Level up in 2025 with these New Year's resolution ideas for photographers and content creators.
Become A Better You
The beginning of a new chapter, a new year, and the journey of 2025 begins. The commonly asked question is what's your New Year's resolution to make this year one of the most successful. Let's delve into some resolution ideas for photographers and content creators.
The concept of a New Year's resolution was birthed over 4,000 years ago in Babylonia where the festival of Akitu took centre stage and citizens would set new yet simple goals to achieve in the new year.
A New Year's resolution goal for a photographer & content creator should be a mixture of innovative, stepping outside of the comfort zone, impactful, and realistic. The Babylonians were a race known for revolutionary ideas and regarded as lightyears ahead in their thinking. In light of this match the same mindset in thinking what skills and goals to create so the success achieved in this year will echo in future years much like the Babylonian mention here.
A New Edit
When a photographer feels they have plateaued, accumulated an array of skills much like a traveller with numerous passport stamps, and satisfied with the consistent look throughout their portfolio of photos - it's easy to rest on the success and not work towards other avenues of development, however a new edit can be the refreshing breeze needed. This can include adding a vintage look that will attract new eye balls on social media, adding a dark moody preset/filter in your travelling videos to treat viewers with a new experience, or adding some pastel colours to radiate happiness in the content.
A useful yet under the radar reason for incorporating new edit styles is it can lead to extracting more success from your library of photos and videos. There may be a photo lurking on your hard drive that looks average at best, yet once the photo is converted into black & white suddenly the hidden shadows in the photo are no longer hidden and spring to life.
Become More Complete
The aim of becoming a well rounded visual creator can be a journey of tiresome learning but can be equally as rewarding. There are 4 general areas a photographer and content creator can develop in - photography, videography, graphic design, video editing. Most professionals will stick to 1 or 2 lanes, the downside to this is it becomes hard to stand out when your driving in the same lane as everyone else who owns a camera. For example a photographer who learns about graphic design will not only become a better photo editor but will also help in creating creative images to help promote their services and online business.
As a side note I believe photography and content creating should somewhat retain a natural look otherwise the image/content can lack an emotional reaction and look similar to an AI generated image.
Overall this learning spill over effect can have a positive impactive on unintended areas.
Another Income Stream
Another Income Stream
Content creators and photographers are likely have some self-employed income that is susceptible to fluctuation, yet the beginning of 2025 could be an opportunity to add another income stream to provide greater financial security.
The act of capturing a photo of a beautiful flower or video recording a mesmerising sunset can blossom into a money generating asset. Mother nature has completed most of the hard work by creating visual masterpieces throughout nature waiting to be photographed and shared with the world. This content can be used to sell as prints, used for stock photos/videos, or self promotion.
Here are some useful ideas:
- Create a blog
- Sell an Ebook
- Convert photos into merchandise designs
- Affiliate marketing
- Sell presets
- Create an online course
- Youtube monetisation
Reading Somewhere Different
Reading Somewhere Different
The internet is an abyss full of information to help people learn and grow, yet each person is viewing the same learning sources that appear on the first page of Google or highly ranked Youtube videos.
The information we view influences the artwork produced for others to view. When majority of people are watching the most liked Youtube channel or using the trendiest Lightroom presets your photos/videos are more likely to blend in with others like fish in a vast ocean.
To stand out from the school of fish like a humpback whale breaching from the ocean revert to a place that is synonymous with school and that is the amazing place called the library. The content found at a library will be different to that of the internet, there will be books that feature forgotten techniques that are still relevant today, or books that offer a different perspective and more in-depth analysis than social media content.
A book that I found most enjoyable to read was "Eternity in a Moment" by the famous Japanese photographer Mika Ninagawa. Her photographic artwork is truly amazing and unique as she incorporates the culture of Japan in her photos along with bold coloured backdrops that forces the featured subject/objects to stand out.
Social Media Goal
Social Media Goal
Social media at times can have a negative connotation in terms of its pay to win style format or needing to post gimmicky content that is considered more algorithm friendly. Despite this social media is the lifeblood for traffic flow and visibility for both photographers and content creators.
Setting a great social media goal can have a major impact on the level of success achieved in 2025. The goal should be in line with your brand yet still allows you to step outside of your comfort zone. Some ideas include posting more often, incorporate a new type of content (for content creators utilising slow motion in travel videos to add a cinematic feel), or posting more photos/videos of yourself so your audience can better identify with you.
Thank you for your time and effort :)
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