What was lost has been found....

As many of you probably know, my MacBook died a few months back and I worried about salvaging all of my photographs... I had a ton of photographs.  I was also concerned because I had a lot of photos saved on our old PC that had died over a year ago and I hadn't been able to do anything with that old hard drive.

Thankfully, I found someone to build me a new PC.  He also took the photo and music files from not only the old PC but the MacBook as well and transfer them all to an external hard drive that I had.

At first I was a bit worried, because when I booted up the hard drive I could only see three photo files.  I opened those files and found a whole lot of nothing to be excited about, and my heart fell into my stomach.  

I admit it... I was severely bummed.

But then I told myself they were only photos, and I could always take more.

I started looking around to see what other files I now had access to, and stumbled across a file folder marked "old".  I opened it and discovered three more photo folders.

Okay, I told myself... three more is better than nothing.  So I clicked on one of the folders, and was pleasantly surprised to find it contained a few more photo folders.... which contained a few more photo folders. 

The second photo folder held the bonanza... nearly thirty folders of my old work was tucked away inside!

So now, I am still finding more folders... I haven't had a chance to look at them all, and while a lot of the older work is just okay, some of what I have found are definite keepers.  Right now I would guess I have between 5 to 10 THOUSAND images on my computer that were taken by myself over the last 7 years... and that's after deleting a bunch of shots earlier this week that I no longer wanted to keep.

So yeah, I am going to be kept busy for awhile, going through old files, rearranging things so they will be easier to find, deleting the dross and keeping the gold... and I couldn't be happier about it.

So I give you just a couple of images that I was happy to find again (a couple I had even forgotten I had taken, and those are the really fun ones to stumble across!).  As I said, there are still thousands and thousands to go through, so I look forward to seeing what other gems I discover.

Etsy Shop

Well I've made some decisions about the Etsy shop.... no more dinking around in there and making my prices so low in the hopes that I will make the sales. It may sound a bit silly, but I have actually been losing money on the shop ever since I started it (if you factor in my time, which I haven't been). Between listing fees, the cost of getting prints done, the "bonus" card I include as my freebie, I essentially come out a few pennies ahead.... add in the time I spend editing photos, listing, promoting, etc etc and I am massively in the black. I knew it would be going in, but I had gambled on getting people interested in the shop and making slow price adjustments from there. No such luck. In fact, most of my sales have come from when I offer a BOGO deal or a nice percentage off from my already embarassingly low pricing. Some people just want a "great deal" but don't bother to look at the costs involved in these things.... and I am tired of catering to that kind of mentality....

Sigh. Lots of people "favoriting" my items, but not the kind of sales I had originally hoped for.

So here's what changed. I spent a few hours this morning bringing my prices up. So what if it loses me a sale or two, I'd rather have sales that are worth my time and money than trying to get some sales in.

No more BOGO deals.... they just aren't worth it. I have multiple print listings that offer a price break, but no more giving away free prints as an enticement.

I also need to spend some time once my laptop comes back today or tomorrow (lets hope its working as the graphics card may be fried...no!!!!! Thankfully, the guy I have looking at it says it will be no problem to transfer all of my files onto my external drive, so at least I won't lose all my photography) But I digress... regardless of the state of the laptop, there are some pictures that will no longer be available in the shop.... though I will probably put a few of them on this site because I really am proud of my work, even if it hasn't sold.

As it stands, I have 101 current listings in the shop, which really is too many. Not many people are going to want to scroll though all of that, and I have new items that I would rather list. So stock will be rotated... and some of it will not be made available again because it just isn't worth it for this forum. After the move I will look at the options of craft fairs/markets, etc for my Bluecreek Creations line (which will be going into full gear after the move)... maybe I will sell photography there as well, I don't know. Regardless, I need to find a way to highlight the best of the best and, if it doesn't sell or bring interest (even if I love it) then its off the market.

I can always re-evaluate in six months time and see if I even want to continue with the photography on Etsy.... at this moment, I think the photography shop is on its way out in order to make room for my focus on the crafting side, which is my real love anyway.

So what do YOU guys think about that? A bit much? A seemingly good plan? Let me know......

Freedom Festival Parade 2012

I hadn't posted this earlier because its a bit negative in tone, but decided I really didn't want to sugar coat my experiences of the day, so I have left it as it was....

Fourth of July.... early a.m.

