Welcome to 2026, and a belated Happy New Year to you all!
I don’t do New Year Resolutions mainly because I know from past experience I never keep them.
However, at the beginning of 2025 I did write myself a short list of photography related “actions”, some generic and some specific, to carry out during the year – things to help me with my photography journey – and surprise, surprise – I completed most of the action items which made me feel pretty good.
I have done the same for this year and I am calling it my “2026 Creativity Action List” for want of a better description.
I am not going to share my complete list with you because the intent of each list item may change as the year progresses. But the overall thrust of my 2026 Creativity Action List is to get me more involved with my photography and my blog by minimising all the relevant distractions – the main one being social media!
So Instagram is gone from my life; my Facebook Page is gone and my FB profile is now there only so I can stay in touch with real friends and family; TikTok (which I never really used) is gone; and so on.
I have given my Mac a clean up. All traces of On1 Photo RAW has been removed; all my sign-ups for other trial software (Neo, Topaz, et al) have been cancelled. Everything I can unsubscribe from I have unsubscribed from, and so on.
The only photo processing software on my computer is – you guessed it – the DxO line-up – Photolab, Nik and FilmPack.
(P.S. I am still a DxO affiliate so if you use the code RickH15 at. the DxO store, you’ll receive 15% discount off any NEW DxO product purchase, and I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.)
Minimalisation (if there is such a word) is a good feeling actually!
And the icing on the cake for me is that in early December I finally received my full right hip replacement which means I can now venture forth – totally pain free – on photowalks and bike rides.
I haven’t counted, but I wouldn’t be surprised if already this year I have taken as many photos as I did in the first 6 months of last year.
In a nutshell I guess what I am saying is that I will be taking more photographs (because I can), sharing more photographs here (because I can), saying to hell with the rules of photography (because I can). If it catches my eye, for whatever reason, I’ll shoot it…
Will I be telling stories with my photographs? Will I be asking questions with my photographs? Will my photographs be technically perfect? Will my photoblog stories even make sense all the time?
For the answers to these and other as yet unasked questions – follow my blog – and hopefully, enjoy!
So again – welcome to 2026 – my way.