What part does photography play in that scenario? Is photogra-
phy a vocation or your entire being?
Do you have a partner, a family? How much time will you
spend with your significant others? Or are you solo, able to call
the shots as you will?
What does an ideal week look like for you? Will you be
shooting as much as possible for clients and for yourself? Or is
life outside of photography your priority, with work providing
money in order for you to play?
All answers are correct here. What is important is that you
are honest with yourself.Creative Goals
List your short-term creative aspirations. Consider skills that
you want to learn, accounts that you want to obtain, types of pho-
tographs that you want to create, different media that you want
to explore. What is your top-priority creative goal? Is it creating a
new image for your portfolio? Is it building a new body of work?
Are you just beginning to develop your visual integrity?
Define your priority goal and then list the others in terms
of importance.Professional Goals
Professional goals involve the structure of relationships and
business practices. Create a dream business. What would it look
like? What would your relationships be like with your clients?
Would you work with the same people frequently or would
there be many different clients all the time? Would you work
closely with your clients or would you create by yourself?
What type of business practices are important to you? Will
you be actively retaining the copyrights to your images or will
you choose to create a library of images for clients, giving them
unlimited rights for a fair price? Will you charge a fee for late
invoices and, if so, how much?Financial Goals
Financial goals tend to be the easiest for talent to list. After
all, most people know how much money they need to exist and
how much they want to save. Add to this list the following: WhatPART2 / VISIONChapter 06.qxd 6/27/07 9:02 PM Page 38