Cool Stone - a brand new print from Eyeshoot Photography.

Cool Stone - by Eyeshoot at Etsy

Here's another rediscovered shot from my archives.  I've given it a subtle treatment with texture layers which accentuate the feel of the stone.

UK Beauties - I've finally got my Treasury live!

After waiting for the longest time, I finally have my Treasury up and live, it's a Treasury West (I still don't know what the difference is between that and the main one, never mind the not yet released Treasury East), here's the full view including my alternate choices.

Each link below goes directly to the item featured above - until it sells out anyway!

The Cycling Artist, Esther Coombs, Summersville, British Impressionist

Red Ruby Rose, Anna Mai, Robin 101, Sparkly Shoes

Spin City UK, Vintage Kitty, Nemeton, Polaroids and Pinholes

Champignons, AMI Designs, Silver Hand, Joanna Boyes

I'd love to know what you think about it as it's been a while since I've made one and I hope I've not lost my knack.

All of the artists are from the UK and have shops bursting with beautiful things - why not show them some love and have a click around their shops, you won't regret it!

I've made a perpetual calendar!

The unexpected sale of a calendar on Friday got me thinking.....

If one customer wanted a calender at an unorthodox time of the year, why wouldn't another and why should they have to waste the months which have already passed?

This led me to tweak my design and turn my 2010 calendar into a perpetual calendar, one which can be used for any year.

This is how the pages look now - I think that they look pleasingly more simple than with the addition of the day line at the top, that little bit more space works well.

Perpetual Calendar in Clear Frame from Eyeshoot at Etsy - $22

I'm still waiting on that Treasury and have rather irritatingly just missed T West by a nano second.....my time will come!

The first Mini Picture Block sold from my Etsy Shop!

I've just sold my frst Mini Picture block out of my Etsy shop which has made me very happy.

It was good old Ministry of Silly Walks, hopefully it's the first of many!

Graffiti Mini Block from Eyeshoot at Etsy- $14

I don't know if it's coincidental, but that very listing was in a Treasury today, if it sold because of that exposure I think it could be the very first item to sell for that reason!

Miniture Works of Art

by Jessica Torres

I seem to have spent all weekend eating!

It's been a busy few days.....

We returned from a very intense but successful trip to Holland, a 4.30am start followed by a 5.00am start isn't my usual schedule, but I survived!  The rest of the week passed in a normal fashion with the added excitement of subjecting my car to it's annual MOT and subjecting my eyes/contact lenses to their twice yearly poke and prod at the opticians.  Both examinations were passed with flying colours.

Friday was a good day on the Etsy front as I found out that I'd been featured in the Etsy Finds Euro Finds, Go Euro which was showing my April Calendar page in my new Sale section.  I sold two to one person, one plus May to another and a whole calendar to someone else and once I realised what was going on and that the last of my April pages was gone, I relisted the expired print version of the image which promptly sold too!  That was six items in about twenty minutes plus the fifth print to my lovely customer in Australia made a very good day indeed!

 

 Pink on Blue $35 at Eyeshoot at Etsy

In the afternoon we had friends round for drinks and then a splendid supper at The Great Khatmandu where my choices were my usual bbq mackerel, tarka daal and plain rice, I don't think I even tasted the other dishes so my current phase of calorie counting wasn't too damaged.  

On Saturday morning I met up with the Manchester Etsy folk and we had our monthly gossip and muffin gathering which is always a very civilised start to the weekend, a quick (that's quick to eat not quick to arrive) vegetarian chilli with hummous at Teacup followed and then home for newspapers and bit of catching up with the telly before our evening's entertainment.  We were destined for an evening of theatre at Joshua Brooks which was the venue for JB Shorts 3 which consists of six short plays all written by TV writers.  Apart from the fact that the venue was appalling, totally cramped, cold and uncomfortable it was an enjoyable evening with a nice variety of plays (each 15 minutes long) ranging from a very stylised party political party to a Big Brother wannabe.  Each one held my attention but I couldn't have coped with more than six.  A very good evening out.  Fingers crossed for a better venue next time.  From there we wanted food and had spotted ZOUK on the way in and liked the look of it, but when we got there it was totally packed and there was a forty five minute wait at 9.30 which we didn't fancy so we popped into Rice next door which was a bit odd really.  I've only just found out that ZOUK is an Indian restaurant, we all thought it was Chinese.  So it's probably a good thing we didn't go as Indian food on consecutive nights isn't such a great idea.  Anyway, Rice next door looked as if it would fit the bill with a range of noodle, rice and stir fry dishes.  I've never seen such a bizarre menu, there were dishes from absolutely everywhere, China, Japan, Jamaica, USA, Persia, France, Thailand, Mexico, Malaysia, Singapore, Spain, Morocco, Indonesia and South America!  Someone was a bit indecisive at the menu planning stages.  I ordered pad Thai with chicken which came nice and quickly, obviously just out of the pan, with lovely soft noodles and plenty of chicken, it was a massive portion but unfortunately totally tasteless but somehow managed to be enjoyable.....everyone else liked theirs but I think that the Persian saffron fish kebab sauce looked really suspect, but it was all devoured so just me then.  Home to bed, knackered.

