Come On Spring!

After last year's long hot summer with wildfires that lasted from June until October, and then being cooped up in the house all winter with a damn broken leg, I am SO itchy for spring! It seems as though it will never arrive!  Still snow on the ground and more in the forecast. It warms up for a day or two (not enough to keep the snow away), but then Old Man Winter jumps out from behind a tree and yells, "GOTCHA!" 

I have so many ideas for photos now, and I also want to start shooting some photos for fun, using “props”: toys, household items and a crystal ball (which I ordered and received a few weeks ago).

I signed up for four photo classes!  Mastering Manual Controls, Shooting in Any Light; Photographing the Moods of Water; and Wildflower Photography Workshop. The first two I desperately need for shooting the dog agility trials, as they are held in a large barn with little lighting. The other two just sound like fun. 

I love taking the photo classes at the Lifelong Learning Center. They are reasonably priced and lots of fun. There is also one called Photographing Garnet Ghost Town, which I would so love to do, but it's the same weekend as the July stock dog trial - damn. Too many things going on at the same times!  Maybe next summer... 

The Ball is Rolling!

Things are beginning to fall into place!  I have been approved to have Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays off; I’ve made sure the Manager at work knows that I have to have a minimum of 30 hours a week (32-34 would be ideal); the stock dog trials are already scheduled; I’ve scheduled photo shoots for the Equestrian Club; I have three projects with the Downtown Association; approximately 250 business cards have been dropped off to the Equestrian Club; 1000 business cards have been received; 1000 tri-fold brochures have been ordered & shipped; and I have prints and note cards ready for the Spring Market!  

With the help of a friend I am working on shooting dog agility and rally for the local kennel club, and possibly some dog portraits. 

I need to find a company that will print my note cards inexpensively, with no minimum order. Someone gave me a web address several years ago, and they were very reasonable, I lost the address when my old computer crashed.

Getting Ready for the Market

Spent all day Sunday and last night, matting all of the 4x6 & 5x7 photos, and they look amazing!  The backer boards on the 5x7 mats give them a nice, finished look, and I placed a return address label on the back of each one, with my business name and address on them. The clear sleeves make them look absolutely professional!   I think they’ll be a hit at the markets - at least I certainly hope so!  
 

A Lucrative Deal??

Years ago I had contacted the Missoula Equestrian Park, to find out about shooting photos at their events. The response I got was basically, “sure, go ahead”. I did go to a few of their events but nothing panned out, so I bagged it.  

This past weekend, I looked them up again online, only to discover that their website has been changed from Missoula Equestrian Park, to Missoula Equestrian Club.   Hmmm…  I took a shot and contacted them again. I received a reply the very same day from Rachel, who is the secretary of the club. Her reply was as follows:

           

            “Good Morning Vicki,

            I looked at your website - your work is beautiful - very excited you want to come

            photograph our equestrians! Please see BSHP calendar for all event dates.

           

            For the Mini's and the CMR shows - packets are given out to all who enter. I'd

            suggest you provide fliers for us to include in the packets, as well as display at

            the  show office, or even a banner too if you have one.

           

            The BSHP (Big Sky Horse Park), Board is happy to put a link from their website

            to yours to promote your service, and asks that in return, you provide 5-6 digital

            images to the Park, per event shot, for promotional purposes. These shots will of

            course include your photo credit.

            I've cc'd all the other BSHP show managers so that they can contact you for their

            specific events.

            Thanks so much for reaching out to us - look forward to seeing you this Spring!”

WOW!  This is very exciting news!  I’ve checked out their website before, and they usually have at least two events per month. If it all pans out, this could turn out to be a very lucrative contact!  

Originally my thought was to go back to work full time in the winter, but if I can find other events during the winter months I would make it permanent.  Maybe I would just go back full time between Thanksgiving and Christmas…  four weeks of chaos. I could handle that.  Maybe…

Ideas

I signed up today for a Spring Market in a small town about an hour south of me. I've done their holiday markets for the past four years, and do quite well there, but they decided to move it to spring to avoid as much holiday competition as possible.  There are far too many many markets around the holidays! 

I opted not to make new cards, but to just try and sell what I currently have to clean house, so to speak. I did go through them all and brutally edited out ones that I really liked but had not sold well in the past - if at all. Those went into the discount basket; $1.00 each. The price alone should sell them. 

I decided to try and sell prints for the first time. I picked out my very best photos and ordered 100 5x7s and 100 8x10s - mixed and matched. I also found a place that sold white beveled mats with backer boards and clear sleeves at a very reasonable cost. I ordered enough to cover all of the photos I ordered. I can't wait to see how they look!  

I also called the Downtown Association about information regarding the signal boxes around town. These large, ugly, gray boxes have been commissioned to local artists, who have painted wonderful scenes and designs on them, and have turned them into beautiful works of art!  I've been very interested in photographing them, and the lady who answered the phone was so very helpful in showing me where to find the locations of all of the boxes.

We discussed three other possible photo projects as well - one that I want to do and two that she suggested. She said there is a good chance they will pay me a stipend for copies of the photos, and will make sure my name is on each one they use. I agreed wholeheartedly!  

Nope, sorry - I'm not going to reveal what these projects are just yet. You'll have to wait until they are done and ready to be shown to the public. Really, I'm not certain anything will come of it, but if nothing else it will be great publicity for my business!