Tag: photography

bragging rights

yum!I’m having a proud mama moment… a couple months ago I was asked if I could do a photo shoot of Ellie for my office’s research magazine to illustrate an article about making your own baby food. The latest issue was released today, and you can see the online version of the article here.

If you’ve ever taken photos of babies, you know how challenging it can be (one of the many outtakes from our mini shoot is to your right). I didn’t quite get the exact photo we needed on the first try, so the final “photo” was actually a combination of two images, skillfully merged by one of our graphic designers.

Ellie had a lot of fun with this. Normally we don’t let her play with her food, so having complete freedom to smear, smush, squish and splat the puree everywhere was baby bliss. That grin you see? Completely genuine. I’m going to clip a copy of the print article to go in Ellie’s baby book so we can show her how much she enjoyed her first “modeling” gig.

so much time, so little energy!

clocks 1Tim has class on Thursday evenings, so it’s just me and the babe tonight. Ellie miraculously fell asleep with no complaints at 6:30, so I have plenty of time to get some things done.

The new layout for Calobee Doodles needs some animation work, but I’ve almost finished putting the theme together in WordPress. I’m designing a quick Christmas card for mum to send out to folks this year, and hopefully it will include a holiday photo of the baby girl provided she’s feeling cooperative this weekend. I’ve been doodling here and there… nothing concrete, though. The ideas aren’t falling into place the way I like. I’ve also been digging through old photos for potential use in a magazine… hopefully more on that later.

But to be honest, I think I’d rather scrap it all and curl up and go to sleep. It’s been one of those weeks! I’m looking forward to a much-needed Thanksgiving break.

Oh! I’ve been musing, and I think it’s about time for a contest. I’ve yet to determine what I will give away, but stay tuned! I’m thinking big.

off to a fiery start

I listed my photographs at Artfire.com this weekend, in the interest of finding a promising alternative to Etsy and just generally trying to get my name out there… and I’m off to a really “fiery” start! Someone posted my “roast” print on a popular scrapbooking forum, and just a few short hours after launching, my brand new Artfire shop has almost 400 hits and 1500 item views. Wow!

Unfortunately, most of the comments toward my photos are negative, and some of them are downright mean (who knew scrapbookers were such a grumpy bunch?), but hey, exposure is exposure. Calobee Doodles is getting some positive attention as a result of all the extra traffic, so I can’t complain!

It will be interesting to see how the Artfire shop does given its unique start. I’m always surprised by what appeals to people (and what doesn’t). My photography gets much more attention at Etsy–in the form of treasuries and front page features–than my doodles… but I’ve sold equal amounts of each type. I suppose there’s something to be said for making art that appeals to two drastically different audiences.

Speaking of which, I’m in the process of redesigning sixhours.net to add my illustration. I’m not doing much photography right now (unless adorable baby portraiture counts) and it seems silly to keep sixhours exclusively for photography when the portfolio hasn’t been updated in over a year. At least it will look somewhat current with the illustration included. Now I’ll be lucky if I can find the time to sit down and code it.

a shop update and other things

i like my coffee blackHey look! A shop update! Yay!

I have some photos from the dollfood series that came back from a consignment contract… this means two good things for you: first, I have 8×12’s of most of the new photos on hand, so those prints will ship the next day (Sunday obviously being the exception, and this is assuming I don’t get a sudden influx of orders for the same prints–that would be nice, but has never happened, so!). And second, the prints cost less than they did on consignment! Yay!

I’m in the process of putting the series up right now, so go see!

Also, it appears I’ve been named ThisNext’s “Expert Maven” for all things handmade. I’m not sure why (I’ve been neglecting ThisNext recently, alongside most of my other regular Internet endeavors) but now I have to live up to my title, don’t I? And thanks to baby fever, I have a new excuse to window shop and recommend more handmade products!

New posts coming soon. I’m currently experiencing an unexplained revival of first trimester ickiness. Let’s hope it’s short-lived. 7 p.m. is a perfectly appropriate bedtime for an adult, yes? I thought so.

i’m not dead yet!

the last oneWhere the hell have I been, right? Blog? Whatsablog?

I am hard at work on a new and exciting project that I would just love to reveal, but alas, it must wait a little while yet. Of course, this means all I want to talk about is said new and exciting project. Conundrum! (I love that word, conundrum!) Patience is not one of my greater virtues, so in the meantime, Tim gets to listen to me yammer on about this and that and the other. Lucky boy!

I haven’t worked on a photo shoot in so long, I’m starting to feel itchy. We’re already into May (!) and I haven’t made a dent in the 2008 portfolio yet. Ouch. So! I need to get working on some ideas. I have new props and dresses and things from my earlier thrifty endeavors, and the weather is perfect for outdoor shoots, so it’s just a matter of setting things up.

I’m also days (weeks) behind on my blog reading, writing, and commenting. But I thought I’d peek in here to say that all is well and I am still here. 🙂 What’s new with you?

the last one

the last oneThe other day I took all that extra energy and went out in the woods to play with my camera a bit. You can see more photos at my Flickr! I picked up this Gunne Sax dress at the Goodwill on Friday when I was out with Susan… I have a feeling it will get a lot of use over the coming months. Spring has inspired me!

