2024 was a great year for me in photography. I actually had a pretty tough time narrowing down and selecting photos for my best my best photos of 2024 article. But as a fairly goal oriented person who really wants to improve their photography in 2025, I thought it would be a good idea to put pen to paper and create some goals on how I plan to make that happen.
SHOOT MORE IN CINCY
I visited the downtown Dayton area several times in 2024 and really enjoyed walking around doing some street photography. Cincinnati is just 45 minutes to my South. It’s a larger city with more of everything downtown Dayton has to offer – particularly if you make it over the bridge to the KY side of the river and shoot scenic cityscape photos from Newport. Between the distance involved and the uncertainty of walking around an urban area along with expensive camera gear, I’ve not done any photo work in Cincy in quite some time. But I plan on rectifying that in 2025.
GO TO THE CINCINNATI ZOO
It’s been waaaay too long since I’ve been to the Cincinnati Zoo. In fact, looking back at my articles here on ThruMyLens, apparently I haven’t been to the zoo since 2010. So as soon as the weather warms up (but doesn’t get too warm) I’ll be spending a day at the zoo.
SHOOT LESS AT DAYTON CARS & COFFEE
Dayton Cars and Coffee has been a staple for me. For several years now I’ve gone every month to what remains the biggest and best gathering of car enthusiasts in my area during the Summer months. So why attend less in 2025? For one thing, opportunity cost. There are other types of photography in different locations I want to do in 2025. If I’m being honest, Dayton C&C is also starting to feel a bit stale. You usually see most of the same cars, and not nearly enough of the European and exotics I prefer photography. I’m sure I’ll continue to attend in 2025 – just not every month during 2025.
GO TO MORE DAYTON AREA PARKS
We have a great park system in around the Dayton area. I usually make it a few times each year to the park closest to where I live (Cox Arboretum) but I want to get out and explore others. Particular some of the parks I’ve read about which have water falls.
DO MORE FILM PHOTOGRAPHY
I bought a second film camera (Canon A-1) and several rolls of Kodak Portra 400. I also have a couple of different rolls of B+W film I want to do some experimenting with as well – like a comparison of FujiFilm Acros film and the FujiFilm Acros film simulation. My first film outing that happened earlier this year with my Canon AE-1 was an interesting challenge. Will I fall in love with film photography in 2025? It hasn’t happened yet, but I’m trying to remain open.
USE MY DRONE…MORE?
I have a DJI Mini Pro 3 that I bought in 2022 when it came out. I used it a fair amount in 2022, and a bit in 2023, but I didn’t use it at all in 2024. Why? There’s just so many legal complications when flying a drone in the US. And there are so many places I can’t fly – like parks. Most will say, “just get your 107 and you’ll be good.” I have a buddy (who got his Mini Pro 3 about the same time I got mine) who got his 107. And he also barely uses his drone. Recently the TRUST certification test has come out for non-commercial hobbyists. Apparently after taking the TRUST test I’ll be able to do things I could never do before without taking the 107, like flying over people, and flying at night – so that’s very encouraging. So I’ll take the TRUST test and start flying more with my drone. If for no other reason than I like to get sunrise and sunset photos with my drone. The on-board camera is really quite good.
CONTINUE TO LEARN AND GROW USING AI TO CREATE IMAGES
In 2024 I’m quite proud of how I used AI (primarily in Photoshop) to enhance my images. Some photographers consider any use of AI sacrilege – clearly I do not. I like to use AI to augment my photographs in order to create something…more. Maybe it’s using AI based tools to remove unwanted aspects from my photos, or maybe it’s using generative AI to add elements to my photography to enhance the composition. I actually used ChatGPT to create establishing photo that you see at the top of this article. I’m looking forward to the growing capabilities of AI and learning to master them.
2024 was a great year, and I think by working on the above goals in 2025, it could be an even better year for me.
John B. Holbrook, II is a freelance writer, photographer, and author of ThruMyLens.org, as well as LuxuryTyme.com and TheSeamasterReferencePage.com.
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