Recently I have been going through my past photos and analyzing them. What can I do to improve these photographs? How can I step up my photography this year? These questions I will always be asking myself, but they mean something different every year. 
Studying more about photography during quarantine has helped me improve my skills. Now, when I look back at past photos, I notice how I could have framed them better or used different settings. This has helped me narrow down what to focus on and improve in 2021.
This past month, the Whaling City Camera Club of Dartmouth, MA; had a their annual photojournalism competition. In 2020, I did not focus on photojournalism since the world was under quarantine. Because of this I did not have any photos I could enter. I had the idea to use two hours of my free time between jobs to come up with a photo for the competition.  My photography job, which involves traveling to many cities across Massachusetts, sent me to Provincetown, MA. That day was the last day I could get a photograph to enter in the competition. I roamed the streets of downtown Provincetown, where a bunch of people were enjoying the beginning of spring sunshine. I succeeded in finding interesting people and the black & white photo I entered won 3rd place in the  WCCC Photojournalism Competition 2021! 
My goal was achieved that day, but I am not going to stop there. This year I have plans to travel to many places in Massachusetts to get the best photographs. Look out for a new blog on "Travel Photography" where I will be sharing my experience with the towns I have visited and what you won't want to miss when visiting that town. 

Whaling City Camera Club Annual Photojournalism Competition 2021
Won 3rd place.

To begin the new year, I have started making my new goal to promote my work more. I made new business cards, entered my photos into a few competitions and had my photos displayed for the public to enjoy. First display was two of my photos taken in 2020 hung up in a small business area of Dartmouth, MA. This center promotes artists in displaying their work every month that the public can stop in to observe while walking the streets full of mini stores. The next month I worked on displaying four photographs at a popular painting place near Patriots Stadium. I am excited to have my work seen by many people who come to this place to paint so many different scenes with their friends and families. 
During the next month, I will be focusing on what I want to photograph next. Either a place nearby or an idea I have in mind!  

Whaling City Camera Club planned an outdoor photo meeting focusing on Black & White photography. After their online club meeting a few days before, it inspired me to try Black and White photography again. I usually focus on color when taking photos, occasionally having one photo speaking to me for B&W. I walked around with my camera club members, socially distencing while taking different photographs. One of my favorite shots is taking this sleigh that decorates this park in the middle of the town around the holidays. Another is a light bulb surrounded by a plant displayed in a window. What captured my eye was the reflection in the light bulb of the buildings in town.  I am entering two of these photos in the upcoming Street Photography competition run by the WCCC club in late January 2021.

To finish the last month of 2020, I had a chance to visit Provincetown, MA. This small town at the end of Cape Cod has so many friendly people. Several of them told me all the best places to visit in downtown and it was the perfect day to go exploring. Not only did I get to see the ocean, I saw Cape Cods famous Lobster cage christmas decoration and huge sand dunes. I felt like I was in another country sanding in the middle of the sand dunes. I recommend visiting this place once the season is busy again.

The month of November was both my birthday month and beginning of the holiday season during a pandemic. For my birthday, I visited a new event that came this year to the Franklin park zoo, Boston, MA. The Boston Lights Event showed not only zoo animals, but a variety of sculptures to walk under. Some were a huge japanese lantern archway and a lite up shark. This was definitely an experience that I was happy to attend.
Later this month, my photography job sent me to Martha Vineyard for two days. Despite it pouring rain the whole trip, I got some free time to explore some popular towns such as Chilmark and Edgartown. Here is where I roamed the empty offseason streets. Hopefully I can come back to the island during the busy season to experience what it is like filled with so many people walking around.   

October was busier than ever for me. I continued taking senior portraits indoors with studio lighting and also took photos outside in the colors of the leaves. In the middle of all this, I spent a weekend driving three hours to a town called Shaftsbury, Vt for a wedding. This wonderful couple planned a costume/star wars themed wedding in the middle of the fall. Despite the pandemic happening, the few people they invited to enjoy this event, had fun dressing up for the occasion such as a plague doctor. Some of my favorite wedding photos were from this day, and I am looking forward to photographing weddings in the near future. 

In September, I was currently busy working for a photography studio where I focused on seniors portraits and children. I was only going to work most of the time this month. One day I had off, I drove to Royalston, MA where I hiked a waterfall trail during the changing of the leaves. I invested in a new tripod, which I spent an hour photographing different exposures and angles of the first photo below. When I was driving home from my trip, I found a lake area called Tully Dam where I spent some time watching the several people canoe along the lake. 

To end the month of August, I spent a day trip in the far corner of Massachusetts in the Berkshires. I drove to Mount Washington State Forest, not to confuse you with Mt. Washington, and hiked a few hours up a mountain. The view was breathtaking the view was clear for miles and the weather was perfect to go hiking in. I have not climbed many mountains, but I would definitely come back to this trail again in the future. 

Spent another day on Cape Cod visiting Falmouth, MA. This town is known for an unique trail called The Knob. Here you walk a few miles passing a few mini beach areas and a forest to reach this destination. This place has amazing views of the sunset and a calming walk along the beach with not many waves in the bay. While I was walking along the beach, I discovered someone left a trail of rose petals to a romantic heart on the beach for their lover. The petals and roses were still fresh at 10am, so someone took the time preparing for this surprise early in the morning. There are plenty of outdoor trails, a famous lighthouse spot and fun activities for children in the area to explore. I focused on photos from The Knob below.