I have enjoyed photography as a hobby for nearly twelve years now. Over the years, I have bought loads of camera gear, taken over 25,000 photos, created a ‘vigilant pilgrim’ blogging and portfolio website, made some cards and prints and experimented with lots of photo genres.

This January I have decided to try something new. I have made four little resolutions to myself:

• Carry a camera everywhere I go. Not just my iPhone, although it is a fabulous spontaneous camera in its own right. But also a little street photographers camera, the Ricoh GR 3. Small enough to slip into my jean’s pocket, it takes DSLR quality images and has a beautiful hi contrast black and white mode.

• Make a habit of taking a few pictures everyday. Whether arty or documenting my day, just to take some photos. Some days will be interesting and opportunities very creative, many days will be just doing the same routines as I always do. But, if I believe other photographers, you train your eye to see when you intentionally take more photos.

• Post one photo a day to Instagram. The challenge will be to post a variety of shots, of people, life, objects, and not to be anxious if some days they are a bit ‘boring’ and samey. My instagram is vigilant_pilgrim and here is a snapshot of the last few days:

• Print one black and white photo a week on my photo printer. I have a quality A3 printer, but I don’t use it much and the ink cartridges are expensive. It has a brilliant black and white capability, and I have some 6×4 inch glossy photo paper which won’t use up much ink. There is nothing quite like printing off one of your pictures and displaying it so you see it whenever your come into the room. It makes photography more tactile and satisfying.

Here are the four images I have printed off so far:

So this is my new photo habit. I would like to think it will last all year, but I haven’t promised that and will see how it goes. No new gear this year, just more photos and the pleasure of photo making 🙂