How Cool is That

In the 70s, the $1.6 billion industry was just a blip. Scrapbooking wasn’t really even a thing – since it’s infancy was really first widely available in the late 80s with Creative Memories. I remember getting those Creative Memories sets and building them. This is because for me scrapbooking has always been part of the story. I still have some of my first “books” from the early 70s, and they make me laugh when I look at them. Heck, outside of Instamatic cameras, prior to the 80s was limited in photography beyond professional photographers. That never stopped me. I have pictures from high school and scrapbooks from college. In fact, one of my oldest full books was my sorority book with memorabilia from pledge time and initiation through big/little and graduation. It’s kind of cheesy and clunky but it was important to me.

Fast forward to my young adult years and cameras that were more or less readily available and one hour development though these weren’t nearly the quality they are today. But between my mother and me, we took so many pictures that I was keeping Kodak in business for a while there. That was a technology issue, but then the scrapbook world took over and I was happy to add my revenue to the stream. Luckily, when I graduated from high school and especially after college, I had little sisters who were happy to pose for my pictures. By the time they graduated from high school, I had Hallie. Taking pictures of your own kid is great and offers so many different opportunities of pictures to take. By the time, Hal got to college and moved away, I had nieces and nephews so I still had cute littles to take pictures of even with seeing them less often. Then I decided to move 7 hours away from my family. My kid is grown and probably moving farther away in a year, and I need a new focus for my camera.

I’ve always loved taking pictures of people I love, but now those opportunities are fewer and farther between. And as cute as Coal and Savannah are, cat pictures begin to look the same. So I know that I need a new focus for subjects. I’m researching ideas but I don’t know. Could this be a new hobby? Am I killing two birds with this one stone? I’m not ready to declare that but I can’t not take pictures. So I will not consider this as a new hobby yet. I will set a new vision to find a new subject matter for an old hobby though. . . . as long as a make it a SMART choice.

S – Specific: I will find a new subject for photography that isn’t my kid or a family member’s kid. M – Measurable: I will set this subject for photographing at least three times a month. A – Achievable: this time period is possible because I keep a camera with me like everyone else does. R – Relevant: I have to take pictures so it’s relevant for me but finding a subject that others find interesting will make this part of the challenge. T – Timely: I started a new job today so I don’t want to set a deadline that will stress me so let’s say December 1. Give myself a little time to get settled and to try some new subjects out and to get trained in nuances relevant to the subject. I will say my first subject to study is landscapes because seriously I live in a beautiful location with ROCKET LAUNCHES! How cool is that??