Recapping September 2022

Blog
Written By Michael Shiferaw

An image from the Auburn Cherry Blossom Festival 2022

The Ethiopian community recently celebrated the advent of a new year, seeing that we celebrate it on September, it pushed me to make a "resolution" to implement some things in my work and my portfolio with the main aim of establishing my photography side-business. I also had some projects that needed to get out and be seen, so I could get closure on them and to my next set in a long list of tasks I needed to complete.

So in lieu of these lofty goals I started my September by completing my zine/book project for my smartphone photos. This book entitled መስዐሲ (መንገደኛውን ስልኬ ዐይኔን ሲከተል) which was the Amharic acronym and phrase which roughly translated to " My wandering phone following/capturing what my eyes see". The catalog of pictures captured a distilled selections of the photos I had taken from 2018-2022. The main theme being, to collect my experiences of day to day living captured by my phones (Yes plural).

It was one of those projects that needed to be completed, I didn't want my search for "perfection" to block me from finishing this project and learn from the feedback that I would get, which would in turn improve my craft. I have been inspired by fellow photographer from my group Pa-Sydney. A group of people who make some of the most inspiring photographs, and yet are humble and down to earth and made me feel included and appreciated. Inspiring me to take more photos. It had also spurred me to take on more photography projects head on without trying to think of the product and just concentrate on the process itself. So in lieu of that I have started a #365 project where I am working on taking a picture a day for a whole year, let’s see what it will be and if I can complete it.

I have also updated my website which had been sitting in the same design for the past 2 years, it was also a little cluttered. This year I plan to use the website to showcase my photography work and sell some prints through it to justify the cost of running it. My previous aim for it was to showcase the different things that I have/had in my portfolio and to somehow for them to "magically" make me some money. With this iteration I want to concentrate on one thing and work to develop it into a source of income that can take care of itself.

It was also a month where I was able to complete two small photography projects which I had fun shooting. Even though I have been a "photographer" for more than 9 years I have more or less worked for someone and didn't really shoot exclusively photographs for my own clients. I believe the process of shooting for your own clients, give you a sense of freedom and responsibility which you can’t replicate.

The projects were concluded successfully. The clients were happy, and I have learnt a lot which is a good thing. Another aim for this "Ethiopian" year of 2015 is to streamline my social media platforms (I sign up to everything!), working to decrease the numerous platforms that I have an account on and just use the ones that I am active on, hence decreasing my admin work. All social media platforms have a purpose, which I am working to use, actively advance my work and my side/main projects.

Vero is the "newest" platform that I began to be active on, trying to connect with fellow photographers. I love the complete nature of the platform that allows you to craft your profile to your taste and desires and pushes your content to whoever is interested without interference, which is refreshing, which is being repeated by the amount of people migrating to it.

In lieu of this I have also begun to create Reels & TikTok videos to push my #MikmikExpressOntheRoad music playlist series, which I have been streaming on Clubhouse. This is my attempt to mix 46 songs in 3 categories with the aim to introduce myself and my listeners to music from Ethiopia, Africa and the rest of the world. The 3 + hours music playlist is streamed 3 times per month with the one week reserved for my other project of reading more books.

For that one week in a month, I meet amazing people from different walks life to talk about the latest books we have read. For the past few years I have had a running target of trying to read 50 books per year which I have yet to complete, I fear I won't do so this year. To me being part of this group has allowed me to read more than I have read in quite a while, it also has helped me meet some wonderful people with interesting perspectives. If you are up for it and live in Sydney then visit us here.

So, as you can see September has been a busy month, capped all of this with two web design projects that I have undertaken, it had made it a little bit hectic sometimes but here's hoping that my work is laying a good foundation to realising my goals. I will attempt to give these recaps for each month, I will also work to suggest some recommendations of-books I read, photographers that inspired me, tools I loved and finally milestones that I have accomplished. Until next month here is my list.

Books That I Read and Recommend

Michael Shiferaw
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