Aug. 7th, 2008

abracanabra: (Default)
Magic realism (or urban fantasy, if you want to call it that) done Americana-style can be a beautiful thing. Examples of this are Neil Gaimon's American Gods, Tim Powers' Fault Lines series (Last Call, Expiration Date, Earthquake Weather), and Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine. Hotel Astarte is an Americana magic realism short story podcast from PodCastle. It's not a sad story, but its bones have the old sorrow of fairytales and decades-old tragedies. The writing is as refreshing as a cold glass of milk and a slice of fresh-baked honey wheat bread after you've finished hanging the laundry out to dry in the summer sun.

Go forth and listen.
abracanabra: (Default)
IMG_8342

Yes, I really should be selling my photos. I have an iStockPhoto account that I don't load things up into as much as I should, but I'm talking about prints now. A few things have led me to this:
1. [livejournal.com profile] alisgray would like me to make up prints/postcards/merch from my photos to sell in her store.
2. [livejournal.com profile] malcubed wants there to be an easy way for people to order prints of some of the (few) wedding photos I took of him and [livejournal.com profile] chesh.
3. My parents are probably organizing a family gallery photography show for us in, um, Kansas. Still, prints are needed!
4. I've gotten this wistful "I could do this" feeling at all art exhibits/fairs I've attended lately, and I should listen to that.
5. Maybe if I sell a few I can afford a camera that will make me not feel guilty about the quality of the low-light photos I sell. And that will allow bigger prints. And other fine and wonderful things, like making me rich and famous. Heh.

Selling notes:
* Imagekind lets me have up to 24 images available for free, so I'll probably go that route for letting others order prints direct if I can't find a better.
* Etsy will let me put prints up for sale, and seems like an interesting option, but I'll need to make the prints myself.
* I really should upload more stuff to iStockPhoto and investigate other stock photo options.

And I've also got these ideas for collage/writing/mixed media/photography/found object art projects bubbling up in my hindbrain. Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaghhhhhhhh! I wish there were two of me: one to be creative, and one to execute all these damn ideas.

Long-term, this means I need to put more effort into it and find the time from somewhere. Alas, I cannot quit my job to work part-time on photography and part-time on writing, because that would leave me with no reliable money stream. V. bad.

Short-term, please suggest a photo printing service that allows me to upload good-quality digital images for free, lets other people order prints and products, and (this is the difficult bit) gives me some profit for these prints.

Second, related question. For making digital prints, where do you recommend?
abracanabra: (Default)
  • 08:23 "Within hours of his demise in 1955, Albert Einstein’s brain was salvaged, sliced into 240 pieces and stored in jars for safekeeping." - ...
  • 09:12 CSA pickup today, and I'm already behind because I hardly cooked last week.
  • 09:22 So tempting & easy! Ice Cream in a Bag. (NYT) ping.fm/A7rT2
  • 09:47 Dear editors: Having a contest where the "prize" is unpaid publication? Not cool.
  • 11:04 Favorite phrase of the day: "man-sized pant stones" - from this article re creativity & time ping.fm/fq6i0
  • 13:41 I don't even get cupcakes too often and I'm *still* tempted! shirt.woot.com/
  • 20:16 Americana magic realism short story podcast, very good. ping.fm/qyNxO
  • 20:47 Note to self: set up an Etsy account to sell prints and stuff.

Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter

Profile

abracanabra: (Default)
Abra Staffin-Wiebe

April 2025

S M T W T F S
  12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
27 282930   

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios
OSZAR »