A new year and new decade. Time for new photo opportunities, meeting new people and growing the world of photography not just for me, rather for the industry as a whole. I have learned a great amount of skills in the last few years and glad I stepped forward to venture into photography full time! Thank you to all the friends, family, clients and nonprofits for providing feedback and opportunities for growth.

What's in store for 2011? Projects that challenge me! Event photography is the staple of what I have been doing the last two years. Its a phenomenal experience snapping shots of business events, tech events, nonprofit fundraisers, social media events and the nightlife scene. Its time for the artistic side to shine through a little more and not become a slave to one area of photography. Fashion, food and commercial photography are what I look to add to my portfolio this year. This means work ahead and finding the satisfaction in the "yes, we want to work with you" AND the "no, sorry kid, you need ten more years experience." I'm going for it!

What I need from you? Feedback! A photo of a car is boring unless you make it interesting. A photo of a model is just another photo unless the model gives some personality and the photographer gives direction. Sharing a photo and the work is nothing more than self promotion if the people its shared with simply view or lurk without feedback. Let's get this growth and fun going together!

How do we start? A little something coming your way to kick off 2011, from me to you! In the meantime, tell me some things you like about photographers and what is your ideal,  BEST EVER photo.

Photo Credit:  Josiah Lau Photography, Flickr Creative Commons

Making the move to fulltime photographer and entrepreneur is amazing and by no means an easy task.  When you follow your passion and believe in your skills there are always many things to learn. One of the lessons involves learning to place a higher value on my time and how many shutter snaps  is too many for freelance freebies. Gathering information on current clients and aiming to land new clients is somewhat fun to me. I find out how diverse my friends and contacts are and see how I could be of benefit now that I have more time to spend on being creative. The downside is these current contacts and friends have an expectation of favors which usually don't feed the kids or pay the rent. Making selective decisions to help others, assist nonprofits and crank out awesome paid work is a balancing act. Having friends in the photography arena helps keep the fire burning when I think I'm going through the transition alone or wondering if what my images offer is really that different. My good friend Patrick reminded me there is more than one way to make things happen, photography or any other business idea. After all, I am an entrepreneur working in the right-side of the brain!

I was given an opportunity to share the journey from a day job to the world of 100% self-employed. Photography is now one of my main businesses as I also do social media and PR. Check it out at D. Allison Lee's Organize To Revitalize. Deb has the cool job of being a professional organizer and offers tips on staying organized for business, home life and shares tools to help you accomplish your goals.

Photo credit: Beth Kanter - www.bethkanter.org