I hate iphones!

The woman who wanted a low res photo put onto 30 x 20 canvas asked for two more.  I did everything I could to raise 1.2mb iphone photos to the size needed for printing on a big canvas, then onto a medium sized canvas, but none was deemed acceptable by cool4cards.  I trust their judgement on this - they are the experts, so we have had to refund the money and apologize to c4c for messing them about.

I have vowed never to even look at anything less than 5mp in future!

One or two other enquiries have not turned into purchases, and it's getting a bit tight for Christmas delivery.

There was another slightly ambiguous enquiry from another photographer sending three photos.  Not clear whether she wanted to have them on canvas, available on our website or just a crit.  So I gave her a crit, modified two of her photos and told her we only used our own photos for sale on the website, but if she wanted one of the two I modified printed onto canvas, to contact Luke.  No response after several days.  Maybe she took umbrage at the crit I gave her about her sunset - lovely colours, no interest.

Craft fair success

We have finally tidies up and put things away after the craft fair.  It went very well, with Luke selling 10 canvases for £570.46.  The bad news is that this means we have to pay £114.09 to Alison (20%).

I have no doubt that there will be spin-offs from the fair.  In fact we have already sold one canvas from the website and had an enquiry about putting someone's own photo on a canvas. It was poor quality, slightly out of focus or handshake, but I have managed to make it look much better.  Don't know what size she wants the canvas to be, but I think it would be acceptable after pixel interpolation even up to 30x20.  Anyway, most people just look at the content rather than the quality and this photo is of a couple at a party!

Other possible commissions might be forthcoming from George Belsey (turned wood stall holder) who has a photo of iced loch and snow covered mountains, and Brian Iley who wants a picture he already has to be put on canvas with modifications for Alison's Christmas present.

I think this could be a lucrative extension to what we offer.  Maybe it should go on the website, and a notice at future craft fairs.

The trellises and tubes worked well, leaning against the wall.  We displayed 16 pictures and ten A5 cards and envelopes(£2.99).  Luke sold one large (Derwent Trees) and one medium (Durham) as well as three cards (two Derwent Trees and one Blue Boat).  Nice that the Trees canvas was bought by Peter Aitken from Foxes Row.

When he came home, Luke found that someone had bought a Castle/twigs large canvas on the website.  Unfortunately because this was the first website sale, he (and I) had no idea what to do next!  Luke couldn't access the site because he had forgotten the password, so I changed it for him to one he would remember.  Will find out later tonight whether he has managed to find out who ordered the canvas which was paid for through Paypal.  All a bit fraught!

Worked out that our profit margin when selling at the craft fair is around 50%.  The 20% commission charged really makes a lot of difference.  So while we sold £130.45 worth on Friday, we only made £68.58
profit including all costs.

We are both hoping to at least match the sales for today and tomorrow, though last time we had no sales at all on Sunday.

Preparations for November Craft Fair

We have both been thinking about how to mount our canvases at the next craft fair in the castle.  We had assumed that we could use the pegboard again, but last week Alison said she thought they would be needing it for their own use.  We had also been offered a new site - on the staircase!  It was dirty, dusty, off the beaten track and smelled of cat pee.  So we said it wasn't suitable.  It wouldn't have been suitable even if it was clean, well lit and in the main area because there was no way to show our canvases!

Last weekend Alison said she would 'up grade' us to the Baron's Hall where apparently  the charges are higher.  This still left us with the quandary of how to display the canvases.  We finally settled on using two framed tressils joined with metal tubes for stability and rigidity.  The final assembly would need to be leaned against a wall, just as the pegboard was.  We bought the bits and pieces on Monday and assembled it yesterday and it looks good.  Disassembled it will fit in the car easily along with the canvases.

Yesterday and this morning I have been printing three copies of ten different greetings cards.  It proved impossible for me to print out the cards using just Elements11 tools, so I eventually tracked down a couple of templates, one for upright and one for landscape cards.  These worked fine with a couple of 'nudges' towards the middle.  I have now printed them all out, put them with envelopes and a business card into cellophane sleeves and they look very swish.  I made a temporary box to hold them and maybe it can be used for display.  I'll leave that to Luke.

So all I have to do now is print out a few more notices, then tomorrow pack all the canvases I have at home ready to take down.  It looks as though it will be dry tomorrow for set-up day, thank goodness, and in fact dry for the whole weekend.

Unfortunately, there is also a 'Christmas fair' at Shincliffe nursery on Sat and Sun, but I don't think it'll be much competition - seems to be Santa's grotto and foodstuffs mainly.  So, fingers crossed that we will sell even more than in July.