The DJ down the street was asking people to dance the Funky Chicken in the street, and would toss shout-outs to the group of marathon runners as they streamed past. We were stationed at the head of the parade route, watching a street juggler performing off to one side of us, but the kid was so nervous that he kept dropping things and having to run after them.  Kids were running in the street, tossing a football back and forth to help keep boredom at bay.

After the balloons had soared away we had made our way to the parade route to secure a spot... a spot that, at first, had us at the front of the line.  As the pre-parade started, I began snapping pictures of the various characters as they went by. After a few minutes of this, a late-coming family decided to set up their blankets behind us and then demanded that we sit down as we were blocking their view.  Pretty rude, I thought, as we complied, sitting down on the bare pavement. After all, we'd been there for over an hour already and I made sure to set ourselves up in an area where no one else was sitting. Well that lasted about fifteen minutes and then I had to stand up and move behind the family (who happily took our spots) as my back began hurting. Bare pavement for your seat and a bad back certainly do not go together, besides, I was tired of the mother's bad attitude and on-going muttered comments that the front line should be saved for little children, not full-grown adults.

We stood there through all of the pre-parade, and for part of the official parade before another family showed up with big chairs, shoving us further back, as they were joining a group who had already parked themselves off to our left. I admit that I hadn't had much sleep the night before so I was getting pretty irritated by this time.   These late arrivals settled in with no regard as to leaving space for anyone else. The teenagers that had saved their spot were even more annoying as they were loud and obnoxious, yelling comments at anything and everything that passed, be it part of the parade or someone walking along the route, looking for a place to sit; several of those comments were a bit crude and definitely not very kind.

We stuck it out for another fifteen minutes or so before we decided we'd watched enough (sadly, the pre-parade was far more interesting than the parade actual)..... but I admit we also left partially because my back was really not happy, and where we were crammed to by that point left us with no wiggle room for me to move around, but mainly because I couldn't stand another minute of the rudeness around me without snapping at someone (as I said, I really had no sleep the night before, so by this point I was very tired and cranky). I do, however, believe that people should be polite and respectful to one another, and we certainly weren't seeing that on this day.

So I packed up my camera and we wove our way around people, blankets, coolers and the like, crossed between parade floats and walked back to the car.

I did wind up with a few good shots from the parade though...

The "Sons of Helaman" Road Warriors.... I got a big kick out of their patch....

If the Beloved got his way he'd paint his car like this...

Everyone loves the Chic-Fil-A cow!

"Defying Gravity".... these boys were on a big trampoline being pulled down the street and were bouncing so high that they were able to touch the street lights

Navajo dancers....

The force was certainly with this guy

Detail on an old military Jeep

Showing off some wicked high kicks.... I am sure she must have been exhausted by the end of the parade.

Ready for her close-up....

These two guys were amazing....I just wish I could have gotten a shot without the horse butting in!

I fell in love with this puppet....

Just look at that craggy old face!

Boys of the Revolution

What are you looking at?

Candids from the Color Festival 2013

For those interested in what the Festival of Colors is, its an Indian celebration of Holi, which celebrates the transition of winter to spring, and apparently the Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork holds the largest celebration in the Western Hemisphere every year. Attendees can buy bags of colored talcum powder which are thrown in the air every two hours, covering everyone in the powder's bright colors.

Here's a video of the celebration from 2011 if anyone is further interested:

My favorite teenager and her friends attended this year's festival held last weekend. I had no idea what this thing was, or that it was even going on, but I happened to have my camera with me when Kat and her friends arrived home after the festivities, which began an impromptu photo shoot.

Farmers Market

Moscow, Idaho...... late September. The skies are pearlescent, with a soft rain misting down. The temperature is surprisingly warm, considering the weather on this, the final day of Moscow's Farmers Market. No more booths of vegetables, hand carved woodworks, natural soaps and local honey for another year...

The wonderful thing about Farmers Markets (other than the delicious, home grown goodies) is the delightful images that capture your eye everywhere you look.

I think its fairly obvious that I especially loved the leeks....

Lake Drive.....

With the inversion we've had lately the skies have been rather splendid, so I took a drive out to the lake Friday evening after work, hoping to catch a fiery sunset over the frozen ice. No such luck, as it was too cloudy out, but I snapped pictures anyway of the little things that caught my eye. Here is a few of the fruits of that trip.....