First and foremost, on behalf of Justin, Jim, Yelana, and myself, wishing you all a Happy New Year for 2025. We sincerely hope that you find the inspiration, passion, and joy to get out and capture your world with a camera this year. To help you along the way, I thought it was timely to talk about photography goals and how important they are to your skill development and creative output. Most importantly, I want to ask; “what are your 2025 photography goals?”. New Year’s Resolutions are one thing, but setting realistic photography goals is a great way to map out the year ahead. My advice is to start today! Make notes in your smartphone, buy a pocket notebook to record and track your progress, or put your ideas up on a whiteboard. Either way, make a start or before you know it, it’s going to be March!
Watch A Podcast
We spend far too long doom scrolling social media without any genuine intent or purpose. It’s time to get social media savvy and maximise your time online. A simple 2025 photography goal is to research and create a list of photography podcasts that interest you the most. Countless video and audio podcasts relating to general photography, specific genres, gear reviews, and education guides exist. Podcasts can be short-form (30 minutes to an hour) or long-form (1 to 3 hours) and be available via YouTube or as an audio-only experience via audio podcast platforms. Did you know that Lucky Straps has a photography podcast channel? That’s right; Justin (Lucky Straps founder), Jim (Lucky Straps Customer Service), and I host a live weekly photography podcast on YouTube called The Camera Life. On The Camera Life, we interview guests weekly, covering everything from process to gear. We love it and it’s a lot of fun.
Set Yourself A Challenge
From time to time, we all feel a bit stale, and the best time to get a fresh perspective is at the start of a new year. A great way to challenge yourself is to experience a new genre. If you’re usually into shooting vast landscapes or ocean sunrises, challenge yourself to something new in 2025. For example, borrow, or rent a macro lens and challenge yourself to understand, learn, and master a new genre at a tiny scale. Alternatively, if you are sick of editing RAW files in front of a computer for hours, set yourself the challenge of shooting in JPEG only. By limiting your options to edit an image and make it ‘right,’ you must work harder with your camera and lens to get the image ‘right’ while in the moment. You’ll become more aware of composition and exposure and train yourself to reduce the post-processing workflow. Here’s a quick-hit list of other possible challenges:
- Print five 4x6” images each week
- Use and process a disposable 35mm film camera each month
- Shoot in black and white only
- Set your camera to 1:1 square ratio
- Document the growth of a new plant/pet/person every day
- Photograph the same subject every day on your daily commute
- Use a single lens for a week/month
- Shoot a video for the first time
- Capture a wide vista with the camera’s panorama mode
- Try to capture red elements/subjects in every photo for a week
- Document a day in your life
Embark On A Photography Road Trip
A simple 2025 photography goal is to embark on a road trip or two. By grabbing your camera, a spare battery, a couple of lenses, and a takeaway coffee, you’re all set to discover more about your world and photography. While you can plan your road trip to include popular local photography destinations, there’s also a joy to be found in jumping in the car and heading north, south, east, or west. If you’re not driving or don’t own a car, it’s just as easy to jump on a random train leaving the city centre and hop off at various stops to explore and take shots. Road trips often deliver random encounters and new discoveries for you to capture.
Travel, Travel, Travel
If you have the opportunity to travel for fun or work, it’s always essential to pack a camera with you. Traveling to new locations is an excellent way to expand your repertoire of photographic experiences. I recommend everyone make it a goal to travel locally, interstate, or abroad once in 2025. While travel is always determined by budget, it doesn’t take a round-the-world ticket to make something of the opportunity. Even traveling to local spots for a weekend can open up a world of photographic opportunities; however, if you do have the chance to travel abroad in 2025, make it a goal to capture stunning images of bucket list destinations. Make a photobook to celebrate your trip and creative experiences.
Design A Year Long Photography Project
One of the best photography goals for 2025 is to make the most of the new year by planning and starting a year-long photography project. While it sounds daunting, the concept is simple, and it sets a path for you to explore a specific photography genre, style, or subject throughout the year. Many visual creatives initiate photography projects at the start of the year to have a defined timeline to complete the task. A lot can change in the space of 12 months, and this may be the core focus of your project. Changes in seasons, people, local settings, inner-city constructions, or even how the light falls differently on a landscape are all worthy projects. For example, you may live in a rural area where the seasons are defined, and photographing a set location over a year reveals a fascinating story of how light and shadow change the scenery.
Join A Local Community
I recommend joining a local photography community if you’re looking for inspiration, guidance, or company in your 2025 photography pursuits. Photography communities come in all shapes and sizes, from larger online groups to more intimate local photography clubs. Photography communities are a great place to meet like-minded people, participate in club outings, have your say in online discussions, and seek support and feedback on your skills and output. How much you contribute to and participate in a photography community is up to you. However, what you get out of a photography community is directly affected by what you put into it. It’s also a safe space to enter a range of photography competitions and skill tests that push your creative skills further.
Build A Website
If you’ve always wanted a safe and meaningful means of showcasing your best photos, but can’t afford the gallery space, build your own website. Building your own online site to showcase your images to friends, family, peers, or clients is a great photography goal for the new year. You don’t have to be a master coder or a tech nerd to get the job done. There’s countles online platforms available that provide an easy-to-master templated system for you to upload and share your images without fear of online trolls ruining your day. An online site is also the best way for potential clients to find you and get in touch. And, if you’re anything like me, you can blog or vlog about your photography journey and host that content alongside your images.
Make A Plan Today!
Being a photographer doesn’t mean learning the basic skills and stopping there! Photography should be approached as a lifelong pursuit that involves developing new skills, learning new techniques, and exploring one's creative side. You may have noticed that none of the photography goal suggestions above involve buying new camera gear! New gear won’t make you a better photographer this year. Don’t get me wrong, I love new gear and it certainly helps; but not in a meaningful or creative way. The above 2025 photography goals are just a handful of ideas to get you started. As mentioned at the top of this article, now is the time to make a fresh plan for your 2025 photography goals. Grab a piece of paper and start jotting down ideas of how you can make the most of the new year and build upon your photography life. It’s important to be realistic and set achievable goals that align with your capacity and budget. Most importantly, start with a couple of simple goals to get you started and have fun with the process.
