The Future & Moving Forward

The Future and Moving Forward:

Welcome everyone, happy to have you here! Today I am going to talk about the future and how things are moving forward with my Landscape Photography.

What changed:

Simply put, I changed. I changed how I was looking at things, how I was focusing on the negatives of the past and not on my happiness in the future.

Three months ago, I was having something call to me as I was working through some stuff and dealing with some personal issues. My DAY job is filled with me talking to a lot of the older population of the United States and during the end of August and start of September I kept having the same conversation happen and they would always tell me to chase my dream because when you get to their age, you living that dream is what helps you get through the times.

At the same time, I was very fortunate to come across a very powerful quote that I still read daily and believe is something that helped change my mindset. That quote is as follows:

“Believe that you are one new meeting, one new relationship, one new contact, one new action, one new decision, away from shifting your life to a totally different place.”- Ed Mylett

Honestly, I’ve never really listened to motivational speakers but something about that just hit home and, well, it changed how I started to see things. I wrote a five-year plan to shift from full time day work to full time Landscape Photographer.

I started planning things. I was invited to a couple art shows. Art galleries showing interest in 2023. Traveling to shoot photography again. Editing older images that I never touched due to me feeling something was lacking. Reigniting my artistic mind and it’s been an amazing three months. I would say I have accomplished more in the last three months than I have in 7 years and that says a lot. 2020 pandemic aside, I had a great year, but this feels different now. I mentioned in my Art Show and Goals blog that on November 18th, 2022 I closed the door on my past and only saw the future. That is where I feel things have changed completely.

I write all of this to tell you that if you are planning a YouTube channel, planning to teach or putting yourself out there more, know this, and believe, YOU CAN DO IT!! Go chase that dream and remember this, the people who want to help you and support you will do that without hesitation or question. They will push you and motivate you to be a better person and photographer. I know this because I found my people and I am blessed to have them.

Future Plans:

Starting next year, I am going to be focusing on my YouTube Channel and growing it. Also growing on social media more with videos, reels, etc. Finally, I am going to focus on article writing and trying to get into some national or international publications with my work and talking about locations. I also want to teach more photography to people. I would love to teach a workshop at the Lighthouse in Michigan City, Indiana. That is something that I have been planning in my head since I was there. I have a lot of work to do but will get it figured out and hopefully do that in the fall next year.

Lastly, I am going to be changing up the print portion of my online store. That includes pricing, types of paper, etc. Lots of new changes are coming soon and lots of exciting things for people to see and enjoy.

Thank you for reading and until next time,

Jimmy

Art Shows & 2023 Goals

First Art Show in 7 years:

Welcome everyone, happy you are here.

On November 18th, I finally did something that I had be itching to do for so long. I was able to present my Landscape Photography in an art show in Indianapolis and after 7 years of not being able to show my work in front of people. I can honestly say that was worth EVERY MINUTE.

I truly missed these little intimate events in the art community. I was able to show my work on a huge wall. Framed images hanging for everyone to see. Talking to new people who have never seen my work to friends who have only seen my work in person who came to the show to show me support where so blown away.

I had 20 framed images hanging on the wall and each image carries such a different story. Here are some of the things that where said and honestly I was so humbled and amazed by everything.

“The contrast between the foreground, middle, and sky is amazing.”

“Are these real, they look like paintings.”

“I get some serious Ansel Adams vibes from looking at your images.”

“Breathtaking”

Simply amazing that I would have these things said to me. I felt so good after hearing all of this from everyone. I truly feel blessed that I could do this and show everyone my work in person. Thank you to everyone who stopped by, talked, and bought prints. Nothing means more to know that my work is going to be hanging in someone’s house for everyone to see.

Special thanks to Bill, Kristen, and Shelby for helping with set up. Ashley helping me with getting some stuff for the show, and to everyone who purchased prints, ordered stuff, and listened to me during the build up and helping me keep my nerves down. I appreciate you so much and can never mention it enough but THANK YOU!!!

2023 Goals:

After my one show it opened my eyes and made me realize how good I truly and how proud I am of myself. I haven’t done goals in a long time but a couple months back I wrote out some goals in a 5 year plan to move from corporate work to being a full time Landscape Photographer and Educator.

