Stock...not

So, I've gotten a flurry of rejections from Bigstock and Fotolia. I think it's time I go back to the drawing board and figure out where I'm going wrong with these pictures. Some are out of focus, others are poorly exposed, and the one reason for rejection I get most of all is "limited value for stock". This is so much harder than I thought it would be, and now it's become a vendetta. I'm determined to make this happen, so I will do what I can to get this off the ground.

First, I'll take pictures every day. Lots of them, and see if I can get the controls of my camera under my command. Second, I'll study everything I need to about the technical aspects of photography, and relearn then as much as I need to. Third, I'll keep studying the stock websites and understand what they accept. It's about all I can do at this point.

So...does this look like a stock picture or not?



Apparently, not. But it's still lovely.

Another article done...

I've finished another romantic travel article for Examiner.com, this one is on skating on Evergreen Lake for a date with your significant other. At some point, I think I'd like to try to move to being a national Examiner, which would give me more to write about.

Here's the picture I used for the article:



I'll post the article through hyperlink on Facebook, once it's been approved. Probably on both the Travel Writer's page as well as my own. Hopefully someone will read it!

Also, I have to get cracking on taking more pictures. I suppose that's something I can do today, since I'm home with N who is sick. Having pictures to submit to stock would be a good thing, I think. :)

Today's the day...

I'm hoping to become a paid photographer. With stock, yes, but now I'm thinking about doing portraits as well. I have some good equipment for taking portraits, such as some rolls of muslin backdrop, studio lighting units and a good solid tripod. I've also thought about doing real estate photography, something I learned about one of the AWAI workshop recordings. It sounds like something that is doable, makes decent money and doesn't require dealing with difficult people.

Until then, my younger daughter N is a willing model, as shown by the portrait I did below:



This is supposed to be one where I'm demonstrating a rainy day. Kind of hard to do that when there's still a foot of snow on the ground, and our last rainy day was back in October. Shooting "rain" shots was difficult, and this was probably the best one out of the bunch. Oh well, you do what you can...

An attitude of gratitude

I have an Apple app called Gratitude. Since downloading it about two years ago, I hardly ever use it. I think I've made about three entries total. If I actually used it as intended, I'd be writing down five things every day that I am thankful for. I could do that in my written journal, but as with everything in my writing life, it gets shoved to the background. In this case, almost off the cliff.

Well, I probably should take that app up again. I have an opportunity to write travel articles now. I'm making a concerted effort to get accepted to stock agencies and set up portraits with my photography. My family and I will travel to the Bay Area and to Seattle and Vancouver this year. I just ran my first marathon, and I'm itching (believe it or not) to run another. Yes, I have plenty to be thankful for. But this is the most important one of all (and my wonderful husband too, who took this picture):



They are the reason I strive to be the best person I can be, every day.

Snow-pocalypse, Rockies edition

Yeah, I know. We're supposed to be getting lots of snow anyway here in Colorado. The state name is practically synonymous with snow (even though Denver has on the average 300 days of sunshine a year). But this system proved to be our Big One, an average of 2-3 feet in most areas of the Front Range. And here's just some of the proof:






This is from our backyard, where it always looks like this when we get major snowstorms. And here's another view:



A lame revelation on my part - now that I have this awesome camera phone, I can take really good pictures for this blog in a pinch. I guess I've take the snobbish attitude that photography really isn't if it's not taken on my DSLR and I haven't processed the pictures to look stunning. But this little Android phone will do, especially when I'm writing here and want to do more illustrations.

R and I both home today - he because it's his flex day, mine because it's that rarest of rarities in my line of work - the snow day. The kids of course are also enjoying this day, but at their dad's house. I'm not sure whether it's a good or bad thing. A little of both, I suppose.

Bummer

I just got a rejection from one of the microstock agencies, because of poor lighting with one of my pictures. Here it is:



It's a little frustrating, because I'm having trouble understanding what constitutes "poor lighting". I'm trying to understand what makes a good stock photo, and I'm not sure where to get the answers. I'm doing on online stock photo program, so maybe that will help. Perhaps too, I can study the Lightroom book more closely. But I've done it, and now I just have to keep trying.

Analysis paralysis

So, have you ever tried to think about something so much, the job doesn't get done? That's kind of what's happening with me. With writing and photography, I'm thinking too much about what could happen, rather than making it happen.

Just like with a lot of things in life, I need a good swift kick in the rear. Forget if things don't look or sound right. I need to take that next step, whether it's submitting those three pictures to iStockphoto, or finding that just-right publication to submit my family travel articles to (who cares if they don't pay??)

Speaking of which, I will need to plan things out a little here. We have decided to go to northern California for spring break and to Seattle/Vancouver for summer vacation. Surely between all of this, I can secure some press passes or discounts, and come up with some query ideas for both of them. And now that I have my studio lights, I can get this photography thing set up, and I will by this weekend.

