Archive for December, 2008

istockphoto.com

Monday, December 15th, 2008

For those of your unfamiliar, istockphoto.com is a website for graphic designers and others looking for low cost stock photography to use for advertisements, web banners, book and magazine covers… all kinds of projects needing photography as one of it’s elements.  Historically, stock photography was expensive, but with the advent of the internet, a new distribution channel was opened up for stock photographers making it more convenient, and less costly to gain an audience for their photos.  istockphoto was the first entry into what is now called the microstock industry and basically created a new business model for stock.  Lower cost, greater access, and more selection are the hallmarks of this new industry while giving a foothold for advanced amateurs and new professionals to gain market share.  I started with istock as a test to see if my work had any real commercial value.  Besides, my photos were just sitting on my computer otherwise and I wanted to share a bit.  So I joined and hoped for the best.  My photography interest and skills have grown along with my portfolio there and I am grateful for the opportunity my association with that company has presented.  One of the downsides of the royalty-free microstock  model is that there is no requirement for people who purchase your photo to share their final product using it.  So, it’s not uncommon to happen upon one of your photos in use and it’s a complete and usually pleasant surprise.  I’ll be sharing some of the uses I find of my photos here.  Here’s the first… a book cover using one of my photos from the Chincoteague/Assateague wild horses.  I was so happy when I found it, I bought a copy or two of the book to share with friends and family who were always supportive of my photography.

Happy trails!

Murphy photo in use

Thursday, December 11th, 2008

Found our photo of Murphy in the garden in use with an article about cat care.  It’s an example of how photos purchased from istock are used.

Garden Plants Toxic to Cats

Tuesday November 25, 2008
It should be said that most cats will not eat plants outdoors, as long as grass is available. However, occasionally, out of boredom or curiosity, a cat may nibble a leaf or stem. From personal experience, I have shared my home at one time or another with over 40 cats, and I have yet to lose one from ingesting harmful plants.Still, if you’re of the “safe rather than sorry” frame of mind, as I usually am, you need to know which plants are potentially harmful, and by what degree.

Pictures shown on the following pages depict some of the more popular plants toxic to cats. This is not an exhaustive list – for that, see the ASPCA’s Toxic Plants List. Let’s take a walk through this lovely but potentially lethal garden for cats.
Photo Credit: © iStock Photo / cjmckendry

It’s ALIVE!!!

Wednesday, December 10th, 2008

Our own little Frankenstein… this website.  I feel like we’ve been piecing it together for sometime now and finally today, we rolled it out.  Thanks to Brian at South Jersey Websites for putting up with all the questions and kicking and stomping feet.  And thanks to everyone who helped edit along the way!

Web site and Getty

Tuesday, December 9th, 2008

Argh… I’ve spent much of the past week loading the product database for the web site.  I have to admit it was a very tedious process and took much more time that I had envisoned.  Because of that, I did limit the photos a bit (realizing just 202 I think of over 600 currently in our ‘card stock’ directory) and I did limit the card stock sayings a lot!!!  Unfortunately, I had to do this just to get the web site up and going in a timely way.  New photos will be added as they are produced and oldies that didn’t make the first cut will be added as time allows.  I will be adding a few card sayings over time; however, if there’s a saying or photos that you need in the meantime, just drop me an e-mail and we’ll get that loaded for you.  I hope to be live on the web within the next week or so.

 

On another note, on Thanksgiving day I received word that I had been accepted at Getty Images as a contributing photographer as part of their working relationship with Istockphoto.  I’m quite excited and to be honest, a little intimidated by this opportunty, and will be spending some time over the holidays planning on how I’m going to support my istock, Getty and HappyTrails portfolios going forward. 

 

The show at Eastern High School (12/6/08) was nice.  Now that we’ve been doing shows for a few months, we’re starting to see some ‘repeat’ customers, which I really treasure.  And we’ve gotten to see how other crafters, especially photographers, display their work.  We’ll be working on our display in the next few months, trying to come up with a better backdrop system that doesn’t mean so much toting and manual labor the day of the show for Howard.  Also, maybe something I could set up and take down myself, so I could do shows alone and give him some well-deserved time off from Happy Trails.  As of now, we’re planning on shows in Pitman, Hamilton, Haddonfield, Hope Church, and possibly Collingswood for 2009.. with more to come.   If you know of a good show that might work for us, please drop a line.  Generally, we like to stay in NJ and within 25 miles of our base in Maple Shade, NJ (between the Cherry Hill and Moorestown Malls). 

 

Thanks for your interest and support, and Happy Trails.

First post

Monday, December 1st, 2008

Hi there and thanks for checking in on us.  This is our first blog posting, so please forgive any ‘issues’ as we learn the process.  Our hopes for the website is that it will allow us to keep in closer touch with our friends, family and fans of Happy Trails photos, and will provide a one spot stop for any info related to our photography.  Please let us know if there’s any info missing that you’d like to see or you have any trouble using the site.  Thanks!

This coming Saturday (12/6/08) we have a show at Eastern High School in Voorhees, NJ.  If anyone is in the area, please drop in and see us.  Shows can be a little stressful with all the work of set-up, so it’s always delightful to see a familiar, friendly face coming for a visit. 

I think that will be our last craft show for 2008 and we are looking to build a schedule for 2009.  If anyone knows of any good craft or arts shows, please drop us a line.  Thanks!

Special thanks to Nan Louie for her design work on our banner (did you know that was me under the bridge??) and company logo.  And of course, extraordinary thanks to our friends and families for supporting us always, but especially for their support over this past year.   

Happy trails!!!

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