A thematic approach blends discipline and goals.

A goal oriented life may not be a happy-go-lucky carefree one, but it is consonant with success.

I have found this to be as true of photography as it is of any other field of human endeavor. Love, money, possessions, family – all benefit from goal setting.

The photographic high point of 2007 was, for me, my one man show at a local winery. As a result, I have many of the framed pictures from that show hanging on the walls at home – many more were sold to happy buyers. The thematic goal of that show was that it would only include landscapes of subjects within a 50 mile radius of our central California home and, with that theme in mind, it took one year to take and make the pictures for the show.

Now, one year later, I am getting bored with those pictures. So a new theme has to be decided on and expressed in photographs. I have no idea yet what that should be, but as I am not tied to any particular genre of photography, I will look for something alien to me and bang away to see what comes up. Maybe it will be close-ups. Or night scenes. I have no idea.

One thing I am quite certain of, however, is this. No goal means no results. Just wafting about in the hope of capturing a good snap now and then is a waste of time – one of the biggest knocks against that old saying “always carry a camera”.

And no deadlines guarantees no results, goals or not. So I need to get this done by the end of the year.

Moonstone Beach, CA at low tide. Mamiya 6, 75mm, Kodak Portra. A direct result of thematic goal setting.