2018, here we come!

2018, here we come!So if 2017 was the best year to date and better than 2016 which was better than 2015, which was in turn better than 2014, which was of course better than 2013…all the way back to the year 2000, how am I going to top it in 2018?“Easily” would be a flippant response so no, it won’t be ‘easily’, but it is a certainty.Why?Well no photographer (or film-maker) is ever at their peak. Not if they have a genuine love for their craft and my passion for what I do is at an all time high.It’s fuelled by various factors…The first and perhaps most important, is that I don’t work for money.“What, you work for free?!”No, of course not, I have bills to pay, mouths to feed, a lifestyle (of sorts) to support etc, but rather my mentality is and always has been, I get paid for doing something I love and could if circumstance allowed, could do for free.What this means is that I am a creative first and a business second. The business side simply allows me to be that creative.So every year, during the busy season of primarily May-Sep, I’m working flat out, but unable to develop new ideas. So what I do is make notes. Copious notes. When the season is done & dusted, over the Winter I review my notes and act upon them.There’s always a list of things I could have done better and I then implement these things the following year, whether it be a lighting technique, an image processing technique, or a piece of advice to future clients.I’d say there’s at least 20-30 things on that list every year and of course most of them are tiny things, but these increments all add up every year in any creatives work to make it what it is and can be.So as always, I’m fired up for 2018. It’s only January, but I’d start the new season now if I could.Then there is new kit.Any photographer who denies they don’t love new kit is telling fibs. Big fat ones. New ‘toys’ always get anyone enthused and I don’t deny it.For 2018 in this regard, I am making a major leap replacing my entire photographic and film-making kit.Kit always gets replaced after a few years, but generally in drips and drabs, - a new body here, a new lens there, but for 2018, for only the second time in my 17 year to date career, I’m doing the whole lot in one go.I’m slimming down my photography kit, yet increasing it’s capability and output…and by some margin. This will make me faster, more accurate, even more captured, with the best result possible.My film-making kit is being replaced. Faster, more accurate, higher res capture (4K) and this is both good for me and even better for you.Finally, print & presentation. This is something that is too easily over-looked these days. “Oh we really only want the files and we will do something with those ourselves”. No you won’t. Or rather, more than 90% of you won’t. Other than the odd print for the parents for the mantelpiece, more than 90% of couples getting married who had only files, report that even after 2 years, they have done nothing with those files.That is a tragedy of the highest order.That can’t happen with me as every client has a printed element as part of their package. I will not sell you a files only package. It would be remiss of me to do so.To that end, I have revamped the end product range. It’s better than ever. There’s a fabulous choice of great books to sublime albums, plus the option of hand-printed gallery quality prints.What else…New venues!I love working at new venues and in 2018, I'm working at something like 10 new chateaux.To conclude, I’m also working with a couple of new planners. Not new to the industry, just new to me, ie, not worked with previously so looking forward to that.So dear clients, I’ll see you later this year. Dear others, if the date is still free, I could be seeing you also…Simon