Back in February I made this post with my Goals for 2013. As the year comes to a close I decided to take a look back and see how I did:

1.) Shoot another wedding with a dog in it  – Yes! I second shot THIS awesome wedding with Amanda Photographic and the couple’s big furry dog Colisto was pretty much the star of the show!

2.) Shoot a (baby) gender reveal  – Yes! Not long after I composed this list of goals I was contacted to photograph a gender reveal session for a super awesome family. Getting to help with the surprise and share in the excitement was an amazing experience and I’d love to do more.

3.) Shoot a birth – No. Didn’t accomplish this one this year. Due to my busy schedule and focusing on weddings it’s hard to commit to shooting a birth when babies tend to have their own timelines so I didn’t push too hard for this one. I would love to photograph a birth in 2014 if one happened to work out!

4.) Travel outside Oregon/Washington for a wedding – No, But… I did book a wedding in New Zealand for May 2014 so I’ll take that as a super awesome win! (p.s. I’m open to more traveling in 2014- just in case you were wondering!) 

5.) Book a non-traditional wedding & 6.) Shoot a wedding on the beach – Yes! I’m grouping 5 & 6 together because they are two more that I was able to ‘cross off’ in one go by second shooting with Amanda Photographic this year. If you didn’t click the link up by #1 you should totally look at this wedding. HERE’S another link to it 😉  When Amanda contacted me to see if I’d second shoot for her I was screaming “Heck Yes!!!” before she could even list out all the details. A two day same sex wedding on the beach with a big furry lovable dog? I’m in.

7.) Design/Order samples of all albums – kinda. I’m giving myself a half a point on this one, I did get a few ordered, not every size, but I do have cool samples of my two most popular sizes and got a few canvas gallery wrap samples to boot.

8.) Shoot another wedding at the Oregon Coast Aquarium (Remember this shot?) No. Sad face. Who wants to get married at the aquarium in 2014?

9.) Remember to shoot for myself too – go out and take photos ‘just for fun’ – No. Don’t get me wrong, I did take personal photos. I took a few hundred on our trip to Scotland, England and Wales earlier this year, plus the normal every day type photos of course. I didn’t spend enough time getting creative and intentionally going out and photographing for my own enjoyment to count for crossing off this list.

10.) Make photography my FULL TIME job. (Go part time at my ‘day job’) – YES YES YES – 1 Million times YES!! At the beginning of the summer I was able to go very part time at my day job and focus full time on my clients and the business and I’ve never been happier. Thank you SO MUCH to all my clients who made this possible by supporting me and sending your friends my way. Seriously, you have no idea how much I appreciate it.

Thanks to everyone who helped me accomplish many of my 2013 goals. I’m looking forward to working with you all in 2014. Happy New Year!