New Year's Resolutions

Rather than choosing a bunch of New Year's Resolutions this year, there is a movement in Social Media to choose a word to represent how you want to change in the upcoming year.  As my resolutions are rarely fruitful, I've decided to give that a shot.  So, this year, my alternative to the New Year's Resolutions is the word ACT.

How does this affect my photography?  It means to quit telling myself that I'm going to make time and do some landscapes (which only happens every six months or so right now), and ACT on it.  When I think it's time to do some photography, and start making a plan to do it, I need to put the computer or pen and paper down, and just go outside and start photographing.

It means instead of thinking maybe I should take this photography class at the school next semester, I need to ACT... go sign up for the class and get started. 

Instead of making vague lists in my head of things I want to learn, I need to ACT, and start learning them. 

It's part of where this blog comes in.  If I learn a new tip or trick, or want to learn how to shoot (for example) a shot of sparklers frozen (vs. the light trails from sparklers moving), then I'll research it, blog about it here, and try it out, posting my results here.  I hope that you'll find the information helpful in your own photography, and let me know if you've started your own blog, posting the results of similar ACTs of your own.

In the photos in this post, I really enjoy the light trails left behind with my husband and one son (right) by leaving my shutter open 5 seconds, but the image of my son looking at me (above) was better, I think, although it mostly froze the image of the sparks by leaving it open 1 second instead.  Both were relatively hand-held (stabilized on my porch rails), and no editing has been done as yet.

Do you have a word for this year?  Or do you have resolutions?  What are some of yours?