Eye Shutter to Think :: Photography, Design + Creative Crafts

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3 of my Statue of Liberty photos are being shown on cnn.com. Click herefor details & links.You may purchase my photo prints right from this website, or on Etsy.I am offering free US & international shipping in my MarbleMadness Etsy Shop. Welcome to Eye Shutter to Think, my online home for all my creative projects. Here you will be able to view my travel & nature photography & purchase a print, learn more about me as an artist & connect to shops where I sell crafts such as calendars, magnets, pushpins, bookmarks, paperweights, charms, glass pendants, jewelry & other accessories.If you are looking for unique custom items, from jewelry gifts to specific photo designs, then contact me with your request. If you would like to use my photography in your own project, simply contact me & I will get back to you within two business days. Many of my photos have been showcased both online & in person.

"Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way"

-- Edward de Bono

BIO My name is DJ & I'm a happily married thirty something living in Central Florida. I love being outdoors, going to the beach, all things fashion, talking politics & traveling to new places.Here you'll find my nature & travel photography. Currently I'm using a Nikon P80 digital camera, but I also own a Kodak Z712. This website is my outlet to showcase my photography, taken either on road trips, vacations or just walking through the park on a breezy Sunday morning. I'm a cartographer by day, with some graphic & web design on the side. I also enjoy crafts, beading & creating gift products, which you will also see showcased here. All of my photos areavailable for purchase, either as prints, products or usage as stock photography. If you are interested in a particular photo, you may contact me anytime.

GALLERY

Nature & Travel Photography

PinkWaterLilyI-DoBeachOrchidEaglePathRENOMOUNTAINSPurpleWaterLilyOwlLookSeashellsStrawberryFieldcornLadyLibertyLibertyBookLibertyTorchEagle2EMPIREVIEWFallfloridagiraffeBlueParrotGuitarsBlueRidgebridgeBirdOneLegBahiaHondaBridgePRINTS

Order Photo Prints & Notecards

Do you see a photo in my gallery that you would like to have in your home or as a gift for someone? I'd be happy to complete your order & mail it out to you within four business days. You may purchase my prints here on this site or through my Etsywebsite. Below is what I can offer you: UNMATTED GLOSSY PHOTO PRINTS IN THE FOLLOWING SIZES & PRICES: 4x6 - $12 each | 5x7 - $15 each | 8x10 - $18 each MATTE FOLDED CARDS IN THE FOLLOWING SIZES & PRICES: 4.5x5.5 - $3 each | 5.5x8.5 - $4 each CUSTOMIZED REFRIGERATOR MAGNETS: Contact me for a quote & include photo, size & number desired SHIPPING COST INFORMATION: US First Class Mail: $1.95 | International: me before ordering for a quote Contact To order, simply click on the PayPal button above, input the price of the product you are purchasing & include your US or International shipping cost. In the notes section of PayPal, let me know which print you want & what size or product you'd like it in. I will email you within 24 hours of receiving payment to confirm your order. I will then print & mail your product out to you within four business days of your completed payment.If you choose to purchase with a credit card & do not want to join PayPal, you must still click on the PayPal icon when checking out. You will then be taken to a PayPal screen where you find the option "I do not have a PayPal account" & follow the instructions. Paypal Checkout acts as the facilitator & does not require any kind of registration or personal information from you other than your required credit card information. I do not accept returns on your purchase unless it arrives damaged (inside the envelope only)CRAFTS I create craft products & sell them online at Etsy, a website known for handmade products & gifts. I enjoy making unique items that showcase color, style & personality. Below are just a handful of products from my two shops, each of which include a link to purchase. I sell glass pendants, magnets, pushpins, phone charms, hair accessories, paperweights, barefoot sandals, anklets, bracelets, necklaces, earrings & handmade ceiling fan pullsfor your home.

Selling glass marble gifts from magnets, pushpins, barrettes & paperweights to beaded accessories, fan pulls, charms, bookmarks & jewelry Stylish & fun interchangeable glass pendants in various shapes, colors & design. I can do custom photo pendants as well.

