It’s that time of year again, when everyone and their cat publishes or makes resolutions to be different in the coming year. I’m going to forego doing so, and instead offer a few challenges to video and still creatives.

1. Shoot, edit and publish a short form video on any subject that has real meaning to you. Whether that’s shelter dogs, or urban decay, or your aversion to sky blue pink hippos, make a film that tells your story. Then share it. Submit a link to your video in the comments.

2. Set a goal to learn to develop your work WITHOUT using a preset. or set of presets. Evoke your own vision, not someone else’s vision. Copying is a tool to build skill, not a way to build useful content.

3. Make a website or digital portfolio for your work and update it monthly. Direct all your social media followers to your website because it’s your content and your personal work. If you are a Creative Cloud member, you already have Adobe Portfolio.

4. Quit Facebook and Instagram. Spend the time gained working on your own skills and abilities

5. Try a new approach to content capture. Whether action camera, or drone, or underwater, leverage your vision and sight in a different way.

6. Write down three techniques that interest you but that you have no idea how to do, and then go learn how to do them using personal projects as your own guide and progress marker.

7. Do a project using Adobe Spark. Make it about something that you feel strongly about.

8. Every time you think about spending money on gear, ask yourself what real difference it will make to your art, and if spending the money on travel to an interesting spot would serve you better as a creative.

9. Arrange for a professional critique which is a conversation not a critical session. A good critique is live and does not happen over the internet and is never blind.

10. On those days when you are working to create, rather than build skills or technique, write down on a notepad your intent before you start filming or pressing the shutter release.

Happy 2019 everyone. Wishing you a peaceful, healthy and happy new year.