d.Ro photo blog goals

To whom this might concern:
(read: my mother, my boyfriend or my future self looking back on this post)

I'm establishing this blog as a way to track my progress as a photographer-in-training.

My technical knowledge of the media and subsequent experience using it is pretty limited. Although I've always been interested in photography, I never fully learned how to do it properly.

Upon entering my senior year at the University of Missouri, I finally enrolled in a beginning photography course dedicated to gaining a knowledge of and respect for darkroom developing techniques. In my final semester I studied intermediate photography, a course that taught me how to use a SLR digital camera and then edit my images realistically in Photoshop. I plan to write more specific posts about what I learned in these courses as I develop my blog.

I graduated in May with a full-time marketing job waiting for me. Similar to many other recent graduates, I was ready for a break from academia. As such, I spent my summer reclaiming my free time by making a number of short road trips to see family, friends and, of course, concerts with my boyfriend. Consequently, the Nikon D3100 I bought for my digital photography class sat unused for most of the summer.

Last week I nearly had a panic attack when I realized October had snuck up on me so quickly. It's been almost five months since I've been productive outside of work (read: improved myself for my own benefit). I basically realized I should reallocate the time I spend marathoning "Lost," "Desperate Housewives" and "30 Rock" on Netflix every night to doing something significant.
So, I vowed to make a change the very next week, which started today. (Read: so far, so good!)

To help keep myself on track, I've set the following three goals for myself.

1. At the bare minimum, spend Sundays shooting. 
2. Hone my photoshop skills by editing photos on Tuesdays. At this point, I don't plan to use ostentatious techniques that compromise the image's actual content.
3. Self-critique myself on Thursdays, and update my blog accordingly.

I'll begin enforcing these goals two weeks from today. Until then, I've got plenty of images to rediscover and edit. I'll be posting them on here in the meantime as a sort of introduction to the subject matter that interests me.

If you find my work interesting, feel free to follow my progress. I accept constructive criticism with open arms, but I'm ultimately using this blog as a way to learn who I am as a photographer.

Until next time,
d.Ro