Sunday started with Peter having a breakfast meeting at 9.00 I was up not long after that (actually 8 am as the clocks changed last night, so pretty early for a Sunday), a reviving breakfast of mango and cottage cheese did the trick and we were planning a leisurly day mainly at home until a chum phoned with the news that he will shortly be moving to Mumbai and did we want to join him and a friend for Dim Sum at Tai Wu at 2.00 - naturally we said yes, our stamina for dining out is unrivalled after all!

Dim sum was great, it's the first time we have been to that restaurant, the size and location had previously put us off and I'm very slow to adopt new Chinese restaurants as they are generally very disappointing.  Since we stopped eating at the Yang Sing I don't think I've ever have a truly fantastic Chinese meal, which is a shame as we really did take it for granted there for many years.  It was very good and unreasonably cheap at £35 for five of us, we had loads of steamed dumplings, a main course dish of gai lin, some steamed ribs and various things I don't know the names of.  We'll definitely go there again, it's a bit less hysterical than Glamorous and I think the food might be better.  I'd need to try some dishes from the main menu to make my final decision on that.  I think I'll be able to manage that!

Considering I'm meant to be on a diet at the moment I have managed to eat out four times this weekend.....I feel a bit of an epic session coming on at the gym tomorrow morning.

I'll sign off with this lovely Treasury (I've been watching the Treasury clock like a hawk for the last week of so as I have a lovely Poster Sketch lined up but seem to have lost my knack of snaging a slot.  Perhaps this week will be lucky for me!)
 

A Bunch of Hearts

by Anakim

Work, Travels, New Lens and Treasuries.

My two days shooting in Derby went well, it was two lots of school kids and a handful of teachers testing out some furniture and impressive computer kit.  I'm just working through the best of about 350 images and have made a handy little Batch Edit Action in Photoshop to convert them all from RGB to CMYK with a couple of clicks of the mouse rather than the not inconsiderable hassle of tweaking each one individually.  You'd never think it was Sunday would you?

When that's all done I'll be sorting out my packing for our 6.30am flight to Holland tomorrow where we're going to the excitingly titled SPE Intelligent Energy Event in Utrecht where we'll be seeing and I'll be photographing an exhibition stand which Peter has designed for my uncle's business along with a brand new corporate identity.  We'll spend two days there before flying home on Tuesday evening.

I've also got a leg of lamb to do something with tonight as we have a load of people coming round for a very ill times work/supper thing considering we'll be setting our alarms for about 4.00am tomorrow....

I bought myself a lovely new lens on Friday which I used for the first time on yesterday's shoot and it seemed to behave itself well and it will be coming with my to Holland for some more shots, I've not used it outside yet, so I hope that I'll get a chance while we're away.  It's the Nikkor 18-200mm VRII Zoom which a photographer friend in London uses and he recommended it as being very good.  If it's good enough for him, it's good enough for me!

While all this has been going on, here are two lovely Treasuries featuring my Chair with Blue and Orange print and my Love in a Mist Notecard - thanks to both curators!  I've made my first Treasury in ages and all I need to do is wait for a slot to get in out into the world, I don't think I'll manage it before I go away though.

Blue Oranges

by Bella Violetta

Never be Afraid to Love

by  Dragon House of Yuen

Matted print sale at my Etsy shop.

I've found a stack of matted prints which I made up when I first thought about selling my work. I matted them myself with nice off white surrounds which measure 30 x 25.7cm (11.81" x 10.12"), the image is 19.5 x 24.6 cm (7.67" x 9.68") and the matt is 2.7cm (1.06") wide.

They can all be found in the Sale Section of my shop.

  

 

Wisteria

Wisteria - $35 from Eyeshoot Photography

I know it's not wisteria time yet here in the UK, we're barely into spring but I found this picture from last summer and decided to have a bit of a play with it. It fits in with my two new textured Spring Blossom pictures and I'm searching my archive for a fourth so that I can make a quartet of Mini Pictures which I think will make a really pretty set.

My Day.....how exciting!

