With 2018 almost gone, it's time to think about 2019.  Predictions are always chancy, and often wrong.  We may get somethings right, but usually many things incorrect. All we are left with are plans and a lot of hope.  So it goes.

    I hope that 2019 will be another good year for my photography, even better than the previous one.  By many measures, it just may be.  I have several very interesting shooting engagements planned, which I will talk about in time, and several prestigious annual shows that I plan to enter.  In addition in 2018 I was asked to participate in more upcoming shows than previously.  I was honored and happy to be asked and to accept.  One, at the Lavallette Branch of the Ocean County Library, will begin next week and two will occur in March, one entitled "About Face Value" at the Oyster Point Hotel in Red Bank, and the other with the Black Glass Gallery at the Middletown Arts Center.  More information about these will be provided here and by e-mail in the coming months. 

    Soon after these shows end, the art fair and outside show season will begin.  I will return to the Festival for Arts and Music in Lincroft in May and then I plan to participate in approximately one show a month until December.  Now that I am retired, I will have the time and energy to participate in more of these shows.  I am planning to increase the number that I have participated in in the past, perhaps adding the fabulous show held every Fall in Ocean Grove. This is hard, demanding work, but I do enjoy participating, meeting potential customers and, with luck, returning a profit.

    Next summer between shows, I plan to spend as much time on the water as possible.  My sailing photography is my most popular work, and I plan to devote as many Saturdays as I can capturing the glorious images of men and women in boats, capturing the wind and soaring through the waters of Barnegat Bay and the Toms River.  There is talk of using some of the images I capture for a charity project or calendar to benefit sailing education--I'll let you know how that turns out.

    In my spare time, what little of it remains, I will continue to improve my website, market my work to reach a wider audience, and perhaps even develop some different kind of images.  The world is my oyster.

    Whew--this is an ambitious list!  For now, I am going to wish you a Happy New Year, and perhaps take a nap.  I'm going to need to be ready for next year!