, and occasionally makes a few bucks off of her photographic pursuits. But with two small children, she doesn't have the time to pursue it in ways she'd like to and that's where her Dad (me), the year 2007, and resolutions comes into the picture.

I'll confess I've been less of a mentor to her than I should have been--photographically, that is--but I intend to change that and, in the process, hope to build something both my daughter and I can benefit from: We're going to officially go into business together and focus on family (and related) photography.

This doesn't mean I'm giving up my pretty girl shooting business. I will continue pursuing it much the way I've been doing so. It is, after all, my bread-and-butter. But glamour and tease photography holds no interest for my daughter. That aside, its time for me to start passing on what I know how to do in ways that match what she wants to do.

Fortunately, it's not just skills and experience that I can throw at this venture. I have a lot of expensive gear that we won't have to purchase. From her side, she has a good head for business--an area that I'm seriously lacking at--and, hopefully, that will go a long way towards helping us put together a viable business. Plus, my experience and portfolio doesn't include a lot that will appeal to the clientele we're targeting. Obviously, my daughter will be the "front woman" for this endeavor.

Don't get me wrong, we don't intend to start up a photography business that mimics the kind of family portraiture, kid-pics, and other stuff you see coming out of a Sear's photography studio or similar place. And we're not joining the wedding photography industry. (Although my daughter has been paid to shoot a few weddings and she might continue this pursuit to some extent. But weddings aren't for me!)

We are developing, what hopefully will be, a signature style that will appeal to discriminating clients. We both reside in a growing community of about two hundred-thousand with the largest demographic being young, upwardly-mobile families who have a fair amount of discretionary income. That means there are plenty of potential clients here with money to spend on innovative family (and related) photography. The city where we reside has been one of the fastest growing bedroom communities in the Los Angeles area and it's still growing. Sure, there are other photographers taking advantage of this demographic in innovative ways. Our goal is to trump them with creativity, quality, style, skill, imagination, and innovation.

I'll keep you all posted on how this unfolds. Of course, I'll still be blogging on all things related to pretty girl shooting.

Speaking of pretty girls, the image posted at the top is Rebecca. I've displayed some similar images of the lovely Rebecca in the past, although I may not have posted this particular image before.