I've somehow managed to spend the entire day doing nothing creative at all!  I started by being woken up half an hour before my alarm by the outside intercom buzzer screaming at me, I had decided to ignore it, but they were very persistent so I staggered to the phone and surprise, surprise, no one was there.....So it was a fairly efficient start to the gym where I did my 40 mins iClimb workout despite my legs being very sore yesterday, it just didn't hurt but it was hard work.  Then followed a bit more of the squat and lunge with the Swiss ball against the wall which caused the super stiff legs of the past two days - I survived, but they still ache!  Weights and sit ups followed resulting in a handy 700 calories extra for my roast chicken dinner tonight.  Yes, I'm back onto counting calories as I seem to be getting a bit to soft round the edges for my liking and there's a rather lovely pair of Nichole Farhi linen trousers I'd really like to fit into with elegant ease in the next month or so and her trousers don't work on top of soft bits!

While I've been featured in so many beautiful Treasuries on Etsy lately I have been feeling a tad guilty for not returning the favour and creating any of my own, so I have.  I've worked away in Poster Sketch over an afternoon break with a cup of tea and a nectarine (59 calories!) and made a nice colour themed Treasury using UK sellers.  If I catch the slot it could be online in a couple of days.  I hope I catch the next opening as I'm out on a shoot all day on Friday and Saturday so will be absent from my Mac.

Anyway, here's a beauty by The Little Rooster to tide you over until mine goes live!

Mondo Azul 

by The Little Rooster

Thank you for featuring my Waiting White Cat print!

Flock Blocks!

Here's my Flock image made into a Mini Pictures Duo, the image is trimmed to fit over both blocks with a gap in the middle so that the image 'reads' clearly over the gap.  They look very nice indeed.   I'll be listing more Mini Pictures from now on in various combinations as well as singles.

Flock - Mini Picture Duo from Eyeshoot Photography - $28

Mother's day and two Treasuries.

It's been a busy couple of weeks since I got back from my week in the sun, lots of lovely sales to deal with, some new products in my shop, some very nice and welcome real work and quite a bit of just messing around really and having a nice time!

It was mother's day here in the UK today and I duly entertained my mother with champagne and smoked salmon at home followed by a massive Chinese binge at our favourite dim sum restaurant followed by Ben and Jerry's and Alice in Wonderland in 3D which I thoroughly enjoyed.  It was much better than I had been lead to expect.  Back home now to find two very pretty Treasuries full of great items.  So just a quick post today I'm off to watch David Dimbleby on BBC1 with a large mug of tea.

The Red Tent

by Sacred Suds

Eye of the Beholder

by Photgenic Gallery

Thank you to both curators for featuring my work!

Three Treasuries Today!

I've been shuffling paperwork at mum's today so it's was very nice to find my work featured in three lovely Treasuries while I've been otherwise occupied!

 

I've still not sorted out my pictures from my recent trip to Fuerteventura, they are few, but hopefully there will be some good ones there......

I'm back from Spain and Print Club's back in my shop.

I'm back home from my week in Fureteventura with my parents, it was a nice relaxing time and despite not being a sun worshipper it was very nice to be warm after the miserable weather we've been having here lately.  I read three books, which considering how few I managed last year is pretty impressive!  They were: The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zaffron, Martyr by Rory Clements, and The Curious Instance of the Dog in the Night by Mark Haddon - a bit of a mixed bag, but I thoroughly enjoyed the indulgence of reading as much as I used to!

I decided to reintroduce my Print Club to my Etsy Shop after an absence of some time, the deal is that for $400 I will send you a print of my choice once a month - a complete surprise on your doormat for 12 days of the year!

I have also started a Sale section where I shall be offering various items at significantly reduced prices.  I've started off with some individual pages from my 2010 Calendar which haven't sold.  Each month of which I have some leftovers will be available as a single listing for the measly price of $1.90, they'll make nice little decorations for your desk, mantle, dresser or fridge.

And they say romance is dead...

Shot from my (stationary) car, through a snowy side window at the romantic roundabout off the M60 in Stockport near a massive Tesco!

I've sorted out all my real work photos today which is a good thing.

We're out tonight to the very cosy Persia Grillhouse to celebrate a friend's 40th for the second time, last week it was a big meal out with many people, tonight it's the actual birthday as as far as I know, just us.

Peter's back from his few days in Holland working with my uncle and tomorrow I'm off to stay with my parents in mum's flat in Fuerteventura. I haven't packed a thing but I have purchased two new shirts and two new books. My flight's at 15.30 so I'll have plenty of time to get organized in the morning. I hate packing.

So that's all for a week, I'm off to the sun!

Today my online life was more exciting than my real life!

No, I'm not sinking into some deep dark depression, I just went to Oldham in the very cold, dull, post fog, pre sleet weather.  I had to make it look like Paris.  I don't think I did too badly - Lightroom is a wonderful piece of software which has performed magic for me so far, but it was a very cold and not particularly fun assignment. 