Kick in the rear, indeed. It's time to get moving...again.

And it's over

Oh, what a painful loss! The Niners are not going to the Super Bowl, and they came so close. Losing it 20-17 in overtime. And now we have to wait until next year. The Super Bowl now becomes a "who cares?" proposition for me. Even though one of my kids claims she is a Patriots fan, so in a way, it would be good to see them win. After the Giants beat the Niners, it's hard to root for them now.

Enough about football. Now it's time to get down to business. Submit photos to stock agencies and query a publication for article submission. Then apply to Examiner.com. I think that's the scariest thing of all, since I haven't applied to them yet. But we will see what happens.

A space of my own...

So, I call this a knitting/cooking/traveling/photography/writing blog, but one thing that hasn't been evident in a while is my picture portfolio. I haven't been processing a lot of pictures of late, because I haven't devoted the proper time to getting them presentable online or elsewhere. Perhaps once this marathon is done by this Sunday, I can do just that and actually seem like a photographer again.

But one step that I have taken is cleared a space in the basement by getting rid of the girls' toys that they haven't even so much as glanced at in the past year. It's a great little 6 foot wide space with about 9 feet of length, and some natural light coming through on the opposite side. Right now, I'm going to set up my lightbox to take some stock shots, but in time, I'm hoping to get a full studio setup with lighting and a muslin backdrop.

Getting there....

A new year, a new start

Welcome to 2012! If the Mayan predictions don't come true and we're still standing by the end of the year, I'm hoping that I'll have done the following:

- Completed a marathon (which I'll see if I can do in the next 10 days here...)
- Publish several articles, preferably in print
- Have photos accepted for stock and/or publications
- Knit a sweater a month (!)
- Cook and bake a lot more
- Travel to Europe

It was very gratifying to review my goals for the past year. The only ones I didn't accomplish were the publication ones, and those just need to have a little more oommph to them.

So here I go...no more excuses. I WILL get this done!

Time off...so time for everything else (maybe)

Off of work for the next two weeks, so I'm hoping to get some writing and photography done. Of course, there is this little thing called the holidays that are upon us, and there is only one week left before Christmas (how did that happen???). So, even with my best intentions, I'm hoping that I can get an article written, another queried or submitted, and to get some photos submitted and accepted to a stock agency.

That's my best Christmas wish... :)

October and November were a blur...

Too many thing going on, and of course not enough time. That's how it's been these past two months, mostly having to do with my regular work. Also training for this marathon, which I may finish, but I'm seriously thinking of not doing again for the massive amounts of time the training takes up. I've neglected my travel writing and photography, but I'm hoping now that I've gained some equilibrium, that will be back on track now.

A big indicator of this craziness: we went to LA this past week, and not once did I sit down and write. I only took pictures once, and they weren't even that interesting. So I need to re-establish my priorities. Here we go...

Still sick...and a big step forward

Home today - no work, except for my writing and photography. And no one home either - R is off today and hanging out with friends. I have to somehow make a semi-miraculous recovery and take J to her soccer tournament game tonight, and N and their stepsister. Yikes, I hope I don't get pneumonia being out there tonight. I really just have to get them there, then I can go home. Their dad (X man) is picking them up.

But I did inch closer to my marathon commitment this morning. I finally registered for the Rock n Roll Arizona. Double yikes - first marathon, hopefully not my last. As late as last night, I was dithering about whether I should do this one, Austin, Napa Valley or another Arizona race called the Lost Dutchman Marathon, even though we already booked the flight to Phoenix in January and reserved the hotel in Scottsdale. But because of cost and logistics, I finally settled on this one. I think it'll be a good first-time one, even though there's a six-mile out and back on the SAME road. And it's not even a nice looking one.

Crazy? Sure.

Gaining ground

Now that the work school year has officially begun, I will inevitably have less time to devote to writing and photography. So yesterday was time to get things done. Getting photos submitted, finishing my next NYIP unit (I'm now officially halfway through - yay!), finishing up my first travel writing submission, and starting work on the second. So things are happening. Now I'm feeling a lot better.

Here's the photo I submitted to a holiday-themed stock photo challenge:

I just wanted to do something different, although I could've probably done something more traditional. It's probably too dark, but if that's the lesson I've learned from it, so be it.

It's been extremely warm here in Denver, and I don't really want to do much in the way of knitting. I think I've actually for the time being lost my knitting mojo. I do a little here and there everyday, but nothing that makes tremendous progress. And to think, I started this as a knitting blog at one time! But once the weather becomes a little chilled, that's when I'll start stitching again.

Time is running out...

So, I officially have one and a half days left until my summer vacation comes to its official end. In the time between June 2nd and today, I traveled to Florida, the Caribbean (which I still pronounce care-i-BE-an, not CUH-ri-be-an, like most people say), Colorado Springs, Durango and Chicago. I've probably covered more ground in terms of places than any other time in my life.

