I despise photography resolutions. I’m awful at adhering to them, particularly the daily photo commitments. I resemble a 100m sprinter participating in a marathon – excelling for a few weeks, only for the initial excitement to diminish.
It seems as though I’m preparing for another setback, but I have additional motivation to enhance my photography commitment in 2025 after identifying a concerning pattern in my photographic journey last year: indifference.
Capturing images for my job isn’t an issue. I frequently evaluate the finest cameras for TechRadar and must utilize them effectively to develop my opinions. I’ll be photographing everything from football players with professional cameras to portraits with the newest mirrorless models.
However, in 2024, I truly didn’t capture many images outside of my job, and that must change. I don’t want my creative spark to extinguish completely.
So, how am I going to eradicate apathy and transform my approach this year? Learn from 2024, which has shown me that I need to diversify the equipment I use.
Reserving space in my pocket
In 2024, I predominantly captured images with my smartphone instead of a dedicated camera, and most of these photos were practical: managing life tasks, receipts, brief videos of family moments, and so forth.
For me, my smartphone doesn’t foster photographic creativity, even in scenarios where it should. I’m far more inclined to seize a quick family picture with it than I am to craft the moment for the best possible image, similar to how I operate with a dedicated camera.
It’s evident to me that to revitalize my creative vision for personal projects, I must utilize a dedicated camera more frequently – which is why I purchased the Ricoh GR IIIx in 2022. It’s a compact camera that outperforms smartphones in terms of image quality and handling.
When I initially bought the GR IIIx, I committed myself to a daily photo objective, only to fall significantly short of the year-long milestone. I gained a lot of insights during that period and wrote an article reflecting on the experience throughout that year.