Blog Feature Monday! Susan Hughes of King Happy Creations

Needing a little inspiration for my blog I decided to fall back on one my favorite things to do - feature other artists that sell on Etsy. Being that this is a photography blog I decided to feature artists who share a love of mine:  Photography!  My first photographer is Susan Hughes (no relation) of King Happy Creations. Susan is an incredibly talented photographer who creates lovely, vibrant nature images that I can't stop looking at - they are absolutely stunning.  Susan has allowed me to share a couple of her favorite images with you - but you really should mosey on over to her store to check out the rest.  I guarantee you will not be disappointed. 

Susan  Hughes - King Happy Creations

Do you want to know more about this talented photographer? Well…read on:

1. Tell me about your photography. Where do you find your inspiration? What is your favorite subject to shoot?

My inspiration is in the quiet moments provided by nature. I love the smell, feel, and bright colours found in the garden, woods, and sea. I love getting close to something others may have passed by, like a new blossom, a strawberry ripe for the picking, or a butterfly taking a breather on a leaf. I do dabble in portraits from time to time, but I find myself drawn to photographing nature more than anything else.

2. Do you shoot film, digital or both?

Professionally I shoot digital, and for fun I love to play with film. If I had my own space for film processing, I'm sure I would do it much, much more!

3. Who is your favorite photographer? It can be anyone - famous, obscure, on Etsy, a friend.

Susan Hughes - King Happy Creation

My favorite photographer. Hmm. That is a toughie. I think I'm going to have to go totally typical and say Richard Avedon. His ability to create art out of a moment is uncanny, and he essentially created a new genre, permanently changing the way fashion is shot.

4. Describe what would be the perfect day of shooting for you.

 

My perfect day of shooting would begin shortly after sunrise in a nearby woods. I would spend the morning frolicking around shooting this and that until the harsh noon light caught up with me. I'd then eat a picnic lunch with a friend and spend the afternoon posing and playing with my Nikon. Then we'd drive out to the beach, and I would capture the sunset dipping down behind the California coast with the camera in my right hand and a glass of wine in the other. Wow. Now that I see that all written out, I need to make it happen.

5. What venues do you use to sell your photography?

My primary venue at this time is Etsy - I've just re-opened my shop and getting it up and running is quite time consuming! However I have sold my work in street fairs and craft shows, and plan on pursuing getting exhibited and involved in my local art community later this year!

6. If you're as big a fan of Susan's work as I am, please check out her links:

Etsy : www.etsy.com/shop/KingHappyCreations?ref=pr_shop_more

Twitter: www.twitter.com/KHCreations

Facebook: www.facebook.com/KHCreations

Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/khcreations/

Blog: www.kinghappyblog.wordpress.com/

If you know of any talented photographer that sells on Etsy that you think would a) benefit by being featured on a blog and b) would like to be featured on a blog, please let them know about my blog features.  I would love to make this an ongoing feature for my blog. 

Happy 4th of July!

I'm sitting here contemplating what I'm going to do today.  Will it be yardwork or will it be grabbing my camera and heading down to the waterfront and taking in the Freedom Fair?  What I do know is that I wish you all a safe and happy 4th of July!

Welcome to the "Nifty 50's"!

Your's truly turned 50 years old yesterday.  I spent the day celebrating with too much food, just enough drink and most of my favorite people in the world (friends and family).  It was a good day.  To celebrate turning 50 I decided to have a 50% off sale in my shop on Etsy  - Dragonfly Photography.  I'm trying to make some big changes in my life - one of them being creating a successful lifestyle photography business in Tacoma, Washington and creating a vibrant and successful shop on Etsy - and what better time to start working on making the life  that currently only exists in your dreams are reality than your 50th birthday?  Now my sale is turning into a fundraiser of sorts.



Bruce and me enjoying a day at the beach in Westport, Washington

My loveable pooch, Bruce, who I've had since he was a young pup, had a couple of seizures on Saturday and we spent a good amount of time at an emergency animal hospital that night.  The prognosis is either mild epilepsy or a brain tumor.  He's doing fine now but he's not bouncing back like he should so we'll be going in for a follow up with our regular vet later on this week.  I'm hoping it's just mild epilepsy but I'm a realist and I'm sure it's more serious as all his symptoms are indicating a brain tumor as the emergency vet doctor cautioned me it could be.

I've decided to extend my birthday celebration sale until the end of the month - hoping that I will be able to raise some extra money to help with Bruce's vet bills.  Finances are tight and the added unexpected cost of Bruce's vet bills is a little stressful (ok - a lot stressful).  So I'm reaching out and asking for help.  It's really a win/win situation for me and you:  if you purchase a photograph from my shop, you get a lovely photograph (at 50% off) and I get a little help with the vet bills and perhaps a little more time with my dog.  If you can't help out with a purchase perhaps you could spread the word via your blog that would be great.  Thank you for any help you can provide. 

The coupon code for my promotion is "HappyBirthday".

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!