So, what's your plan for 2016 to improve your photography? Very often, growth comes through turning and facing that which we fear, so what fear stops you developing as a photographer, and how could you face it?

One of my greatest fears has always been asking people if I can take their photograph. I've no problem shooting my children and immediate family - see above, and I'm pretty happy getting candid shots with a longer zoom at gatherings, but the thought of posing a portrait has always been something I've thought I should do, but shied away from. Someone recently looked through my portfolio of shots for sale and remarked that they were lovely images, but there were no people!

My fear to face this year then, is portrait photography. A photographer I've admired for some years since I first met him is Shay Hunston, whose portrait work has always filled me with awe and amazement. His recent work on the project "People of the Wild Atlantic Way" is a great example of how those with the ability and confidence can build up a body of work by approaching complete strangers and then somehow manage to capture compelling and evocative images. I have so much to learn from Shay and others like him! One of his shots is shown here:

I have all the kit - camera, the right lenses, lights, soft boxes etc. - all I need now is the confidence to try.

And I guess that's the message here - try! So what if you crash a few times - try again. Fail better, and at some point those failures will turn into images to be proud of.

Watch this space - I'll post on my progress...

Thanks for reading - happy shooting!