Lots of rain over the last week or so.  This has made me aware of the reflections in puddles, large and small.  As I walk out with Blue, I see these small puddles, like little holes in reality, showing another version of what we are so familiar with.  Hence this photo of the castle and reflection.
I have taken several versions and found that in order to get low enough to get most of the castle in the reflection, I need both a decent sized puddle (obviously) but also to be able to get the camera close to the ground.  If I were fitter and younger, I would be able to hunker down - and be able to get up again.  But I've found an alternative, provided nobody is around to see me.  I turn my back on the scene and bend down and take the picture between my legs.  Clever, eh?

Second village wedding

The second village wedding at which we took informal photos went off well.  There were the usual hiccups, like one bridgesmaid (out of 6!) went straight to the church instead of to the house to have photos taken, and the bride had problems with her petticoat (?) so didn't come to the house for posed photos at all.  Overall, though it all went well.

Stats.Luke took 548 photos, of which 102 used. (18%)
        Jean took 262 photos, of which 45 used. (17%)        Total taken 810, of which 147 used. (18%)


Just have to check the ones selected for a final time and put them on DVDs. Luke will take them over to Geoff tomorrow night.

I have a feeling we might be asked to do more such weddings/events.  My legs are really not up to 3 hours continuous walking and standing, so if we should be asked to do more, I will just help out when two photographers are useful, e.g. before the service and briefly afterwards, then leave Luke to do the candids of the reception afterwards.  He's so good at that!  See below -

Golf club photography

Luke is going to photograph a tournament at Brancepeth Golf Club this afternoon.

The forecast is for light rain and the tournament will take about four hours, so he's going to get wet unless he takes an umbrella!  We went to check out the site yesterday afternoon, sun orientation(!!) and where we could have the castle in the background.  They want photos of teeing off and the 10th seemed to be the best one.  It is also the safest as the distance from the nearest green to this teeing ground was quite long enough to avoid having to dodge misjudged golf balls.

He's taking his own small Lumix camera plus my small Ixuz camera as back up. I look forward to seeing what he manages to get, and I hope he doesn't get the cameras wet!  At least the castle will look impressive.  Here's a photo of the castle from the teeing ground.

"I won't do that again!"

Reference to blog dated 30 August 2013.

Luke and I have just agreed to do another 'informal only' photography at another village wedding.  We must be gluttons for punishment!

Just back from Glencoe holiday.  Weather was poor so not many photos, and most of them very average.  But being in the mountains again was great.  We even had snow!!

Anyway, here's a picture of Buachaille Etive Mor (The Great Shepherd of Etive) who stands guard over the entrances to both Glen Etive and Glen Coe.

The Golden Mean

I was prompted to look again at the Golden Mean after a comment on Tree in Mist at Brotherswater on The Shark Tank.  One of the commentators suggested that the tree might be better a little to the right.  I have always since Art College tried to use the Golden Mean, but I decided to check how far off I was in this particular photo.

I printed off the photo then using a ruler produced the above Fibonacci spiral.  I have discovered that 'my' golden mean is not the same as Fibonacci's!  It looks as though mine has drifted a little towards the centre.  Is this a problem?  I don't think so.  If my photos look right, then they are right - at least for me.

Maybe the tree should have been a bit to the right?  Dunno.

Asus MeMo tablet

On Saturday I picked up the MeMo tablet I had ordered from Tesco. I charged it up and on Sunday gave it to Lynn for her birthday present.  When we realised that it was either not functioning properly, or that we simply didn't know how to get past the initial problem of not have a screen menu visible, we decided to take it back.  I was amazed at how many owners of this tablet were having problems with it.  Does this mean that many of these tablets are sent out faulty?  Or is the software so impenetrable that normal people can't dig through it?  Anyway, it's gone, and is to be replaced by a food processor!

Finished at last

Finally finished checking and photoshopping all the photos Luke and I took at the wedding.  The canvas that Alison ordered has arrived and waiting for a phone call from her, and two DVDs of the photos were given to Pippa last night.  Big sign of relief.  I reckon  it took over 20 hours altogether, excluding the time at the wedding.  I won't do that again.

Feeling chillier out there tonight - Autumn is coming and with it lovely colours, misty mornings and opportunities for some good photos.

I invested in a UV filter - nice blue sky in the sunflower photo below.  Might lash out and get a polarizing filter before my holiday in two weeks time.

Wedding photos

I've just had a look at Luke's photos.  Apart from one or two, they are BETTER THAN MINE!  He is happy to just steam in and take a photo, whereas I tend to hang back.  All a bit depressing.  Even more depressing is the one or two shots that have included me.  I've realised that I am old, fat and my hair is going grey.  Ah, well, c'est la vie.