This evening I spent some time under the deck, sorting through my garden stuff so I’ll be ready to plant flower pots in a few weeks. Yes, She of the Black Thumb will attempt to grow flowers this summer. I managed to do it a few years ago without many problems, and this year I have lots more space to work with.

I’ve been so caught up in other things this week that I almost didn’t realize that between my two shops, I made my 100th sale today! Yay!

good business and bad movies

mother duckI’ve been up to my neck in custom work lately, which is why I’ve been absent for the last couple days (also absent-minded, but that’s the typical state of affairs no matter what I’m working on). I don’t know if it was the Real Simple blog feature a few days ago or what, but Calobee Doodles has been overrun by custom requests. Not that I’m complaining… quite the opposite! 🙂

And today I found one of my photographs featured as an “Etsy Find” in the Storque! Yay! I’m having a good day, indeed.

T & I took a much-needed break last night to go out to dinner and a movie, as it’s been eons since we’ve done a “date night.” Of course, we didn’t bother to read any movie reviews before we selected our movie of choice for the evening. We stuck to the synopsis, which sounded good in theory… but was bad–very bad–in practice. Always read the reviews; always. It will save you the trauma of spending good money to watch a rotten tomato like Doomsday.

Wow. Just… wow. One minute you’re in the midst of a 28-Days-Later-esque scenario in London, and the next you’re thrown into a society of punk-ish anarchy in barricaded Scotland. Ten minutes later, you’re whisked away (by train, of course) to a distinctly medieval society ruled by a crazy mad scientist king, where you discover that the “cure” is not so much a cure, but a rather obvious matter of genetics. And then, oh, I don’t know, let’s throw in a gratuitous car chase! Just for the hell of it!

All the while I’m trying to figure out whether I’ve just missed something or if this is a “Choose Your Own Adventure” movie… where the plot can take a 180 degree turn at any minute! No cohesion necessary! And the cinematography, if you can even call it that… urgh. I actually had to close my eyes and cover my ears at one point to get my bearings. I wanted to be sick, but I don’t know if that was because of the jumpy transitions or the terrible acting. Quite possibly both.

But that’s par for the course for us. Tim and I have a bad habit of picking the absolute worst movies to see in the theater. If you told me I had a choice between a movie with substance, plot, and good acting and something horrible with Colin Farrel and bad dialog, I’d pick the latter nine times out of ten. I’m a glutton for punishment, I guess. 🙂

the flying spaghetti monster will forgive me…

the waiting hour 4I think I’ve officially dropped the ball on NaBloPoMo. I’m pretty sure there’s an 11th commandment that reads something like, “Thou shalt not fail to update thy blogeth on a regularth basisth… ththth,” and I’ve spent the past few days pretty much ignoring it. Well, forgive me, dear Internets, for I have sinned. Ah well, there’s always April!

Yesterday Susan and I met up for another round of thrift shopping. The shopping itself wasn’t very productive for me (it’s usually hit-or-miss, anyhow)–I picked up a vintage wool overcoat in light blue (perfect for photo shoots), a vase for my office (it’s daffy season!), and a shirt for myself. The conversation and company, however, made it well worth the trip. We also enjoyed a tasty dinner at Olive Garden.

Now I’m excited because I have two custom orders in progress. The first is a custom doodle, almost finished, and the second is product photography for another talented Etsy artist. I can’t wait to get started on that, because I think it will be an excellent opportunity to get creative and learn how to better take direction from a client… when it comes to photography, I’m usually the one directing.

Finally, big thanks to Holly of decor8 for including my “alphabet soup” poster in her Real Simple article, “Affordable Art Round-up for Kids.” I’m flattered to be amongst so many talented artists and designers!

the waiting hour

the waiting hour 2 Danielle and I had some impromptu photo shoot good-ness yesterday evening, in what little light there was left for the day. We didn’t get to do much for that reason, but we’re going to do another shoot tomorrow. I particularly like this shot because it creeps me out, like something from a Stephen King novel. I keep expecting her to turn around and have no eyes or something.

And the dress! I love the dress. It was a recent thrifty find–I’ve had really good luck with those lately! You can get a better sense of it in this photo.

(Danielle also started her own Etsy shop for photography, so go see! My personal favorite is “in the doghouse.”

In other news, it’s been an upsy downsy kinda week, and I’m quite glad that it’s the weekend, finally! Is there anything better than a lazy Friday night?

opinions requested!

I’ve been doing a bit of market research, and I think I may be changing my prices soon… raising them a little bit to be more in line with other artists with a similar level of skill. Most of the people I’ve talked to about this have told me I’m under-priced, but I can’t tell if they’re just being nice or if they’re serious.

Pricing has always been a tricky point for me. I never intended to make a living at photography, so I’ve always priced my work closer to the hobbyist end of the scale. At the same time, I don’t want to sell myself short. Confidence in my abilities plays a huge part… I have a tendency to underestimate my strengths, and I think my current prices reflect that.

So I’m turning to you, dear Internets. I put up a poll on my blog and I’d appreciate it if you’d take a couple minutes and answer it. It’s a very informal survey, obviously, but I’m curious to know what my audience here thinks. You can get a good sense of my prices at my regular shop or my Etsy shop (I’m not including Calobee Doodles in this decision, because I’m still a novice in that area!)

You can also leave a comment if you feel like expounding on your answer.

Thank you!