Article

What does the stars hold for you?

Can you foresee the future?

At the end of one year and the beginning of the next, it’s a great time to stop, look where we are at and where we are going in the future. What does the future hold for you, and what can you do that could improve it.

Are you a futurist?

Futurists are people who try to foretell the future, not by looking at the stars but by looking at trends, things that are already happening and seeing what is likely to happen next. Anyone can of course play this game, either on your own or as a part of a group, it’s a great party game as well.

To get you started lets make a few predictions. Well we see a lot more interest in 3D, both photographs and movies, and we expect to see shortly a load of new 3D movies out. Some 3D photography is like that of a Harry Potter movie, with portraits on the walls moving to follow you as you move around the room, and will start to become available next year. 

Bartering, already popular, is likely to gain a lot more supporters. With Training and TEPO vouchers now available, you get the chance to get training across a range of providers and by using the training vouchers get combined discounts, plus if you are up to providing some training or assisting people to gain experiences you could also be earning them as well. Those who earn more vouchers than they need can cash them in. Deals are already starting to appear allowing you to get  large free gifts, like a Nikon D300 camera outfit, by becoming involved. Like many things those that spot the opportunities first are likely to do very nicely out of these developments. Photographers in particular are enjoying the benefits offered by Camera Images, Photography Skills Masterclasses and Photo Skills now all taking training vouchers.

How about sacking ‘the boss’ quitting conventional employment and doing something different, where would you like to see your future lie, and can you see developments that offer great scope.  Lets start with a few pointers, Do you know that the ‘arts’ this includes art, publishing art, films and more, now earns more income to this country than any other, yes larger than agriculture and larger than the financial services industry. Those of us who enjoy art and get an income from it are doing better, those who collect art are doing nicely, and those interested in becoming involved have opportunities now that will allow anyone’s dreams to come true.

Some of you will see photography as either a main income, or a way to have really nice holidays and enjoy photography and then use these photos to generate income to allow the same to be able to be paid for next year, or perhaps as an enjoyable and profitable way to enjoy retirement.  There are some areas of photography, scope to market and some way to make each and every choice a sensible proposition. Many who want larger incomes just combine several, so you will find many of the more successful photographers doing some work for publishing, some library work, some commissioned and some training. Besides producing more income, the variety also makes life more enjoyable.

If you build up over a few years a collection of images to put on a picture library, then these will go on earning year on year. While some may get relatively modest incomes there are people earning in excess of £100k a year, although they tend to be those who have larger numbers of images available.

2008 for us will be an interesting year with more courses, more limited edition art photography, a new series of photographs we are doing that are based on costumes, models and actors recreating historic scenes, and one of our picture libraries we have been developing will come online with others to follow.  More new equipment is of course planned, as well as an expanded research programme to allow us to push into new areas. And of course we have exciting plans for this weekly newsletter, with new features and sections developing throughout the year.

The Christmas and New Year period has always been a  good time to stop and look to the future and we will get the chance to look and I am sure come up with more projects, ideas and exciting areas to look at further, all we could do with would be more time to put them all into practice.

What does the next year hold for you, excitement, trips, new knowledge, new income streams, and enjoyable and rewarding photography both in the artistic and financial sense. Perhaps it will involve you in visiting us, sharing the knowledge we have built up and enjoying the facilities and experiences we can help you to enjoy.