BLOG

Crafting & Business Blog

Celebrating our independenceHappy 4th of July to everyone. Some of us have three day weekends, so here's to kicking back, relaxing & enjoying some fireworks. My husband & I will be seeing some tonight & I plan to take along my camera to try to get some video. As for photos, it's so difficult to capture, but I do want to try. I found a great article online with ten tips on how to take fireworks photos. They give excellent advice, the best of which states to turn off your flash & set your shutter speed for a long exposure.
While surfing the forums last night, I discovered yet another interesting online market website to sell my photos though. It's called eCrater & it sells all types of items, not just handmade. I like this idea, as while I do sell on eBay, I may also sell a few items here to see how they do. I set up a quick shop with some of my top photographs & I have to say, it was really fast to list items. You can pick your store layout & colors, create your own banner graphic & logo, and your off :) Here is my shop: Eye Shutter to Think eCrater. One thing I love about it is that once you set up your products & details, your site because dedicated to you alone. There's no ads whatsoever. There's just one tiny link back to their main site on the bottom left of the page, but that's it. This would be excellent to link to from any website that has ecommerce to sell & no way to run a shopping cart. The other thing I liked about them was that they accept both PayPal and Google Market payments. Speaking of photography & Independence Day....Tomorrow the crown of the statue of liberty will reopen to visitors, after having been shut down since the 9/11 tragedy. When I visited the statue in 2006, I wasn't able to go up, but I can image it's quite a view. Recently, CNN asked for i-reporter photographs of the statue for their website & today they have an interactive mosaic style photo cube up with all the entries. Check it out here. I am happy to say that three of my photos are in this cube. I was contacted by CNN back in May about it & was told that it may show on CNN television from time to time throughout the day tomorrow. Too cool :) Below are my three statue of liberty photographs that they are highlighting:

New sales site: Made It MyselfJust wanted to share a new online handmade sales website I stumbled upon while searching for craft supplies. It's called Made It Myself. Right now, they are pretty new, so setting up a shop there & listing items is all free. After that initial phase, their costs will be a flat rate 3% commission fee per item sold. Knowing that, I personally felt it was best to list only my photography on their site, as those are priced a bit higher (and would be worth the fees) than smaller craft items, etc.

With photography being a product I can print on demand, I am able to set up shops most anywhere to help market my pictures. So I came across this site, saw that it was free to list, etc & decided what the heck, why not give it a try.

I had my first sale within two weeks of listing. I was quite surprised. It went smoothly & I received positive customer feedback on my item after it arrived.

You must get your shop "approved" before beginning (similar to 1000markets) but that was a pretty easy task. Listing on this site is pretty simple too. I did not run into any issues or questions & was able to create my listings within an hour and a half, give or take. Obviously, like any sales site, they have some issues to fix & update. I had to email the owner of the site to get a contact form issue resolved. He responded quickly & was kind, courteous & very down to earth. It was fixed within a two day time period.

So if you sell items you can recreate or custom items you can produce on demand, this may be another option for you to gain some exposure & bring in some sales. My suggestion is to put your other shop websites in your profile, as some of your customers may find you via this page & only have an account on another site. It's certainly worth a try if you are looking into other avenues sales wise. Do report here if you decide to sign up & share your experience. I'd love to hear them!Etsy is not listening to it's own usersI am incredibly annoyed with Etsy right now. They are promoting their newest feature, the facebook connect, rather than adding features & updates we've been requesting for over a year.

Facebook is a website where you can connect with friends & family. It's very private & really isn't the best way to promote your shop, unless you want your family to purchase from you. And lets face it, they would be doing that anyway, Facebook or not. My question is: How does this new feature help our shops & make being a seller on Etsy any easier? It doesn't.

One can't help but wonder if Etsy got some much needed cash from facebook in order to work on this feature...

