Any thoughts?

Can anyone tell me where and how I can take pictures of my books that has a white background, is either outside or in a window, is in a "context that make sense", has something interesting behind it, has something personal about it, shows the entire book, is zoomed in on detail, and is the same for each book so that people can recognize my work from the picture; all for the first picture of each listing?

That's what I need to do to incorporate all the tips I've been given for my photography. Now, I know my photos still need work, but just who's advice should I follow? I find it fascinating to look at the shops of people who give me tips, and about half the time I find that the people who told me, my pictures stink, need a lot of work on their own pictures. (Of course, I've told other people they need work on their pictures, but I always started by saying I knew my own weren't perfect. That makes everything OK, doesn't it?)

My own inclination is to ignore everyone (personally, my favorite way of handling conflicting advise). Instead, I'm going to try to copy one of my customers techniques, (who is a photographer, by the way) who never made any derogatory comments on my pictures, even though she actually knew how to take better pictures, because I love these photos: Rachael's blog.

But of course, these are large photos. I need to be able to capture someones attention in a 1"x1" square, out of 3,000 other 1"x"1 squares. $55-$150 worth of attention.

I also need a good camera to work with. Mine's broken, so I have to use Mom's lousy one.. Actually, she has a very good camera, that was very expensive when it first came out. But, a very good, complicated camera becomes a very bad, very useless camera in the hands of a user who won't take the time to read the manual to figure out how it works. I have so far discovered (by randomly trying buttons, {the same way I play video games} )that the only way to get a clear picture of white pages with writing on them in in-direct lighting is to put it on the movie setting. (Why does it take pictures on the movie setting? Haven't the slightest idea.)

After reading this post, one would probably get the impression that I'm electronically challenged. Let me enlighten you, if that is your belief. I can learn anything (within reason, I'm no "geek") if I have someone show me, or if I care enough to spend hours and hours on end figuring it out on my own. I also love on-line tutorials (how I figured out how to post links on this blog when the "cheat" link button isn't working, and how to apply the background, and what-not), and look for them whenever possible. Then you don't have to expose your ignorance to anyone.

As Stymie said: "Uh,uh. I won't show my ig-nor-ance to noooo-body!"

Christos Anesti!

Aleithos Anesti!

Becase He lives, I can face tomorrow
Because He lives, all fear is gone,
Because I know He holds the future,
And life is worth the living, just because He lives !

~ William & Gloria Gaither

Shop Makeover

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
~ Albert Einstein

If I don't want to be termed insane, and I want more sales than I am currently getting, I should start doing something different, right? I decided my "something different" would be a shop "makeover", starting with a new camera and picture angles, moving on to new titles and offering free shipping. Then I decided I needed a new doll. I had been thinking about it for a while, but came to a decision about it when one of my customers commented on how ugly my doll was, and how that had previously turned her off from my dresses. So I bought an American Girl doll, and backdrop.

American Girl items are scandalously overpriced.

I'm working on the pictures of my books, and am trying to get some new tooling designs, too; we'll see how that comes out.

I have also been trying to come up with a little more variation for my dresses, as they tend to get a bit boring after a while. I liked the way this one came out, though I think the over-sleeve needs a little tweaking; it's not quite big enough. I also started listing my dresses on Ebay again, and seem to be having better luck now than I did a year ago. As of Saturday, I was 7 (sales) for 11 (listings).

Most of my customers on Ebay have been people that own children's boutiques, or something, I think. I'm not sure yet what I think about my dresses being re-sold, but for now I'm just enjoying the extra sales.

So far, I've had more interest on Ebay in this dress than any other, though no bids yet. I have yet to decide whether it's owing to the dress, the doll, or the backdrop.

How True

"You can never do a kindness too soon, because you never know how soon it will be too late."
~Emerson

How often we discover this to be true. . .