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djamesbradley · Joined: 14 Feb 2009 Posts: 405

Another bragging thread by me, so if you're sick of my self-absorption, stop reading now. Good things come in three's.

1) Today was my best day ever on SS. My former best day actually came about 10 days ago, and it was very similar. I know your curiosity is killing you, so here are today's numbers: 1 EL, 2 ODs at full price, and 17 reg. DLs.

2) I received an email notification that I had won a photo contest for a well published paper for the Sunshine Coast area of British Columbia. I took first place in the "Places" category. The fourth photo is the winner. Ironically, it was rejected by SS (and yes, I did clone out the ferry's insignia for the SS version).

3) A restaurant owner in my hometown has offered me the walls of her establishment for the entire month of April. I am in the process of having 15 prints framed. They will all be on consignment. The contest winner will be one of them, as well as the three that were printed out in huge size and now hang in the local mall. Just to top off my narcissism, I've included these three as well.

Thanks again to all who have offered their help via these forums, in particular, Mike Norton, and Rinder. No way any of this would have happened without the help.

blinztree · Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2012 12:47 am

Congrats! Your work inspires me to do better so I'll continue reading `:-)

djamesbradley · Joined: 14 Feb 2009 Posts: 405

Thank you!!

mikenorton · Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2012 1:55 am

Congratulations! You picked a beautiful place to be from.
Thanks for the shoutout!

hansenn · Joined: 10 Feb 2009 Posts: 818 Location: netherlands

Damn...you beat me with one OD. I had the same day last week, same numbers.

chbaum · Joined: 19 Sep 2010 Posts: 388 Location: Karlsruhe, Germany

Congrats! Wonderful pictures indeed! Not only stockworthy but simply beautiful!

February seems to be nice in general: It's my BME by far, and in the last two months, I've earned more (i.e. the $75 to get paid) than in the last one-and-a half years (!) together (first payment ever was in December 2011). A growing port and especially some FullHD videos seem to be effective. Unfortunately I've never had an EL so far. If those started to kick in, it would be nice and regular pocket money for me.

Best regards,

Christian

chbaum · Joined: 19 Sep 2010 Posts: 388 Location: Karlsruhe, Germany

Congrats! Wonderful pictures indeed! Not only stockworthy but simply beautiful!

February seems to be nice in general: It's my BME by far, and in the last two months, I've earned more (i.e. the $75 to get paid) than in the last one-and-a half years (!) together (first payment ever was in December 2011). A growing port and especially some FullHD videos seem to be effective. Unfortunately I've never had an EL so far. If those started to kick in, it would be nice and regular pocket money for me.

Best regards,

Christian

hhltdave5 · Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2012 7:38 am

Well done and congratulations. I hope things continue to go well for you.

kenk · Joined: 30 Jun 2005 Posts: 2936

Congrats, and that first shot is fantastic!

linma · Joined: 23 Jun 2011 Posts: 29

WOW！Great shooting！

angelawaye · Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2012 12:45 pm

Very impressive and well deserved! Congrats!

djamesbradley · Joined: 14 Feb 2009 Posts: 405

Thanks All!!!

It's good to have the ego petted every once in awhile.

blinztree · Posted: Wed Feb 29, 2012 12:50 am

The third image reminds me of an old James Bond vinyl LP. It brings back memories. Love your work, keep it up :-)

rinder99 · Posted: Wed Feb 29, 2012 1:24 am

Very Cool Darren.

editha · Posted: Wed Feb 29, 2012 5:27 am

Congratulations and no buzz kill intended but I have had a great deal of experience with "restaurant" showings.

1) Matting and Framing 15 pictures can be very expensive and I have often found that sometimes the larger prints are more expensive than a buyer wants to shell out or larger than a potential buyer wants for their wall. 30 days is a short time to to recover those framing costs. May I suggest that you also contact several of your area libraries and see if they would be interested in displaying some or all of your works after April. If you include information about the displays at the restaurant, mall and winning the contest you may find the libraries are very willing to display your work and allow for consignment sales too.

2) Tuck business cards into the frames so that the potential buyers may contact you directly. Unfortunately, I have also found that many buyers may not be interested in the frame that has been selected and are more interested in only a signed and matted print so they may choose their own frame. This also gives you the option of selling multiple prints in various sizes.

3) Try to co-ordinate deliveries so that you do not have to go out of your way or wait for a buyer to show up. That can get very time consuming and expensive.

4) Find a wholesale provider of matts and polybags (to protect your prints)

5) If you are doing your own prints, then cost them out so that you don't lose money and do the same if someone else is printing them for you.

6) If your stuff is already hanging at the Mall, it might be worth your while to contact the Mall offices and see if you can set up a table for a weekend after the restaurant show and display some of the unsold "restaurant" pictures, smaller matted and bagged prints, and maybe even bagged cards with envelopes. Print out a photo of your stuff on display at the restaurant...you might even be able to get the restaurant owner to cough up a little money if there are any display costs "if you are also advertising the restaurant". And any articles regarding the contest.

7) are there any small shops at the mall that might be interested in selling smaller signed, matted and bagged prints? The large chains are almost impossible to get interested. Try to avoid consignment sales when you start dealing with shops...you get stuck with all the production costs and later the unsold inventory so there is less incentive for the shop to market your work and sales are entirely passive.

Finally, if there is a lot of interest in your local work, then contact the Chamber of Commerce and see if they would be interested in promotional use. It will help to build your local profile.

If you are interested in any other suggestions PM me.

Regards