But I still need to find a home for all the ideas in my head and the articles I've written and the pictures I've taken. I'm not really afraid of rejection now, and I don't want to make excuses. But now a good chunk of my time will be taken with the job that pays the bills, not the work the feeds the soul. So I need to make a greater mental commitment than ever to say, "I'm going to be published by the end of the year, and I'm going to make some money from my photography".

It's the kind of thing I'll need to hang up on an index card and read it every day. I'm going to do just that.

Crossroads

So I have roughly two weeks before I return to my real-world job of school psych. As enjoyable as the work can be, I would still like to be a work-at-home writer and photographer. R is very encouraging, but he always will add a dash of reality by saying, "a lot of people want to work at home doing (fill in the blank)"

I sometimes think I need all this uninterrupted quiet time during the summer because it seems to guarantee that I can get these lofty goals accomplished. But I don't want to think all I'm doing is busy-work. Any step that moves me forward is important, but now I think some of these should be purposeful movement. Such as tomorrow, write a query to one of these places I'm targeting, rather than keep reading the submission guidelines. Write up some photo ideas that aren't in the stock sites, and take those pictures. Keep progressing with the profit website.

Now it's kick in the pants time. And almost time to go to Chicago. I'm hoping I can do an entry or two from there!

Website purgatory

So I finished my long-delayed website for my writing and photography. Here it is!

And not to denigrate GoDaddy too much (after all, they are providing full service for my domain, web design and most importantly, hosting), but it was a pain in the butt.

I spent most of the day trying to do the writing and layout, uploading the pictures, and just trying to get the darn thing off the ground. For some reason, it kept timing out, and every time it did, it would basically kick me off the website. Of course, I will still have to fine-tune the whole thing, since it's very basic, but now at least I have something to show people and to refer editors to.

Tomorrow we head off to Durango, so of course I'll be looking for things to write about and pictures to take. So I'll probably post next Monday. See ya then!

It's a living...for a few months

I'm pretty lucky during the summer. Since I've worked for school districts, I've had the last 12 summers off and have enjoyed every one of them. The one problem I've had was to find something that I can do during those 2 1/2 months. I've tried coaching, copywriting, graphic design and fiction. None of these things have really panned out.

So I'm still trying to find that golden ticket, the thing (or things) I can do where I won't feel massively guilty about taking time off. I think I've found them now.

Travel writing is something I never thought about doing. The travel part, of course, is something I love. But unlike copywriting, it's something I can believe in and really enjoy. The income potential is rather slim, but that's not the point. I'm pretty good at writing, and have actually written about 4-5 short articles as well as one 1,000 word one. I can foresee doing more of this in the future. But having it replace my current career? Probably not. Still, I find it a blast.

Another interest that is growing into something more is photography. I first took it up in 1985, with an old-school SLR camera, which I still have. But rather than try to do something artistic, I'll probably try to do more travel/editorial and stock work for now. I thought about photographing people, but the thought of setting up an indoor studio is kind of "meh" to me right now. Still, I'm learning more about it, really re-learning all over again. But like the writing, I'm very psyched about it.

Here we go...hopefully, I'll something to show for it by the end of August, before I head back to school. :) In the meantime, here's a few samples of what I've done with my photography

Evergreen Lake


Niki at Red Rocks Amphitheater


And Coit Tower in San Francisco

Time for all the things I need to do

I realized that part of the reason why it's been hard for me to keep up this blog is because it's relatively difficult to upload photos the way I want to. Photography is one of those things that I'm including in this blog, along with travel, writing (and travel writing), knitting, cooking and being a parent. I'm trying to do a lot of things during my time off this summer. Here's the laundry list:

- Apply to microstock agencies
- Get an article published somewhere
- Establish a for-profit website
- Possibly become an online editor for family travel
- Finish a photography course

Some people wonder why I put J and N in summer camps while I'm off. I've never been able to answer that question in a satisfactory manner, until now. As you can see from the list, there's a lot to get done these next few months, and even then our vacation is going to inevitably get in the way of that.

Still, it's hard to stay too much away from these sweeties...

Wow, it's been WAAAAY too long!!!

Still here, still alive.... :)

My regular work this year was in a word, nutty. As a result, I have really neglected this blog, and my intention is to not do so this summer. I have plenty to still do - writing and photography in particular, and also learning about web copywriting (things that I'm hoping will provide some supplemental income over these next few months).

And yes, I'm still knitting, trying to get about ten projects done at once...eek

Another thing is trying to stay in shape for our upcoming vacation next week. We are going on Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas, heading to the Bahamas, St Thomas and St. Maarten. I can't describe the excitement I'm feeling, Everyone is going - kids, in-laws and of course hubby.

I'll try to see if I can blog from the ship, but it may cost us quite a bit. I'll at least get an entry or two off in Florida, before we set sail.

Until the next time...(which won't be in 10 months!)