2023 Goals:

5 + Art Shows

3+ Gallery Shows

1+ Solo Art Exhibition

10 Magazine Publications and at least 2 articles

3k following on Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/jimmymcrobertsphotography

2k following on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jimmymcrobertsphoto

1k following on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBf8uQESR1gV8kj8ZxGXnSw

Also I want to create between 25-50 new images and possibly start doing limited edition print runs of certain images.

Last but not least, weekly videos on YouTube, teaching, educating, also showing various places that I have traveled to and creating images. I also want to talk about things that I see in the community.

See you next week,

Jimmy

Shooting a Year Later

My last Landscape photo I took was September 2021 then my life took a change and I moved to a new area, then end of 2019 I was in a horrible car accident that destroyed my car and literally changed so much. I spent some time mentally recovering while also having my full time job take over. Then I got to the point where I was missing everything that came with shooting Landscape Photography.

I started planning a trip to Cataract Falls with my friend Kat who is a nature lover. We planned our trip for this past Sunday which was 10/2 and it was a huge success even after being rushed with a lot of feelings while shooting, I got composed and finally got some amazing images of the area.

Cataract Falls State Park, Indiana

My first location wasn’t the greatest which was the lower falls across on the shore line but the weather and sun wasn’t really being my friend at the time and I couldn’t really capture much from it but when I walked down and got to standing on the lower falls, I was able to capture some amazing images.

This is only my 4th trip out shooting Landscapes with a brand new setup and still learning to capture images with it but photography and becoming good is all about practicing and learning how different things work. I will say one thing I want to do is go back soon and capture some video of the area and start working on making videos too with my shoots for people to see.

One of the fun things on top of the lower falls was all the different little falls plus rushing around. After looking through the images I found a lot of variety of areas that I can focus on different detailed shots too that I didn’t get to focus on this trip but I will definitely start focusing on them more.

I didn’t get anything from the upper falls because it was way over crowded for my liking with people because it was an amazing start to fall. I want to definitely get the upper falls captured with the covered bridge in the images too. Always another trip in the future.

Coming up in the future will be some editing tutorials and how I finish my work and prepare it for print and web display. Also I will be talking about some upcoming art shows I have coming up and possibly a future gallery show. Lots of stuff to work on and also to give everyone to read too.

Thanks for reading,

Jimmy

I’m Back

Hello everyone and I can officially say I am back and honestly I am already back in a big way.

My last year and half has been met with ups and downs. Lots of what ifs and a lot of self blame but honestly I believe that everything happens for a reason and gives you a way to see things differently. I started working in Healthcare after moving back to Indiana in November of 2021. I started shooting portraits first and really enjoyed it but it wasn’t the thing calling to me. I spent the summer talking to members of my job and I could feel myself being told stories and constantly I was getting signs of what I needed to do and where I belonged.

10 days ago, I started to finally realize what I wanted in my life and I think it would end up making me happier then I have been before. Then I was flipping through reels on Facebook one day and randomly a real came up of motivational speaker and I watched it. That one video started to help me change how I was seeing and looking at things. This is what he said:

“Believe that you are one decision, one relationship, one meeting, one thought, one something from a completely different life.” Ed Mylett

I watch this reel and video at least 3-5 times a day and every time it lights a fire in me and makes me start looking toward the future. 3 days after seeing this I sat down and typed a 5 year plan for my shift from working in corporate America and living my dream of being a full time Landscape and Nature Photographer.

After this I started to just get my name out in the market some more and see about getting into some local shows. I sent three emails one evening and the next day I got one email saying that they had no space for artist for the foreseeable future which was fine because it wasn’t really a no just not at this time. The next one was an acceptance into 2 art shows, one in November and the other in December. This is something I haven’t had in over 7 years. My last art show where I sat and showed my art to people was September 2015.

The last email I got back was for a future juried gallery show for my Landscape work. I haven’t had a physical gallery show since September 2015 when I had my only solo exhibition.

After this I started to work on getting a professional logo made and rebooted my website.

Now I am planning trips and ideas for places to take photos of in my area. Then I am also planning on some more shows and ways to expand how my photos are seen.

It is time I start creating my chances and to show people that MY PHOTOGRAPHY is amazing and that people want to see it and want to display it.

This is a HELLO and this is a new start. The future is bright and its time to take the reigns moving forward to a wonderful life.

Thanks for reading

Jimmy