Kalib and Thomas derail my gray whale rescue series - 6 studies; store in planning
Friday, February 10, 2012 at 11:33PM ;)
Lavina brought Margie home from her week of babysitting today, in time for lunch. Kalib and Lynxton came too. Being a night person, morning is the hard time of day for me and, furthermore, I had worn myself out working on the gray whale rescue blog so far and so, by the time they arrrived, I had barely managed to complete a list of non-blogging maintenance, PR and promotional tasks. I felt groggy, half brain-dead.
"Get Thomas out!" Kalib ordered upon entering the house. So I did. And there went my whole afternoon, and evening, too. I had lots of work to do to get my next gray whale post up, but sometimes a grandson and a smiling blue train engine must take precedence even over blogging a long-past gray whale rescue, so that people can know what really happened.
;)
They left about 8:00 PM. As my gray whale blog posts have all been taking full days plus to put together, I decided just to completely bag it for today. I decided instead to do today's blog on Kalib and his train, in six serious studies. Hence:
Kalib and Thomas, Study # 46: Kalib is energized by Thomas the Train.
;)
Kalib and Thomas, Study #6544: Kalib and his grandma swear at Thomas the Train.
"Damn you, Thomas, Damn you!" Grandma swears.
"You damn, Thomas, you damn!" Kalib follows suit. In matters of order, he still needs a little practice - but he makes me very proud.
;)
Kalib and Thomas, Study #3: Kalib and his mom. Thomas swears back:
"Damnit, Kalib!" Thomas swears. "Damnit, Lavina. For Hells sake! Bells hells! Damnit! Damnit! Damnit!" So swears Thomas.
;)
Kalib and Thomas, Study # 49, round, round:
Round and round, Thomas goes. Round and round, Kalib's eyes follow.
;)
Thomas and Kalib, Study #6: Grandma in the background.
Don't be surprised if I don't post gray whales again until Monday. I am going right back to work on it, but I need to finish it soon and it is already out of control. I think maybe I will be better off if I do some better plotting and planning on the weekend - figure exactly how many more posts I want to make and then pick the pictures for them all, work out the story lines and then drop them all in in rapid sucession.
Plus, Sunday is Jobe's second birthday, so I will be going to Anchorage to eat cake and ice cream. I won't be blogging gray whales while I am busy partying with Jobe.
I plan to start a store to go with this blog. I work for love, not money, or I would not do such a blog as this in the first place. Imagine, if you can, all the long hours I put into this blog, without the hope of receiving a penny in return, but I need money just the same. If I am to build this blog to where I want it to go, I need to figure out a way to make it generate income. I had a "donate" button on the last blog and people actually did donate - not enough to justify the effort when judged by the minimum wage standard, but enough to show me that there are people who are willing to pay for what I do even when they don't have to.
Rather than just pleading for people to donate, I will make a store so people can get something for their money - to start off with, just prints. A few different people have already requested prints from the gray whale rescue series, so I think I will start there, pick a dozen or so images and then offer two sizes each - large, 13 x 19 printed on Velvet Fine Art Paper with a fairly high price tag and then smaller prints that will be more affordable.
Throughout my entire career so far, I have never sold prints - except a few to museums. I have just not wanted to. It has not felt right to me. Yet, there are a number of artists in Alaska who have made paintings and other art work off my photographs, using the same pictures I have not wanted to sell as prints. Apparently, some have made pretty good money at it. It appears to me that Uiñiq will no longer be funded and that is okay if I can find a way to live and to build this blog so that I can do the same kind of work right here. If others can copy my work into theirs and sell it as art prints, I ought to be able to make prints of it and sell those, too.
I did sell a print about 20 years ago. There was a show in Anchorage that I was invited to enter but all prints in the show had to be marked for sale. I did not want to sell the print - so I picked a price that I figured nobody would pay - $300, and let them hang it in the show. And that was the only print in the show that did sell.
I also want to make iPad books. I have a book in draft form that probably needs another week or two of work. I hope to make it my first iPad book. I had hoped to have it done before I leave February 19 for five weeks in Arizona/India, but I have been too busy. That is not going to happen.
But it is coming. It takes two subjects that are very common in picture books, but combines them in a most uncommon pairing. Even though the two subjects are common and popular too, it will be the only book of its kind in all the world. (Hint - one of the subject types just jumped onto my lap, crawled to my chest and now lies across my arms even as I type. The other subject surrounds me, extending for hundreds, even more than a thousand miles, depending on what direction I look.)
Maybe I will make a 2013 calendar, too. How about a coffee mug? Ha!
I want to stay away from advertising. Advertising uglies up a good photo blog. Those ads that suddenly pop up over what you are trying to read? They anger me. And all the little videos that when you click "play" force you to watch 30 seconds of ad, first? I hate that.
I don't believe ads would generate that much revenue for me anyway.
In fact, I don't really believe selling prints or iPad books or calendars will, either, but I've got to start trying to do something. When I met the cameraman for Big Miracle, he told me I could make some limited edition prints of my gray whale work and sell them for as much as $12,000 each. Boy - 20 prints and I could fund a good year's worth of blog work! In the Arctic and the tropics, too! I liked the idea, but I didn't believe it. It's not going to happen. So I will see what I can make happen.
Reader Comments (11)
love seeing Kalib and his train...i like the print idea...go for it
Let us know when your store is open. I have some Inupiat masks that would blend well with one of your photos!
waiting for the ipadbook...i will buy an ipad and then the book...
just love the way Kalib adores Thomas! and Thomas too adores the Hess family too.. Damn you Thomas! Just love dont swear :)
So exciting the news about print sales and iPad stories. Jobe 2 yrs., how can it be???? Now looking at Kalib, so big, I guess it's true ;-)
whatever you blog about is always great, whether whales or restaurants or your always fascinating family. really loved the photos today! don't i say that every time?
Bill, great idea. Go for it.
Would you consider selling an assortment of notecards? I receive catalogs from the Smithsonian and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and both places sell a large selection of them, though overly expensive. I'm forever at a loss when a particular occasion arises that calls for a classy card - blank inside - but I can't get to the store. Imagine the study subject possibilities!
Twain - Anna - Sujo - Cyndy - Rut - Deven: I appreciate the encouragement.
Heidi - Yes, I would consider. So many things to find out about, so little time available...
hey bill lemme know when you are in india .......... am travelling between mumbai n gujrat .... all year around ...may be our paths cross somewhere ...cheers ......... am on 9320884596
Sell it and they (we)'ll buy !
:)
Godspeed!
i would definitely buy a few calendars. Maybe do a few versions - Arctic, Mat-Su Valley, and one with a little of everything.