There have been countless Etsy features & additions requested from it's users. Some of which we really need in order to streamline our shops, make things run faster, smoother, etc. I realize that it is difficult to prioritize which one is more important than another (as it varies from person to person, no doubt) but one would think that Etsy would at least focus on the ones that help it's PAYING sellers, rather than go outside of company to create features that don't affect the shop function itself.

EXAMPLE: One feature we have been asking & ask for is a sale feature. On Artfire, they have a great sale feature where you can instantly mark down all the prices in your shop in order to have a sale. You don't have to edit each listing to alter prices, update tags, etc. It's incredibly useful, fast & very easy to turn on & off.

I currently have over 100+ items in my shop. I want to have a sale to reduce prices & get items out the door. But I really don't want to edit each individual listing to do it & then edit them again when the sale is over. Sighs.

Etsy, where are your priorities? Is gaining outside funding from facebook more important than your users, who are paying you each month in order to use your services? I think not :(

This post is just one of many cases where they shut their own users down who disagree with their business tactics....

http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?mop=modload&name=Chatterbox&file=viewtopic&topic=13697&forum=13

Incredible isn't it?Back with bloggerIn changing my main website over to Flash, I shut down my previous blog so that I could have one directly on my site:

http://www.eyeshuttertothink.com

However, I found that I missed the space blogger provided, as well as the ease of use & quick updates. So I decided to start again here on blogger & simply link my RSS feeds on my main site, so it can be read on there as well.

I'm happy to be back & I will stick around this time. You'll see posts about crafts, local news, online sales, website links & other items going on in my business life. I hope you enjoy reading here & feel free to contact me anytime :) Above are RSS feeds from my blogspot blog. I am very active there & you will find topics such as crafting, online sales, marketing, local news, supplies, product reviews, website links & other free form ideas. As an active seller on Etsy, Artfire, 1000markets & MadeItMyself, I will discuss my thoughts & the opinions regarding these sites & others in how they help me market my homemade crafts, jewelry & photography to the public.

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CONTACT Have a question or comment? Want to make a custom photo order or other craft request? Contact me anytime & I will return your inquiry within two business days.If ordering a print, please put "print order" in the subject line & include the print & size you wish to purchase in the message. Thank you.

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Country: USACity: SanfordState: FloridaE-Mail: dj(AT)eyeshuttertothink.comCelebrating our independenceHappy 4th of July to everyone. Some of us have three day weekends, so here's to kicking back, relaxing & enjoying some fireworks. My husband & I will be seeing some tonight & I plan to take along my camera to try to get some video. As for photos, it's so difficult to capture, but I do want to try. I found a great article online with ten tips on how to take fireworks photos. They give excellent advice, the best of which states to turn off your flash & set your shutter speed for a long exposure.
While surfing the forums last night, I discovered yet another interesting online market website to sell my photos though. It's called eCrater & it sells all types of items, not just handmade. I like this idea, as while I do sell on eBay, I may also sell a few items here to see how they do. I set up a quick shop with some of my top photographs & I have to say, it was really fast to list items. You can pick your store layout & colors, create your own banner graphic & logo, and your off :) Here is my shop: Eye Shutter to Think eCrater. One thing I love about it is that once you set up your products & details, your site because dedicated to you alone. There's no ads whatsoever. There's just one tiny link back to their main site on the bottom left of the page, but that's it. This would be excellent to link to from any website that has ecommerce to sell & no way to run a shopping cart. The other thing I liked about them was that they accept both PayPal and Google Market payments. Speaking of photography & Independence Day....Tomorrow the crown of the statue of liberty will reopen to visitors, after having been shut down since the 9/11 tragedy. When I visited the statue in 2006, I wasn't able to go up, but I can image it's quite a view. Recently, CNN asked for i-reporter photographs of the statue for their website & today they have an interactive mosaic style photo cube up with all the entries. Check it out here. I am happy to say that three of my photos are in this cube. I was contacted by CNN back in May about it & was told that it may show on CNN television from time to time throughout the day tomorrow. Too cool :) Below are my three statue of liberty photographs that they are highlighting:

Eye Shutter to Think | Photography, Design & Creative Crafts

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