Every January I go through the same ritual. I open a fresh notes app page, type “Photography Goals” at the top, and proceed to write a list that is way too ambitious for any human being with a day job. Shoot more film. Master off-camera flash. Finally figure out astrophotography. Learn Capture One. The list grows until it collapses under its own weight sometime around mid-February.

So when I came across this Mark Denney tutorial focused on simplifying the whole New Year’s resolution process down to a single photography goal, I stopped scrolling pretty fast. Watch the full tutorial on YouTube — it’s worth your full attention. Mark is a landscape photographer who talks about gear and technique a lot, but this particular video is about something more fundamental: what actually moves the needle on your growth as a photographer, versus what just feels productive.

His argument is simple and a little humbling. After years of chasing multi-item goal lists, he found that one specific habit improved his photography more in a single year than anything else he had tried. No new lens. No editing course. Just one repeatable behavior. Here’s how he breaks it down.

Step 1: Recognize the problem with long goal lists

Photographer describing productivity-based mindset toward goal setting Photographer describing productivity-based mindset toward goal setting Mark opens by admitting something a lot of us recognize in ourselves: he measures the quality of his time by how many things he can check off a list. That mindset, applied to photography goals, produces long annual lists covering post-processing, composition, new genres, and output targets all at once. The problem is not ambition. The problem is diffusion. When your attention is split across seven goals, none of them get the focused energy they need to actually stick. Before you write a single goal for this year, ask yourself honestly how many of last year’s resolutions you followed through on past March.

Step 2: Adopt the “accomplish more by focusing on less” framework

Creator explaining the shift to a single-focus resolution approach Creator explaining the shift to a single-focus resolution approach The reframe Mark proposes sounds almost too simple: instead of a list, pick one thing. Not one category. One concrete, repeatable action that will create ripple effects across every other area of your photography. He calls it a rising tide approach – one change that lifts all the boats at once. This is not about lowering your standards. It is about channeling the same amount of energy into something that compounds. Think about which single habit, if you did it consistently for twelve months, would touch the most parts of your creative practice.

Step 3: Identify the one resolution – visiting new locations more often

Creator stating the single goal: go to new locations more often Creator stating the single goal: go to new locations more often Here is the resolution itself: go to new locations more often. Mark says this was not something he planned deliberately in 2023. He simply traveled more than he ever had before, and at the end of the year he looked back and realized it had been his biggest year of photographic growth. The location variable turns out to be a master key. It affects your composition instincts, your technical problem-solving, your patience, your eye for light – all of it, at once, without you having to set separate goals for each.

Step 4: Redefine what “new location” actually means

Creator clarifying that new locations do not require international travel Creator clarifying that new locations do not require international travel This is the part that removes every excuse. Mark is explicit: you do not need a passport or a plane ticket to make this work. A new location can be somewhere thirty minutes from your front door. A neighborhood you have never photographed. A park in the next town. A different trail in a forest you already know. I do my Sunday morning photo walks right here in Seattle, and I am still finding corners of this city that genuinely surprise me. The bar for “new” is lower than you think, and that is actually the point. Novelty does not require distance. It requires intention.

Step 5: Use automatic inspiration as a growth engine

Creator explaining how new locations trigger automatic inspiration Creator explaining how new locations trigger automatic inspiration Here is why new locations work so mechanically well. When you arrive somewhere unfamiliar, inspiration is not something you have to manufacture – it kicks in on its own. You are scanning, noticing, making decisions fast. Your brain is not on autopilot the way it gets at spots you have shot a hundred times. That heightened state of attention is where real creative growth happens. You are forced to read light you have never seen in that spot before, find a composition without any reference points, and adapt your technique to conditions you did not plan for. That is a better workout than any editing tutorial.

Step 6: Let the single goal do the work across multiple skills

Creator describing the ripple effect of one focused resolution Creator describing the ripple effect of one focused resolution The elegant part of this approach is what happens indirectly. Going to new locations more often means you will practice composition more, because every scene is a blank slate. You will work on your exposure instincts, because the light will be unpredictable. You will get better at post-processing, because you will have a wider variety of raw material to work with. You will develop patience, because you will sometimes arrive somewhere that does not cooperate. One habit, but it trains a dozen skills simultaneously – without you having to schedule each one separately.

What I would add from my own experience

Mark’s advice is solid and I have lived a version of it, but I want to add one layer he does not cover: document the locations, not just the photos. I keep a running note on my phone where I log every new spot I visit – what the light was doing, what time I arrived, what I would do differently. Half those notes turn into return trips where I get something much stronger because I already solved the location puzzle once. The first visit is reconnaissance. The second visit is where you often get your best shot. New locations are not a one-and-done checkbox. They are a relationship you start.

The single most important idea in this tutorial is that growth compounds when you stop spreading your energy thin. One focused, repeatable habit – visiting new places with your camera – quietly trains your eye, your technique, and your creative instincts all at once, without requiring you to book a flight or buy new gear. Your next great photo is probably within a thirty-minute drive right now.

Watch the full tutorial on YouTube to hear Mark walk through his thinking in his own words.