Goals for 2012

Well I'm more then a little late on this post.  Last year I posted about my 2011 goals in early Jan- you know that typical time to look back and look forward and think about what you'd like to do differently this year.  Well better late then never.  Before listing off some of my new goals I thought I'd go back and touch on a few of my successful and not so successful 2011's goals.

2011 Goals: 1. Launch my new brand, website and business name.  That one went off without a hitch.  The new website has been up and going for over a year now.  I still love it although I'm hoping to make a few small changes and update some of the galley images. 3. Shoot 15 weddings- believe it or not I shot exactly 15 weddings in 2011.  Plus a few second shooting.  It was a great year!!! 6. Offer to help and try to inspire other photographers.  This is a HUGE goal of mine and one that has really scared me.  This past week I announced my very first workshop for "Newbies".   I am so excited and so happy to be able to put this together and I can't wait to meet all these new amazing photographers! 11. Take portraits of my parents together.  Unfortunately this is one of the goals I didn't achieve this year- but I'm hopeful 2012 will see this one a success. 16. Blog more consistently.  This one is not a total failure but also not a huge success.  I'm still working on this one. 18. Invest in my business (including ordering new studio sample albums and some new equipment).  Well I did invest in a few new studio albums although two of them were in the early months of 2012 so not quite a full success but I did also invest in my new 35mm lens last fall and that has been a wonderful addition to my camera bag. 23. Have my parents over for dinner at least once a month.  Well i'm not sure we averaged once a month but we did host them for dinner quite a few times in 2011 and already a few times in 2012.

There are plenty of other things on my goal list that didn't get accomplished but by re-reading them and reminding myself of these goals it's helping me set new goals for 2012.  Here are a few:

2012 Goals:

1. Marry my best friend.  (July 20, 2012!!!) 2. Travel more (we are headed to Scotland for our honeymoon- I CAN'T WAIT!!!!) 3. Take portraits of my parents together!!!! 4. Shoot 15 weddings.  It was a great number for me and I'm happy if I can stay in this 15-20 weddings a year range. 5. Shoot more for personal projects.  I'm really hoping to expand my personal art portfolio this year. 6. Finish our backyard.  Currently our back yard is a big dirt pile.  Well it still has a little snow on it but still, there is no grass and it's not pretty and my goal is to have grass back there this year. 7. Going along with #6 and the home improvement plans- PAVE OUR DRIVE WAY!!!!  During this wonderful time of year we call Mud Season our drive way becomes a total mud pit.  It's time to pave it and solve this issues for good. 8. I'd love to be able to teach another Newbies Workshop.  I've already had 4 or 5 people who were excited to come but the date and time didn't work for them.  I'm hoping to schedule another one for this fall that these people and hopefully some more will be able to attend. 9. Keep better work hours.  I thought having an office/studio would really help with this and to be honest it does during the summer and fall but this winter and spring I've been a little too lax with my business working hours. 10. Visit my family in VA.  This is a big one for me.  My grandfather is in his 90's and I really want to make the effort to get to VA to see him more often.  Plus the other bonus of this is to also visit all my photo friends in the DC area :)

I could go on and on with this list but I felt like having 10 was a good place to start.  So although it's really 3+ months late I'm excited to look at 2012 for all it's possibilities and push myself this year to really check these things off this goal list and not pull it up in Dec just to realize that I've only accomplished one or two.

It's a beautiful, sunny, 70 degree day in March here in North Conway- so I'm headed out to enjoy it.

XOXO Spring

CALLING ALL NEWBIES WORKSHOP

 

My goal for this workshop is to be an open book.  I want to you ask questions so that we can all work together to find the best solutions.

We will start the day at my studio in North Conway, NH with some business and camera info.  Then we will head to Jackson, NH for a mock eng session to put some of those ideas into use.  Everyone will get a chance to shoot while we talk about light & posing.  This time is for you to ask questions, try new ideas and push yourself out of your comfort zone.  A pizza (Flatbread) lunch will be provided.  Anyone who can stick around after the workshop is invited to stay and network.

To register email me at spring.smith@me.com

A contest to start your week.

If you have been reading my blog or following me on facebook, twitter or instagram for any amount of time you know that I have a cock-a-poo named Jacoby (Coby).  He is shaggy as can be, barks at strangers and is a huge snuggle bug.  I can not even put into words how much I love this dog.  I never had a dog growing up.  My family was always on the go so cats were a better lifestyle fit, plus my mom hates the smell of dogs.  So when Silas and I got our puppy in the Wal-Mart parking lot (yeah i'm not kidding we bought him from a breader selling the last two of the litter in the parking lot at the local Wal-Mart in Jackson, TN) I freaked out a little bit.  I had no idea what to do with a dog.  I didn't know how to train them, I was so scared that I had just taken on a huge responsibility that might be a mistake. We have had Coby for almost 4 years now and I can't imagine life without him.  He is so sweet and as much as he drives me nutz sometimes I just love him to bits!  Coby has also inspired a friend or two to get dogs- poodle mixes to be specific.  One is my friend Shannon- the owner of the cutest little black puppy in the world Mr Bruin.  Well a week or so ago Shannon came by my office with a box from Coach (where she works) and had the idea to do a blog give away.  I was all ears although I was secretly planning to never run the contest and just keep whatever great little object she had in the box for myself. In that box was a beautiful Coach, light blue, dog collar which she had purchased for her parents dog but he has never worn it and it's too big for Coby and Bruin.

The contest begins today- anyone who wants to win this beautiful Coach dog collar just has to send me a photo of their dog.  It's that simple- it doesn't have to be a fancy photo, it can be a cell phone photo for all I care.  The best thing about light blue is it can be for a male or female pup so no gender exclusions here.  Now because this gift is coutosy of Shannon she is going to help me pick a winner.  We promise not to judge on quality of photo but on the feeling we get when we look at the image.  Be it a beautiful portarit of your dog on the beach, a cell phone snap shot of his nose in your face when you wake up or even a shot of your mini-min-pin all dressed up in a baby doll dress.  This contest is about showing us who your pup is and how much you love them.  We will be picking a winner at the end of this week so send your pics soon.

Please email images to: spring.smith@me.com

XOXO Spring

a hike for the non-hiker

It's been an unusually warm winter and this weekend it has been sunny and beautiful. So rather then sitting inside watching movies as my best friend and I would normally do, we got up this morning and took our puppies for a hike!  Now I am not a hiker.  I am so far from a hiker I can't even tell you but the best thing about this hike is it is much more of a walk with about 10-15mins of actual hiking involved.  It was sunny, warm and quiet.  The perfect way to spend a Sunday morning. Foss Mt has a lot of bang for your buck.  In the winter you have to park down lower and walk up the road a bit but in the summer you can drive almost to the top then walk up the 15min trail and get a breathtaking view.  As a kid I aways said I would get married on top of Foss Mt.  As much as I still love that idea it's a little impractical to make people (including my 92 year old grandfather) walk up a mountain.  But as you can see the view is to die for.

Thank you KC, Anya, Heidi and the pups for making this non hiker enjoy spending some time outside on this beautiful day :)

XOXO Spring

Lyla James . 6 months

This beautiful baby girl is growing up so far.  It seems like just a few weeks ago she was a bump in her momma's belly.  I was down in Kennebunk for a Rusty Rocket meeting and decided that I couldn't resist putting Miss Lyla in front of my camera again. XOXO Spring