After my initial forays around the church, my poor little fingers were frozen so I headed to the Art Gallery for a warm up and a toilet to find that there was a nice looking new cafe where I happily settled with a copy of' Om a very cool yoga magazine (a rare British one too) and ordered chunky veg soup and brown bread with a pot of Earl Grey tea with extra hot water.  What I got was a cup of Earl Grey tea with a jug of milk and a jug of hot water and no soup.  I was happy thawing out and reading about Downward Dogs etc.... but eventually I got fed up and reminded my very nice but inefficient waitress about my soup.  She assured me it was coming.  It didn't, but it did for the two ladies next to me.  They took one slurp and called the waitress over and complained that it was so salty that they couldn't eat it.  Great.  I waited some more, no doubt while they 'seasoned' it a bit more.  Eventually it arrived, and had that depressing smell that home made soup never has.  I make a lot of soup, both vegetable and chicken based and it never has that instant soup out of a packet smell which I remember from school.  That aside, the unattractive brown gloop tasted sort of okay, but the carrot (yes, nice and chunky) tasted like a spoonful of salt.  Back it went.  And the bread was a pappy white roll which had been cut in half for me very helpfully through the middle.  The tea was very nice.

The manageress offered me an alternative, but I'd wasted enough time and I told her I couldn't wait any longer and she offered me a sandwich to take out, but I very nicely turned that down too.  The soup was erased from the blackboard and she apologised and said that they had been using a 'new stock'.  What sort of kitchen buys in stock when the soup's meant to be home made and what sort of chef doesn't taste his cooking? 

Very disappointed but at least a bit warmer, I pottered off to find something else to photograph.  I was very surprised at how little modern stuff there was, perhaps I missed it?

The nice on line stuff came in the form of a Front Page Treasury with my Red on White 2 print.

And the second nice thing was a feature by the new UK Etsy Blogger Amity UK in The Storque in her 'Get the Look' feature about the wonderful flame haired Florence Welch which is full of great items.

Here's a screen grab of the section with my Have a Seat 4 print:

So I'm well chuffed with that!

Tomorrow I'm out and about doing some more real work (two days proper money is a very nice thing indeed!) down in Derby.  Not quite sure what to expect, but I hope the sun shines for me on my ninety minute drive.

No Oitering

No Oitering, originally uploaded by Eyeshoot Photography.

It's been a while. Again. No particular reason, I've just been busy! This lovely scenic view of Manchester was shot in a particularly nasty little area behind some bars on Oxford Road, after walking past it for many years I finally popped in a little further and apart from lots of rubbish, some very dull tags and some very unpleasant aromas this is all I found of interest, but it was certainly worth the look.

I can't help but wonder why someone would actually go to the trouble of painting out the L.

I've got two days 'real' work this week shooting a mock up of a school and then something at a real working school although no one has thought to tell me what or when yet.

Love You Scrabble on Etsy's Front Page

I've been selling lots of my Scrabble Valentine's cards from Folksy which has been fantastic, it's a funny little site which I like for it's UK bias but I find it cumbersome to use but shall persevere as I want to support the UK handmade/craft scene in my own little way.  (While I've been typing this I got a happy Transaction email for one of my I Love You Scrabble Jumble cards selling on Etsy, which is the first one to go from there.)

Another Scrabble image is on the Front Page of Etsy (bottom right) right now along with a great and unusual collection of items.  I love the little note you get on Facebook to tell you you've been Featured, it's so handy.  The last two FPs have been bought to my attention this way.

Anyway, got to dash as I need to pop out to find a late post box for the card I've just sold so it arrives tomorrow!

Featured on the proper main Home Page of Red Bubble!

I really like Red Bubble as a selling venue, it's design is fantastic and I like the fact that they haven't gone mad with the range of products, it comes over as a really classy place.  I've sold a few things, but not many.  I confess to not giving it much attention, just adding stuff whenever I've generated a few new images and adding them to groups if appropriate.  I don't participate in the Forums and apart from familiar names from Etsy I don't really interact.

This evening I checked Red Bubble after I'd checked iStock and found an extraordinary number of comments, ten pages going back nine hours.  I swiftly deduced that my Waiting White Cat image had been on the main Front Page:

I'm very chuffed and also very surprised at the generosity of people's commenting and favouriting - let's hope it leads to some sales!

If you like the image, you can find it here.

Spring Tulips in Vase.

Spring Tulips in Vase., originally uploaded by Eyeshoot Photography.

Available in my shop here....

There's thick white snow again in Manchester but I've been thinking of Spring......

Before and After.

When we were in Holland recently we went for a walk on the beach on Sunday morning after there had been a night's worth of snow - the sky was flat pale grey, the sea was grey, the sand was brown with a layer of white. 

I'd never taken photos in such conditions before and it wasn't an immediately appealing view, but I had in mind the textures I've been so impressed by recently and decided that the flatness would work beautifully with them.

Before

 

After