Village wedding review

The wedding all went off to plan, even the rain stayed off until all the photos had been taken in the castle courtyard.  I have been reviewing and doing some tidying up of my photos.  They are OK, but not wonderful.  The one I like best is, strangely enough, a landscape.  I took this photo on my way home, in the rain.  The rose petal confetti is just starting to stick to the ground.

Village wedding

I am checking and charging batteries etc. ready to go down to the church at 11.30am to photograph Clare's wedding.  I refused to do the 'formal' photos and one of Mark's relatives is going to do this.  Luke and I are going to be roving snappers to suppliment the formal photos.  I am sure Luke will be good at this, but I am a landscape photographer.  I am used to taking pictures of things that don't move about!  I need time to check all the settings to get the best photo.  So I think I'll be lucky to get anything very interesting/satisfactory.

To make matters worse, it has been raining heavily overnight and the forecast is for showers/light rain then heavy rain.  So perhaps there won't be much photography after the service.  If it's all going to be inside the castle, the light isn't very good, so I'll have to think about that.  And people keep moving about!!  Argh!!!

Christmas cards in August!

I spent most of yesterday researching the cost of producing Christmas cards on my own printer and level of prices for sale at the next lot of craft fairs in November.  Only found 10 images that were appropriate.  I think that maybe notelets/blank cards that can be sold all year round, and at a higher price than Christmas cards, might be a better line.  I could use some of the more popular images from the website.  The cost of production would be the same as Christmas cards, but the profit/sales should be higher and there would be a more definite link with the canvases.  More research needed!

This all started when I printed out two customer notelets thanking customers for buying from us.  They looked so good that I thought of the Christmas cards/notelets.  Maybe double size blank cards, singly wrapped would also go down well.  I know these sell in the shops for between £2 and £3.  Even more research needed!!!

Luke's first photos for sale on website

Luke took some photos of the Cathedral and Castle from the train as he headed down to York.  He used the Lumix camera that I gave him for his birthday and came up with two excellent views.  I cropped them and did a little work in photoshop and they look stunning!  Looks as though I'll be able to hang my camera up before long!  Shame I've just bought a Canon Ixus compact camera so that I can have it with me all the time!

Vane Tempest craft fair

We went to the Vane Tempest craft fair, but it's not suitable for us - mainly small inexpensive items.  Since then I have tracked down several possibles at Durham Town Hall, New College Durham, Washington Arts Centre, Lumley Castle and maybe Barnard Castle.  Luke says he's up for it, ie. every weekend in November and early December, so I'm just waiting to hear the charges for some of them before I finally book a place.

Fortunately all except Barnard Castle are close enough for me to drop Luke off and return to collect him and his takings!!

We've been thinking about how to display the canvases. All the venues look as though they won't let you hammer panel pins in the walls!  I think we've decided on concertina trellis which can be balanced on a table and leaned against the wall, though Luke is going to a craft fair in Bradford that his mother is involved with and will see if he can see a better solution to the problem.

Two more canvases sold

Two more canvases have been sold as a result of the craft fair.  Luke has sold a second canvas of The Village (medium) to Geoff Harrison, and Carole Reed decided she wanted a large canvas and chose Eyemouth Harbour.  I have included them in the calculations of costs and profits for the craft fair.

The craft fair has turned out to be much more worthwhile that any of us thought.  Fingers crossed for the Christmas fair in November.  I had a quick look round the fair and there was only one other stall selling pictures - drawn pictures of animals - very nice and attractive, but fortunately not in competition with us.

Tomorrow, Luke and I are going to have a look at the monthly fair held in Vane Tempest Hall to see the set up, how many stalls there are, and whether it's the sort of fair for us.

Luke sold four canvases altogether at the Craft Fair.  There was only a quarter of the visitors this year compared with last year, possibly because the Sunderland Air Show was on and the weather was hot and sunny, or maybe because the recession is starting to bite.  But we did pretty well.  Roll on November for the Christmas Craft Fair.

Luke and our stall at the Craft Fair.  He's sold one canvas - Blue boat on Arran .  Great!  Tomorrow and Sunday afternoon will be busier.

First day of the Craft Fair

Starts at 10.00am; sellers to be ready at 9.45am.

Last night I was printing some notices for the Fair and my printer jammed.  I had been printing on card, and foolishly 'cancelled' the printing when I realised that the second page was about to print on the back of the first.  Unfortunately, the printer didn't just spit out the card like it usually does if I cancel.  I couldn't see the card anywhere and the printer's troubleshooting instructions were incomprehensible.
 
Eventually, I phone Luke who came up and had it sorted in about half a minute flat.  He was rewarded with a Magnum choc ice!

