Changes at Dragonfly Photography

Last weekend I had the honor of taking the engagment photographs of a very dear friend, Lizzie aand and her fiance, Angel.  I've known Lizzie (or Liz as she is called now) since she was a little girl, I've watched her daughters grow up to fine young women and I'm so happy that she is marrying a wonderful guy. 
With that news I'd like to introduce you to my new business "Dragonfly Lifestyle Photography".  We're not just about fine art and home decor photography anymore!!!  If you follow me on Facebook you'll know that I've been a little discouraged that with all the effort I'm putting into my shop the results have been a bit under whelming.   It's understandable - Etsy is a very big site and there's tons of competition and I'm starting from square one again.  It's my hope that having a local business will help to generate sales in my Etsy shop or even provide income outside of Etsy.

And the changes keep coming.  I've been investigating new venues to sell my photography and have chosen Fine Art America.  It's similiar yet different than Etsy so it will be interesting to see what results this web site yields.

I'm back and I hope you missed me...

I know I was gone a long time but now I'm back and I'm trying to pick-up where I left off.  The past 3 years have been very interesting and haven't been conducive to my blogging life.  However, I'm on the cusp of turning 50  years old and I want to start living that life that lives in my head - instead of it being a hope and a dream I want it to be a reality. I'm trying to balance the demands of my job as the assistant to the director/principal investigator for a cancer research at in a prominent university, my personal life (without alienating the affections of my husband, 2 cats and my dog) and this shop.  It's a lot of work - much more than I remember it being.

I've quietly started working and promoting my photography shop on Etsy - Dragonfly Photography.  I've added new items to store, spruced up the listings to optimize SEO searches (I'm not totally sure what that means - but it seems to be important), and I've spent an inordinate amount of time promoting my shop on Facebook, have created my wholesale sheet on Trunkt, and, I have a couple of blog features happening in April and May.  All this to drive traffic to my shop, in the hopes that all this work will generate some sales.

One thing I've noticed working on my store for the last month is how much I missed my on-line community and all the connections I made.  It feels good to be back.  Knowing that I'm not typing my heart out and not getting lost out there somewhere really makes me feel good.

It's good to be back and I hope you'll be here to keep me company.

What To Do, What To Do...

I like winter for a whole lot of reasons but none having to do with photography.  It's one of those fallow times of the year for me.  The winters here are a gray, and broody.  The perfect recipe for curling up on the couch with a good book and a hot cup of tea but not very interesting for photography.  But that's just me - I'm sure others will disagree with me and I'm alright with that.  Winter is just not my Muse.

The other day I went to the beach with Amar (my husband) and Bruce (my dog) and took more than few photographs of them, the beach, driftwood, the trees, boats, people, sand - you name it - if it stood still for me I shot it.  However, I was more than sorely disappointed when I downloaded them last night.  None of them excited me, matter of fact, they were downright boring (how can a beach be boring?).   I'm sure when I look at them again I'll see a few things that I missed and after a little (or a lot) post-photo editing there will be an an image or two that I like. 

I wish that weren't the case - I wish I could turn out a photograph that I liked "Straight Out of the Camera".  To me it would be fantastic to have developed my skills well enough to not have to rely on photo editing - it would make me feel like a "real photographer" and not someone who sort of "Forrest Gumps" her way through photography.  So, that will be a goal that I'm working towards - developing my skills.  Hopefully, I'll find a photography class that fits my schedule soon.  Until then I'll be perusing the photography tutorials on this blog "The Pioneer Woman Photography".  If her photographs and those who have participated in her tutorials are any indication of her ability to teach then pretty soon I'll be back at it with my camera turning out one stunning photograph after another. 

I'll keep you posted.  

Hello!

Hopefully, this post finds you in good form and good health.  I've been pretty busy lately with a full-time job, a three hour daily commute during the week, household responsibilities, writing for three blogs, running two on-line business' and leading a life off-line.  There are times when I just need to step away from my on-line life and recharge my batteries.  Last weekend I took a 3 day break from the computer - it was absolutely lovely - but now I'm behind schedule and I'll be working at getting back on schedule.  Lately, I've been concentrating on my BellaFaire blog.  If you're into gardening please visit it - I'm working on gathering all sorts of resources for gardeners.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you all know about this great web-site I found called zenhabits - simple productivity.  The author is Leo Babuta and here is what he has to say about his blog:

"Zen Habits is about finding simplicity in the daily chaos of our lives. It’s about clearing the clutter so we can focus on what’s important, create something amazing, find happiness. It also happens to be one of the Top 100 blogs in the world, is uncopyrighted, and goes well with anything chocolate. Zen Habits features three powerful articles a week on: simplicity, health & fitness, motivation and inspiration, frugality, family life, happiness, goals, getting great things done, and living in the moment."

My favorite post so far is about how to motivate yourself when you're in a slump "Get Off Your Butt:  16 Ways to Get Motivated When You're in a Slump".   Take a moment to check out this great blog, you'll be glad you did!

Photographs from my collection

A flower vendor and her flowers at Pike Place Market in Seattle, Washington.

I'm on a quest...

What does yogurt have to do with photography. Nothing really.  I've only just resumed my blogging and I'm already hitting a brick wall in regards to scintillating photographic topics.  Heck, I'm even plagarizing myself as most of the contents from this post are lifted directly from my Dancing Monkey Jewelry Chronicles blog.  So, what's up with me?  Nothing, just general fatigure due to lots of late nights and early mornings. 

However, I digress and let's get back to the subject at hand:  Spega Yogurt -  Here's what's really on my mind right now - Spega Yogurt - specifically the little jars it comes in. How many of you are still with me? 

I'm on a mission (read: obsessed with) to find some empty jars. I just know there's this little cult following that buys this yogurt and either has kept the jars (because they're so cute but haven't a clue what to do with them) or have kept them because they know exactly what they want to do with them. Then there's the group that I fall into: I haven't bought the yogurt because no one sells it in Washington State and I would know what to do with those little jars once I consumed my yogurt. I have a little project in mind and those little jars would work quite nicely. If had some. Which I don't. Do you?

I'm willing to trade some hand-crafted sterling silver artisan earrings or a photography for some of these little yogurt jars - no matter the brand - French, Italian, England - it doesn't matter. Can somebody help me?  Let me know.

Perfection...

I believe a blog should be as much as a visual treat as it is a good read. I'm not sure if I'm there or not - but that's the great thing about progess - you can always move forward. I'm trying to keep this blog about photography but I'm going to go off on a different path with this post. I believe it will serve my readers because I think I've found one of the prettiest blogs that ever - the photography is sublime and it's one that I actually read and not skim.

If you were to ask me what are my favorite things to do in the world are I would tell you the following: Eat, cook, read (especially "food memoirs" and cookbooks), photography (either looking or taking) and mucking about on the computer. Where am I going with this post? Well...let me tell you - I think I've found the perfect blog - Orangette. Really. This one combines many of my favorites: Eating, cooking, photography and it's a good read (there's a book - of course). The author of the blog is Molly Wizenberg - she and her husband have just opened a little restaurant in Seattle called "Delancey". I was familiar with the restaurant before I knew about the blog and book because a good friend of mine lives around the corner from the restaurant. I haven't been there - yet. I can't vouch for quality of the food and describe the restaurant experience. But I will visit the next time I get together with my friend.

In the end, if I can raise the quality of my blog to the level of this blog I will have considered myself successful. Which means I've got a lot of work to do: improve my writing skills and my photography, create an interesting life and establish a strong presence on the web.

Gotta go! Lot's to do.