Happy New Year!
As we slowly recover from all the celebrations of Christmas, and start thinking about New Years resolutions, I thought it would be good to look back on some of the stuff we thought we would like to do in previous bursts of enthusiasm and to look at some of the principles that we decided were important to our business.
As with any new years resolutions, there were some wins and some “ could try harder” type results! The tree house still only exists on paper, however there have been a few pilot holes dug to see where the tree roots lay ( Vicki get all the credit for those ). The year long marketing plan is slowly coming together , this is something that we talked about in the early 1990’s and it is only through Sams hard work that we are getting closer to this goal, 30 odd years down the track!
Our current goals are to clear the storage units out ( they keep putting the price up to and extent that it would be cheaper to buy a house and use it for storage than to keep paying the rent! ) If anyone is interested in some great B&W dark room equipment let me know.
I am in the process of shooting another Faces of Launceston exhibition that will go on show at the QVMAG Royal Park on the 1st March next year. This time I am looking at people who quietly go about their business making our city a better place to live in. I am sure everyone can think of someone who would fit this description, and I am always happy to get suggestions and introductions to people that we can celebrate in the exhibition.
This year we photographed and published a beautiful chocolate book for Igor van Gerwen , the driving force behind Anvers Confectionary. Entitled Chocolatier, the book went on the win “ Best in World” in the chocolate section of the 29th Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, which made us all very happy and proud. ( too bad they persist on spelling my name wrong!)
While looking through my past notes and to do lists I found some things that I had written while reading the book "Start with Why" by Simon Sinek. I thought it was a great book that helped us work out in our own minds what we were trying to achieve with our business. The result of some in-depth introspection resulted in the following statement : Our business exists to encourage, nurture and promote a sense of belonging.
According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, first comes physiological needs such as air, water, food , shelter, sleep and sex, next is safety, of body, employment, resources, morality, family, health and property, and third comes the need to belong. To a family, a friendship group, a city , a state or a country. As humans are social creatures, this need to belong is fundamental and as photographers capturing the essence of how people relate is all tied up in this sense of belonging. Our work making family portraits is the most basic way in which we promote this feeling of belonging, but my Faces of Launceston project, my books about the buildings of Launceston and my books about the food and beauty of Tasmania all help build this sense of being part of a bigger group.
It is fun to look back on previous plans, to see what ideas actually happened , what ideas morphed into something else, and which ones fell by the roadside for one reason or another. Its also fun to make new plans, to set new goals and to keep being interested in life. Lets make 2024 a good one!