It going to be another hot, humid day, but Luke should be cool and comfortable in the castle.  If it gets unbearably hot, I might go and join him!

More awards!

Three more awards from pixoto - that's 13 to date.

Brancepeth Castle Craft Fair

The bi-annual Brancepeth Castle Craft Fair starts on Friday.  Luke is showing some canvases, probably hanging in the main entrance hall - a plum site!  We might have to order some more small canvases, but we have enough of our own large canvases (3) and medium canvases (2).  I would expect that the smaller canvases would be most attractive to the people who go to the craft fair.  Far more people see it as a cheap day out with the kids (who get in free!) than actually come with the intention of buying anything.  The November fair is generally better because Christmas is looming.  So I think if we sell anything this time, we can look forward to selling more in November.  Have to make sure Luke hangs the canvases above the reach of sticky fingered kids.
I've bought a set of tables from Lidl this morning and they might be useful at the fair.  We will have a big wall, but probably not enought room for one of the castle's own tables, so maybe one of these new ones will be OK.

More awards, 10 now.  I'm interested in how the score can go down as well as up after 'buying' more duels.  I have deleted some of the pictures that were below 500 or that had more lost than won in the duels.  It means that I can use the buying more duels option for the best photos.  The image of rowing boats at Durham is still the best by far.

Got another "Best of the Day awards, this time for a photo of the railway line to Kyle of Lochalsh.  I am looking at older photos with more interest now!

A Best of the Day Award today for the Pampas Grass and sunset photo.  Might consider putting it on our website! 

Have a look at all our pictures at www.villagecanvases.co.uk.

Loaded some pictures onto Pixoto for the first time yesterday and won two awards - with photos I didn't think good enough to put on the Village Canvases website!  I'm really not very good at liking the same pictures as everybody else, including photography judges!!
See all our pictures at www.villagecanvases.co.uk.

#

Four new canvases have arrived from the printers ready to be hung in Jumping Bean cafe.  They are Red Reeds (above), Rough Sea at Marsden, Durham Cathedral and Fulling Mill, and Castle Rigg stone circle.  It's always exciting to see how the photos transfer to canvases.  These canvases are small (16 x 12 inches) but they look great.  The biggest canvases (30 x 20 inches) look amazing.  
Have a look at more pictures at www.villagecanvases.co.uk.

More canvases sold.

Yippee! Sold two canvases from the display at Jumping Bean cafe.  Four more different canvases has been ordered to maintain the display.

Have a look at all of our pictures at www.villagecanvases.co.uk.

Castle Rigg stone circle

Just spent 8 hours revising the 'copyright' images on the Village Canvases website.  Still have one to do - can't find the original - argh!!
Have a look at our pictures at www.vilagecanvases.co.uk.  There is a great variety of images which I'm sure you will enjoy.

Just come back from a few days near Loch Lomond.  The weather was kind and the midgies considerate.  I took lots of photos but this church at Arrochar is very eye-catching.  What you can see is the facade and the rest of the building is quite normal for rural Scotland.  I must see if I can find out more about who decided to make this church so different.

Have a look at more pictures at www.villagecanvases.co.uk.

Jumping Bean Cafe has allowed us to put up four small canvases, with the promise of more space for bigger canvases once the current exhibition has finished.  Looking forward to that.
See our pictures at www.villagecanvases.co.uk.

I spotted this gaily painted rowing boat pulled up on the western shore of Arran.  The sun was just going down and I was struck by the luminous effect of the orange sky and the blue benches on the boat.  I think it has produced a very pretty picture.
Have a look at more pictures on www.villagecanvases.co.uk

"Inga" - boat on the Caledonian canal

I photographed this boat waiting in Corpach Basin at the west end of the Caledonian Canal for high tide so that it could sail into Loch Eil and on to the open sea.  I was fascinated by the pattern of the line of old tyres all the way along the side of the boat.  Did this suggest a bad 'driver' or a cautious one?  Perhaps it was a tight squeeze in the locks along the canal.  Anyway, that and the colours of rust and red paint, and the name 'Inga', together with the flat calm reflection made the subject irresistible.
Have a look at more images at www.villagecanvases.co.uk.

This beautiful quiet beach is at Ardtoe, near Acharacle on Ardnamurchan.  Great for swimming or paddling.  The sand is clean and the water is shallow.  But cold!  There is some parking on a crofter's area - just room for half a dozen cars, but there were never any other cars when we went (June).  After your swim (or paddle) go into Acharacle where there is a fantastic bakery.  They sell the usual pies and pasties, but also some fantastic sweet chocolatey things.  Very fattening and very delightful!
Have a look at villagecanvases.co.uk for more Scottish images.