Focusing on Life - Week 8

“This week look deeper through the lens to the story your photo captures...be daring and shoot in black & white.”

I had no real plan or idea what I was going to do when I grabbed my camera and went over to the Mill Pond Park in town this week. I was, however, wondering how a black & white photo could tell a story better than a colour photo.

I took a few shots of inanimate objects and some of trees. Then from the corner of my eye, I saw something that I simply had to snap a photo of. It wasn’t until I got home, downloaded all the photos from my camera and modified them from colour to B&W that this one particular photo stood out among them.

It was an unplanned photo, the scene that had captured my attention from the corner of my eye. At that moment, I understood how powerful a monochromatic photo could be. This one picture speaks volumes with its simplicity. It makes a powerful statement in B&W. The colour version did not have the same kind of impact. See for yourself.

Enduring Love

An elderly couple

Hand in hand

Walking down the path of life

Together still

In the winter of their lives.

P.S. I purchased a book at the thrift store last year and inside of it were two old B&W photographs, forgotten by the person who donated the book. I wrote about them here.

Bead Soup Arrived

A very generous helping of Bead Soup arrived in my mailbox today. Why is it that my partner received her package from me within a week from Canada but it took hers to me from the U.S. more than twice that long? I was getting anxious about its arrival. It had been so long since she sent it.

I could hardly wait to tear into the package the moment I got home. I did stop long enough to take a photo of the box it came in.

I held my breath in anticipation as I opened the box. Lots of goodies awaited, all individually packaged in small ziplock bags. I pulled each of them out and poured out the contents.  So many wonderful ingredients combined to make this special Bead Soup.

Now it’s time to get the creative brain working on a design or two that will do justice to all these fabulous components. I have some ideas brewing already.

Thank you, Shai. I am delighted with my Bead Soup. It's going to be so much fun to work with.

SEO Seminar

I attended a free seminar last week at the local small business centre on SEO – Search Engine Optimization. What exactly is SEO? According to Wikipedia, it is the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page in a search engine's "natural" or un-paid ("organic") search results.

It is much more complex than I ever imagined and constantly changing so it can be hard to keep up. I did learn a few things at the seminar though, and I am trying to implement some of them as I move forward. It’s all a bit overwhelming but I figure if I take one step at a time, I will finally get there.

I have started by being more careful and precise in naming the photos for my Etsy shop. Then, the search engines can more easily find the images. For example, a file name like IMG47-35.jpg will not be as effective as tree-of-life-pendant.jpg would be. In the first instance, the search engine has no idea what the subject matter is. Separating the words in your file names with hyphens is also important, apparently.

My website will need a complete over-haul to optimize it for the search engines too. I did a lot of things right on it but the whole thing is very haphazard and hard to navigate. It will be easier and smarter to start from scratch than to try to go back and ‘fix’ it. The first step is to research the keywords relevant to what I do and then try to incorporate them on the new website in the most effective way possible.

I have a lot of work ahead of me. With a bit of help and encouragement from my friends, I will move ahead with this huge project. Wish me luck!

Focusing on Life - Week 7

Here is our photo prompt from Sally for week 7...

‘This week take a moment to bring a little happiness to your soul and enhance your well being. Take a moment to enjoy the beauty of flowers.’

My grandmothers’ peonies gave her a lot of pleasure for many years.  She planted a row of them, three different colours, after her marriage to my grandfather in 1926. In the beginning, they were white, pale pink and red, alternating colours along the row.

My grandfather, besides being a market gardener, was a bee keeper. Over the years, those bees cross pollinated the peonies to the point that they all ended up being the same bright pink colour.

After my grandmother passed away and the house was being put up for sale, several family members went and dug up some of the tubers to plant in our yards. Surprisingly, they actually flowered that first year after they were transplanted. We really were not expecting that.

Because they are a heritage species, grandma’s peonies are very fragrant unlike the modern hybrids. I’m so glad that we were able to retrieve them before the old house & property were leveled and replaced with a townhouse complex.

This photo is from last summer. I know it’s cheating a bit to use an old photo but it’s the middle of winter and the peonies are not blooming right now.  My grandma’s peonies do bring a lot of happiness to my soul and enhance my well being though.  *smile*  And it seemed right to share that with you all this week.

Linkit's 1500 Fan Giveaway - Now Open

The doors are now open, as they say. It’s time to enter to win Linkit’s 1500 Fan Giveaway. All you have to do is leave a comment on the item you want to win and like both her page & the hosting page for your chance in the draw. I have a couple of sets of pocket prayer beads up for grabs.

This promotion is sponsored by Linkit who invited other local vendors to join in the venture. It is designed to help us all get exposure in markets we would otherwise not have access to. The hope is that we will all benefit with new followers to our Facebook pages, and in turn, more sales of our products.

There are lots of goodies to win so hop over there soon to enter! Linkit's 1500 Fan Giveaway is open for one week only, after which the random drawings will take place.