Art in the Park 2011

So today was Art in the Park at Latham Park in Sioux City, IA. For those not in the know, Latham Park is a privately owned park in Sioux City, IA. The Latham family home sits on the park grounds, and when the last of the Lathams passed away, the land was mandated by the person's will to become a park. Now last year it was rainy and cold all day long. This year it was misty and cold all day long. The funny thing is, the last two years have been the only years the park has had this problem - and the last two years are the years I have been attending! Maybe it's me? LOL There were quite a few window shoppers, but not many buyers. What did I sell? A bookmark and 2 round washcloths. Yes, I said a bookmark and 2 round washcloths. That was it. My best friend's mother sold one of her baby blankets and my best friend sold nothing. :( We attribute it to the dreary day as it was very cold and most people were in a hurry to get back home and out of the cold. I did manage to see some cousins of mine at the park although it was brief. :) I also saw other people I know including some people I went to school with, one of whom I am working on a couple of custom orders for. And now, for those who would like pictures, you may view them below.

Want to see the rest? Click here!

I Am Not A Photographer

On three all of my Etsy listings for Eternal Stardust Jewelry, I had have some pretty poor quality photos. I took some photos yesterday and I changed them out on three listings to try and make the listings look better. If you look at the Etsy Mini in my sidebar to your right, you'll see the first three listings have the new photos.

Now when I asked people on Etsy, they said that the new photos were an improvement, but that they still needed work. That they needed to be made lighter during the editing process. To me they are more than light enough, but maybe it is just my monitor on my laptop is brighter than theirs so to me the images look lighter.

The problem here is this: I am not a photographer. I never have been. I never will be. I do not particularly *like* to take pictures. I would seriously rather just crochet and bead and let someone else do the photography if I could afford it. But I can't. I *have* to take these pictures myself. 

Now I don't do so badly *taking* the pictures, it is the *editing* that I just do not do well. All the tutorials on the planet will not help me learn to edit my photos better. Why? Because I have partial colorblindness issues. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I do not see colors precisely the same way the rest of you do. In fact, when it comes to blues and greens, I am often heard asking my friends if what I am looking at is blue or green, because I sometimes can not tell the difference. It is perfectly obvious to my friends what color the object is, but I often see something blue as green and vice versa. 

So why don't I see if someone else will edit my photos for me? Well, for one, I'm impatient. I would seriously rather do it myself and have it done ASAP than have to wait for a friend to do it for me. I probably could see if LaShawn (my best friend and owner of Baby Bratz Designs) would edit my photos for me, but honestly, I don't think she even edits her *own* photos. I don't know of anyone else who edits photos and is *good* at it that would be willing to edit the pictures for me. 

So, if anyone here has any suggestions regarding photo editing for a broke college student who just wants to make her shop better so it might start being at least semi-successful, please let me know. :) Thanks!

A Couple of Challenges

This month of February I have challenged myself to do 2 things that will help me promote Eternal Stardust Jewelry & Accessories. The first one is to try and list at least one new item each day during the month of February. I started off today by listing a pair of earrings. I have a couple of other pairs of earrings to list, as well as two scarves that I am in the process of making to list, so I have at very least, through Friday covered. While I am not sure exactly what I will list after Friday, I can say that I will find something to list.

That being said, my 2nd challenge is to find a way to work with what I have right now to make my photographs of the jewelry and scarves better. For the scarves I was thinking of possibly photographing them around someone's neck - to show how they look actually being worn - although with the hooded scarf that would not be such a good idea and I've heard that people do not want to see earrings being modeled by a person at all. I've placed a poll in the sidebar regarding how to display earrings for pictures - please vote for your preferred display.

If you have any other feedback or options for display of bracelets, necklaces, scarves, earrings, etc, please feel free to leave me comments. Thank you!