A Photo Frenzy

A call two days ago sent me (and Sue) into a photo printing and framing frenzy. While I may be exaggerating a wee bit about the frenzy part, let's just say that we had to get busy.

For about a year now, I have been displaying a few photos at Simon Gold's Hair Salon, where Sue gets her hair done (if you'll pardon the redundancy as it's difficult to know what else one might get done at a hair salon other than hair). In this age of everyone-has-a camera, not many people sell many photos, never mind at a hair salon. But, glory be, I have sold a few.

Well, didn't I get a call on Tuesday informing me that the photo front and centre in the following photo had been sold? It was the largest of the 4 or 5 photos that I display on the premises.

We couldn't let that prominent spot stay bare for long; it's even what the ladies see in the mirror as they undergo their beautification. Fortunately, I had a similar sized frame waiting with eager anticipation for a photo here at home. But all of the other displayed photos were also autumn photos, and since it is now winter here in The Great White North, it was time for a holus-bolus seasonal change.

I had been getting ready to do this anyway but had been set back a few days when I ran low on both paper and ink. And that is why Sunday had found us in Ottawa spending almost $300 on these very items. At least I had already been examining photos and deciding what I might print for a winter showing, so it was just a matter of gathering the materials and doing the work.

So, printing and framing soon transpired along with another trip into the city for another big frame when yet another photo was sold. We had to think pricing, print the appropriate identification tags, frame and package. I print and Sue does both the framing and the packaging of unframed prints, which you can also see on the table in both the preceding and following photo.

I simply don't do that sort of work very well. I'm a bit clumsy and don't have the fine motor dexterity that some have. I would give it the old college try if I absolutely needed to, but I also know that Sue can do this kind of work much more efficiently that I.

The result, or at least one corner of it, is below. (I did leave one autumn photo up, for now anyway.) As soon as it was up, the new main photo was pre-sold, but it gets to stay there for the time being anyway.

Other photos that we've hung here and there, all with a winter theme. All this was essentially put together in about a day and a half ... although there had been preparations in advance (thank goodness).

This has been a very enjoyable and even rewarding experience. I had never done much printing beyond 8x10s and certainly not much framing, so it has been a pleasure to display my work and even make the occasional sale. Beyond the sales, I do get reports of people enjoying and appreciating my photography, and that in itself is affirming, for I have never previously had a proper venue to display my work.

In business terms, with the various expenses of the materials involved, I am definitely in the red. If I make a little bit of money on a sale, it certainly isn't much and just gets put back into purchasing more supplies. But I never expected to make a business out of it and am quite chuffed to have had the exposure and positive feedback that I have experienced.

So, thanks to Simon Gold and also to Sue Gold and Katie at Simon Gold Perfection in Hair for this opportunity and to Sue Rayner for making it possible logistically.